CLEBURNE Tx. – Just a few weeks before its grand reopening, vandalism has struck the new Cleburne Golf Links.

City Manager Chester Nolen says a six by eight secton of the Number 8 green has been torn up. The vandals have hit the course twice this week. The first was Wednesday night and then again Thursday night. This follows an incident six weeks ago when the door of a building near the 8th hole was kicked in.

“We want to catch who ever did this,” City Manager Chester Nolen said. “This is the third case of vandalism at the course, and it has to stop.”

The city is offering a $5,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the people responsible.

The Cleburne Golf Links has been under construction for three years. It is the redevelopment of the old city course located on the east side of Lake Pat Cleburne. The city is looking forward to a projected opening on the Fourth of July. Work has been delayed over a year because of bad weather early in the project.

“This is not a threat of delaying the opening yet,” Nolen said. “We have time for repairs to take effect and the course to heal. But if this continues, we could have problems meeting the opening, preventing the golfers and taxpayers from utilizing the facility.”

Anyone with information that could make you eligible for the reward should contact the Johnson County Crime Stopper’s Hot Line at 817-641-TIPS.