Abilene Christian Intercollegiate to debut October 2026 at Halbert National

The inaugural event will take place Oct. 19-21, 2026. The three-day tournament will feature nine men's and nine women's golf teams with three rounds of stroke play at the new Halbert National in Granbury, Texas. ACU will host the tournament with both the men's and women's teams competing annually in the field alongside some of the country's top collegiate golf programs. 

Early commitments on the women's side include 2025 NCAA semifinalist University of Oregon in addition to Baylor University and Purdue University. Initial teams on the men's side feature Southern Methodist University, University of Houston and Texas A&M University. 

Located 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth on 170 acres along Lake Granbury, Halbert National is a private 18-hole golf course in Granbury, Texas, owned by medical biotech entrepreneur and founder of Caris Life Sciences David D. Halbert and designed by legendary golf designer Tom Fazio. Halbert, an Abilene native and ACU alumnus, opened the 7,542-yard, par-72 course in 2025.

"Partnering with Golf Channel and competing at one of Texas' most remarkable courses gives us an incredible opportunity to showcase college golf at its highest level. We're proud to launch an event that we believe will grow into one of the sport's premier traditions," said Zack Lassiter, ACU vice president for athletics.

"This tournament highlights the national profile of Abilene Christian University, the excellence of our student-athletes and the power of collaboration with our partners at Halbert National. It's a celebration of what's possible when vision and commitment come together, and we're excited to see it become a signature moment on the college golf calendar." 

Golf Channel will present live coverage of all three rounds of the Abilene Christian Intercollegiate from October 19-21.

"We're thrilled to partner with ACU and HNS Sports Group to present the inaugural Abilene Christian Intercollegiate at Halbert National live on Golf Channel in 2026," said Glenn Grimshaw, vice president of Golf Channel programming and partnerships. "Golf Channel has introduced viewers to future PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour stars through our comprehensive college golf coverage for more than a decade. We're proud to add the Abilene Christian Intercollegiate to our robust college golf portfolio as we continue to showcase the stars of the future."

The event will honor the late Johnny Perkins, a Granbury native and standout wide receiver at Abilene Christian from 1974-76, where he became the program's all-time leader in receiving yards and earned All-American honors. His record-setting career at ACU helped launch him to the NFL, where he was drafted by the New York Giants in 1977 and went on to play seven seasons. As a member of the ACU Sports Hall of Fame and the university's All-Century Team, Perkins remains one of the most celebrated athletes in Wildcat history.

"I'm honored to host the Abilene Christian Intercollegiate at this premier golf course. The event unites the innovative spirit of Caris Life Sciences with my ACU heritage, all while celebrating my friend and ACU classmate, Johnny Perkins," Halbert said. "I look forward to welcoming the Golf Channel and a national TV audience to experience competitive collegiate golf at Halbert National."

HNS Sports Group, an Ohio-based event management LLC specializing in golf, will manage the Abilene Christian University Intercollegiate. For more information on the Abilene Christian Intercollegiate, please visit: abilenechristianintercollegiate.com. For the latest news and updates on social media, follow the Intercollegiate on Instagram at @ACIntercollegiate and on Facebook.com/ACUIntercollegiate.

ABOUT ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Competing at the NCAA Division I level as a proud member of the Western Athletic Conference, ACU fields 17 varsity sports and has built a strong tradition of athletic and academic excellence. The Wildcats are known for championship performances, competitive spirit, and a commitment to developing student-athletes who excel in the classroom, in competition, and in life. The Wildcats boast 62 team national championships and 226 conference championships.  Learn more at acusports.com.

ABOUT GOLF CHANNEL'S COLLEGE GOLF COVERAGE 
Golf Channel is the television home for college golf, currently providing live coverage of 11 college golf championships throughout the spring and fall seasons. Golf Channel deploys its comprehensive portfolio of news, digital and social media coverage year-round in covering collegiate golf, including season preview shows, signing day specials, regional and national qualifying coverage, serving as the exclusive media partner of PGA TOUR University and exclusive annual coverage for the Haskins and ANNIKA Awards Presented by Stifel.

Following its announcement in 2013 as the exclusive television provider of the NCAA Golf Championships, Golf Channel has provided live coverage of the men's NCAA Championships since 2014 and the women's NCAA Championships since 2015, which are hosted at the same venue in consecutive weeks at Omni La Costa, San Diego, Calif. Golf Channel also annually televises the three-day East Lake Cup at historic East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga.; the Western Intercollegiate Presented by Titleist, one of the longest-running college tournaments in the U.S. taking place at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif.; the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Presented by Principal Financial at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head, S.C.; the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship; the Jackson T. Stephens Cup; the NB3 Match Play at Twin Warriors; the St Andrews Links Collegiate and the Folds of Honor Collegiate at American Dunes in Grand Haven, Mich.

Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Jennifer Kupcho, Rose Zhang and Maria Fassi are just a few of the professional golfers who appeared on Golf Channel while competing in college.

ABOUT CARIS LIFE SCIENCES
Caris Life Sciences is a leading, patient-centric, next-generation AI TechBio company and precision medicine pioneer that is actively developing and commercializing innovative solutions to transform healthcare. Through comprehensive molecular profiling (Whole Exome and Whole Transcriptome Sequencing) and the application of advanced AI and machine learning algorithms at scale, Caris has created the large-scale, multimodal clinico-genomic database and computing capability needed to analyze and further unravel the molecular complexity of disease. This convergence of next-generation sequencing, AI and machine learning technologies, and high-performance computing provides a differentiated platform to develop the latest generation of advanced precision medicine diagnostic solutions for early detection, diagnosis, monitoring, therapy selection and drug development.

Caris was founded with a vision to realize the potential of precision medicine in order to improve the human condition. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris has offices in Phoenix, New York, Cambridge (MA), Tokyo, Japan and Basel, Switzerland. Caris or its distributor partners provide services in the U.S. and other international markets.

ABOUT HNS SPORTS GROUP
HNS Sports Group is well positioned to assist companies that find value in the golf industry and build and execute comprehensive golf branding or sponsorship strategies. Understanding the golf marketplace today is a significant challenge, and the HNS Sports Group team possesses over 125 years of collective experience that is applied to lead companies in their efforts to maximize value from golf sponsorship and event participation. To learn more about HNS Sports Group, visit www.hnssports.com.

Abilene Christian University serves a diverse student population of about 6,700 with world-class teaching in a Christ-centered community. Founded in 1906, this Carnegie Research 2 university is nationally recognized for undergraduate teaching and undergraduate research. Students choose from 87 baccalaureate majors that include more than 171 areas of study, as well as 71 areas of study in master's degree and specialist programs and four doctoral programs. ACU's mission is to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world. Learn more at acu.edu.

SOURCE Abilene Christian University