Warren Stephens, CEO of Stephens Inc. in Little Rock, announced Wednesday the 2021 debut of an annual collegiate golf tournament named for his late father, a former chairman of Augusta National.
The first Jackson T. Stephens Cup, featuring seven NCAA Division I men's and women's teams, will be held in October at the Alotian Club, Stephens' private golf club at Roland west of Little Rock. The second will be held at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida, and the third at Trinity Forest Golf Club.
"For the inaugural tournament, a selection committee will invite the teams by the end of 2020," the announcement said. "For subsequent tournaments, invitations will be determined through a unique Stephens Cup ranking based on the Golfweek collegiate and GolfStat rankings."
Warren Stephens will serve as the tournament chairman and Bill Macatee, longtime CBS Sports golf anchor, is vice chairman. Mark Brazil, the tournament director of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship, will serve as the Stephens Cup tournament director. The American Junior Golf Association will manage competition and operations.
"Our goal is to create a distinctive and highly-competitive collegiate tournament that is comprised of tomorrow’s PGA TOUR and LPGA stars playing some of the country’s premier golf courses," Stephens said. "Dad truly believed that golf instilled life lessons and built character, especially when started young. Therefore, he would be very humbled and proud that this tournament is named in his honor."
