FORE Georgia 0209B

8/14/2019 FORE Georgia 0209B

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GE ORGI AP GA.COM GOL F FORE GEORGI A.COM F E BRUARY 2009

B y M i k e B l u m

or most of Georgias contingenton the PGA Tour, the 2008season was not a particularly

memorable one, although therewere some exceptions.

Duluths Stewart Cinkand Sea Islands DavisLove opened the2009 season in theM e r c e d e s - B e n zChampionship inHawaii, a rewardfor winning a tour-

G e o r g i a G o l f B u s i n e

Georgia

Golf Course

Owners

Association

w w w . g g c o a . c o

770-235-0735Paul Claxton returnsto NationwideTour

Larry Mize debutson ChampionsTour

INSIDE

THIS

ISSUE

12 14

ATHENSREGIONALFOUNDA

TIONCLASSIC

LAKEFINLAYIMAGEGROUP

Davis Love III

Better 09 for states PGA Tour prosLove, Howell off to quick early starts

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sixth in regular season points for theFedEdCup and ninth on the final moneylist with almost $4 million.

Cinks 08 season was divided into two

disparate halves; before and after his win inHartford. Other than his participation onthe Ryder Cup team, Cinks post-victoryhighlights were non-existent. And as wellas he played the first six months of theseason, he let a win get away in Tampa anddid not put up much of a fight in theMatch Play finals against Tiger Woods.

Statistically, it was a solid season for theformer Georgia Tech great. But he con-tinued to miss fairways at a surprisinglyhigh rate (181st in driving accuracy), whilestruggling with his short game (142nd inscrambling).

Love was headed for his worst season in20-plus years on the PGA Tour before a

late surge in the Fall Finish revived hiscareer at the age of 44. After a season-bestfinish of T19 in his first 17 starts, Loveplaced sixth or better three times in his lastsix starts, including a season-ending win atDisney, the 20th of his career.

After finishing 154th in regular seasonFedExCup points to miss the playoffs,Love ended 08 with almost $1.7 millionin earnings (48th). But other than drivingdistance, his stats were pretty dismal acrossthe board even with his strong finish,which carried over to a tie for second in his

09 opener, placing him within rthe top 50 in the World RankingMasters berth.

Imada scored his first PGA Tou

four seasons in Atlanta, but will notopportunity to defend his title defunct AT&T Classic. Imada haof runner-up finishes among thrfives early in 08 and a near win in Series, ending the season 13th in e with over $3 million. Imadas stemmed largely from an outstandiwith the putter, which produced asion of strong final rounds and offsawful stats in the ball striking cateThe 32-year-old Imada closed out 2helping lead Japan to a third place fthe World Cup.

The list of Georgians who wouldsoon forget 2008 begins with A

native Charles Howell. His e($1.45 million) were the lowest of hseasons on the PGA Tour, with twfour top-10 finishes coming in tSeries. As usual, Howell missed lotsways and putts, with his only redstat a first place finish in scoring on par 5s. Howell turns 30 in Juthere are probably not a lot of PGfollowers who would have prediwould have just two victories in

nament in 08, as did former GeorgiaBulldog Ryuji Imada.

The rest of Georgias PGA Tour mem-bers had to wait another week or two to

start their 09 campaigns, with a commontheme the hope that this year will be amore successful one than 2008.

On the surface, Cinks 08 season was anextremely successful one. He scored hisfirst win in five years in Hartford, the siteof his first PGA Tour victory as a rookie in1997. He was part of a victorious RyderCup team for the first time in four starts,and enjoyed his best ever finish in theMasters (solo third). Cink was fifth in thePGA Tours all-around statistical category,

F

[ SeeGeorgians,page 6 ]


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G O L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M2 0 0 9 F E B R U A R Y


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4 G O L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

ByTedFortPGA Golf Professional

Marietta Golf Center

Have you ever played with

someone that couldnt putt

the ball in an ocean with three

chances? Even more impor-

tantly, are you that person?

Anyone thathas everplayed

the game understands the

whimsical nature of putting.

Even some of the greatest

golfers in history, like Hogan

and Watson, became frustrated with it. Its

a part of the game that allows all players,

amateurs or pros, males or females, begin-

ners or veterans, to empathize with the

Tour player that misses a four footer.

One thing to understand is that theres

noone wayto accomplish thetaskof get-

ting the ball in the hole. But, with this in

mind, its important to understand that

some characteristics go together. Without

goinginto infinitedetail,I willexplainwhat

some strokes have in common. In order to

choose a putter that matches your style,

you must understand how to qualify your

style.

Player A:There are players that attempt

to keep the face of the putter square

during the entire stroke. These are the

players that feel a straight back and

straight through stroke with a square face.Its similar tothe actionof a dogs door, and

some equate the motion to that of a pen-

dulum. Thefollowing thingstendto be the

case for this player: sees the

putter head move on a straight

line, keeps the face square,

holds the grip in the middle of

the palm, holds the club very

upright, feels no release, and

aligns the face of the putter to

the hole.

Player B: Others allow

the face to open and close,

which would be similar to the action of a

saloon door. This player sees the putter

head making a blurred arc on the ground.

Forthis player, thesecharacteristicstend to

exist: sees the putter head move in an arc,

allows the face to open and close, holds

the putter closer to the fingers than the

palm, holds the club flatter, feels a release,

and aligns the face of the putter slightly to

the right of the hole.

For those that like to keep things

uncomplicated, player A should play with

a face balanced putter. And, player B

should play with a heel shafted putter. If

yourea feel playerand thats all youneed

to know, stop reading.

The two putters in the top of the picture

are face balanced, one with an S shaped

shaft and one with a center shaft. And, the

two putters in the bottom of the pictureare heel shafted or not face balanced.

For others that require a greater depth

of understanding, were goingto diga little

deeper. It is not mandatory that all of the

characteristics listed in player A or player

B have to co-exist, but they tend to co-

exist. One of the things thatIve mentioned

is the release of the putter. We need to

define the wordreleaseas there are many

misguided efforts to do so.

I know that Tiger discussed the positive

effect thatreleasing the putter had forhim.

So, to begin, we have to describe the con-

dition ofthe left wrist.Although itis impor-tant to have a flat left wrist in the full

stroke, its not as important in the putting

stroke. But, its extremely important the

wrist remain in thecondition that it began.

Maintaining a flat left wrist would be

placing a ruler under your watch and not

breaking it. A bent left wrist would be

breaking the ruler. If your left wrist starts

flat orbent,keepit inthatcondition during

the entire stroke. We will define releasing

as the closing of the face while main-

taining the left wrist condition, and the

word we use for this is roll.

To keepthis article shorterthanWar and

Peace, we are going to end with two addi-

tional points. Firstly,the feel of roll exists for

those using heel shafted putters. And, the

feel of no roll exists for those using a face

balanced putter. The shaft will rotate

around a clubs center of gravity. Therefore,

if the club is face balanced, the shaft runs

through the clubs center of gravity. And, it

results in the feeling of no roll.

Secondly, because the ball compresses

against the face, there is a small interval of

time in which the ball is stuck to the face.

For the player that uses a closing face, it

should beopenat address,openat impact,

and square at separation (when the ball

leaves). For the player that keeps the face

square, it should be square at address,

square at impact, andsquare at separation.

For this reason, it is IMPERATIVE to haveyour putter fit to your desired pattern. The

days of choosing a putter based on name

brand, cool colors, or price are history.

And, for the feel player that kept

reading, I warnedyouto stop.For theengi-

neers that need more information, Id be

happy to respond to any questions that

you might have.

Ted U. Fort, Jr.

2006 Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year

www.mariettagolfcenter.com

[email protected]

F E B R U A R

3021 Kalah Place, Marietta, GA 30

770-933-04GA (Office)

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INSIDE

THIS

ISSUE

Instruction Fore You

PGA Tour preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

FedExCup changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Georgians on Nationwide Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Ch amp i on s Tou r p r evi ew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

James Mason regains status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Ch i p S h ot s an d G ol fTal k. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Masters field adding names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Golf Fore Juniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0

C o u r s e r e v i e w s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2

How does anyone choose a putter?


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Barring a third PGA Tour victory, Howell will not be in the field for the 2009Masters, but a fourth place finish in hisseason opener in Hawaii showed a flash ofhis past play.

Fellow Augustan Vaughn Taylor, amember of the 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup team,has fallen even farther than Howell,entering 09 outside the top 200 in theWorld Rankings. Taylor, 32, earned justover $1 million last season (98th), and didnot lock up his exempt status until a tie forsecond in the next-to-last tournament ofthe season. Taylors stats were not as bad ashis results, but some indifferent final roundplay did not help his cause. It was the firsttime in his 5-year career that Taylor fin-ished outside the top 70 in earnings.

Sea Islands Jonathan Byrd dropped

from 42nd on the money list to 101st, withhis Sunday struggles (148 in final roundscoring average) and poor greens in regula-tion stats (149) among the major reasons.Byrd enjoyed a respectable season on thegreens, but was unable to convert on hischances to contend, with a tie for fourth inAtlanta his only top 10 in a stroke playevent.

Recent Georgia Tech standout andAtlanta area resident Troy Matteson took asecond straight backwards step after anexcellent rookie season in 2006. UnlikeByrd, Matteson had a solid season from aball striking standpoint, but ranked 163

and 181 in the two primary putting cate-gories. Matteson managed to close out theseason with back-to-back top 10s in FloridaFall Finish events, with his best showing of08 coming early in the season in Tampa,where he tied for second. He finished 89thwith $1.2 million.

Putting also was the main stumblingblock for Alpharetta resident HeathSlocum, who enjoyed a typical season by

his standards, earning $1.49 million tofinish 63rd, his seventh straight year in thetop 80. Slocum matched Matteson withfive top-10 finishes, contending inHartford and Atlanta and finishing withthe low final round score in the U.S. Opento tie for eighth. Slocum was third in fair-ways hit and first in proximity to the holeon approach shots, but his struggles withthe putter prevented him from fully capital-izing on his opportunities.

Jason Bohn is glad 2008 has come andgone, but not for reasons on the golfcourse. For the second straight year, Bohnsseason was shortened by injury, with com-plications from back surgery sidelining him

for four months. Bohn, an Acworth resi-dent, returned for the last two events of theseason, and managed to retain his exemptstatus despite making just 15 starts. A sixthplace finish in the Heritage Classic and a

third in Charlotte enabled Bohn to nar-rowly finish inside the top 125 on themoney list, and he entered 09 hoping toenjoy his first healthy season since 2006.

Former Georgia Tech golfer MattKuchar enjoyed his best year since hisrookie season of 2002, finishing 70th with$1.45 million. Kuchar nearly scored hissecond career win late last season in LasVegas, and added top 10 finishes on threeof the tours most respected courses(Harbour Town, Colonial, MuirfieldVillage). Kuchar was among the tours topscramblers, helping offset his status as oneof the games shorter hitters.

Ex-Georgia Bulldog Bubba Watson is atthe other end of the driving distance chart,leading in that category for the thirdstraight year with a 315-yard average. Although he ended up 58th with more

than $1.5 million, Watson managed tofinish in the top 30 in the final FedExCupstandings to earn a return trip to Augusta, just missing his first win in the BuickOpen. Watson also hit plenty of greens, buttoo many missed fairways and putts kepthim from taking full advantage of hisprodigious length off the tee.

In just his second season on the PGATour, recent Georgia Tech golfer NicholasThompson was on the both the points andmoney lists, earning $1.87 million.Thompson nearly scored his first win in hisnative Florida late in the season, one of fourtop-5 finishes in 08. Thompson finishedthird in total driving, but will need toimprove his greens in regulation stats if he

hopes for a repeat showing in 09.Atlantas Billy Andrade has lost his

exempt status for the first time since hisrookie season of 1988, slipping to 193rd onthe money list. The popular veteran will beable to play a healthy schedule thanks tosponsor exemptions, but with theChampions Tour still five years away, hemay be looking to transition from thecourse to the broadcast booth. Andradesdeft putting touch has kept him competi-tive despite other deficiencies in his play,

but with that aspect of his gamehe has not posted a top-10 finishthe last two seasons.

Roswells Justin Bolli and Vid

Paul Claxton finished 158 and 2tively on the money list and willthe Nationwide Tour this year. Lmade his Champions Tour debuyear and will be joined in MayTway, who was 132nd in earningand will play a handful of PGA Tbefore turning 50.

Joining the PGA Tour this yeGeorgians, four who played collethe s tate. All f ive f inishedNationwide Tours top 25 last yea

Warner Robins native anGeorgia PGA member Kris Blana PGA Tour rookie in 09 along wof Georgia graduate Brendon T

Georgia Tech golfer Matt Weibrecent Georgia Southern standPrice. Former Georgia Tech Bryce Molder returns to the Pafter a one-year absence.


Georgians take aim

at 09 PGA Tour[ Continuedfrom thecover ]

Matt Kuchar

Charles Howell


LAKE-FINLAYIMAGEGROUP

Ryuji Imada

Weir Scholarshi

deadline

approachingThe deadline for applications

Scholarships for 2009-10 is M

The Weir Scholarships are f

school seniors who are emplare the dependents of emplo

golf course facilities in Georgia

professional who is a membe

PGA. The scholarships inclu

tuition, room and board and

related supplies for the schoo

applicant's choice.

Information can be fou

www.weir-foundation.org or

tacting Mike McCollum

706-573-2255.


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8/24

Tigers return main focus of 09 PGA TouQuestions also remain for other veteran players

B y M i k e B l u m

s the PGA Tour began its 2009season last month in Hawaii,two questions dominated theoutlook for the year ahead:

When will Tiger Woods return to activeduty and how will his layoff since mid-Juneof last year affect him?

Woods has not played since his memo-rable U.S. Open victory in 2008, and therehas been considerable speculation when he will make his 09 debut. Will it be theMatch Play Championship in Tucson late

this month? The WGC event at Doral inmid-March? Arnold Palmers Bay HillInvitational two weeks before the Masters?

The most optimistic date for his returnwould be a little over eight months sincehis last appearance, not a great deal of timemissed considering the nature of his kneeinjury. Ernie Els missed a comparableamount of time with a less serious injury,and by some accounts, has not been thesame player since.

Woods competed in the U.S. Openagainst doctors orders, and its hard toimagine him not being in the field for theMasters unless he is completely unable towalk. As Woods displayed at Torrey Pines,

he is eminently capable of winning a majorchampionship without ahealthy pair of legs. But its a

little different playingdespite a painful injury

as opposed to playing with an injurythat has not fully healed.

Most of the early commentary onWoods return leans in the directionof his being better than ever thanks

to having two fully functional knees for thefirst time in a while. But there is the matterof Woods adjusting to his surgicallyrepaired knee and its ability to handle thetremendous stress he puts on it with hispowerful swing.

The simple fact is that no one knows whether Woods will be better, worse oressentially the same when he makes hisreturn. Els may have returned too soon,and has seemingly paid a price for it.Woods has typically performed well whenreturning from relatively lengthy absences,but this is new territory for him. His stan-

dards wil l l ikely keep him out of competition until he thinks he is fully pre-pared, but this time he also has to factor inwhether the knee is sufficiently healed tohold up in the long term, which it wasunable to do the last time he had workdone on it.

The PGA Tour suffered in Woodsabsence the second half of the 2008 season,more in terms of perception than reality.The TV ratings slumped significantly, asthey always do when Woods is not com-peting and contending, but outside thePGA Tour and a few broadcast networkheadquarters, who really cares?

The Woods-less portion of the 2008

PGA Tour schedule included some heroicsby veterans Kenny Perry and VijaySingh, along with the emergence of bud-ding stars Anthony Kim and CamiloVillegas. The unexpected resurgence ofGreg Norman invigorated the BritishOpen until a tremendous closing rush byPadraig Harrington, who won a tenseduel with rival Sergio Garcia in the PGAChampionship one month later.

Like Woods did in 2007, Singh deniedthe FedExCup race an exciting finish by wrapping up the points title before theTour Championship. But that did not pre-vent the first down-to-the-wire finish atEast Lake since 2000, with four of thegames biggest names engaging in a crowd-

pleasing shootout down the stretch.After losing three straight Ryder Cups

with Woods in the lineup, the Americansscored a decisive win at Valhalla sans Tiger,a feat some of Woods worshipers founddifficult to comprehend.

Even the mostly ignored Fall Finish pro-duced a few fireworks, as all seventournaments were decided in either aplayoff or by one stroke, concluding withan entertaining battle between the odd

couple ofDavis Love and Tommy Two

Gloves Gainey.As the 2009 season got under way, much

of the non-Woods attention was focused onthree of the games emerging stars, all of whom were involved in the duel for the2008 Tour Championship. Garcia has risento second in the World Rankings, withKim and Villegas both moving into the top10.

Adam Scottand Augusta native CharlesHowell, two talented twenty-somethings who have underachieved to varying

degrees, both came up just short in theirattempts to win early in the season. Both were bested down the stretch by ZachJohnson, who won for the second time inhis last six starts going back to his FallFinish win in San Antonio.

Johnson, who scored his first three Tour wins in Georgia, joined the states PGATour contingent in the off-season, movingto the warmer climes of St. Simons Islandfrom his native Iowa.

There is a chance Johnson, Love and Jonathan Byrdwill be able to play a PGATour event on what has become their hometurf, as the Tour is attempting to secure atitle sponsor for a Fall Finish event thatwould be played at Sea Island Golf Club

the first week in November.The tournament in San Antonio has

taken the place of Atlantas long time tourstop in the FedExCup portion of theschedule. Coupled with the demise of theGinn-sponsored event in Florida, the FallFinish has been reduced from seven tourna-ments to five, six if a sponsor can be foundfor the Sea Island event.

The three majors with rotating venuesvisit courses that have not hosted thatmany championships, but all three have

produced some drama in limitements.

The U.S. Open is back at BethPark in suburban New York, whebested Phil Mickelson by three 2002, the first time the public chosted a major event. The courmuch tailored to power hittereportedly going to be a little lessto short-to-medium hitters this y

The 2002 PGA Championplayed at Hazeltine in MinneWoods was narrowly denied a ththat year, with Rich Beem sufurious finish by Tiger to score victory. The course has been altercantly since its much-criticized Udebut in 1970, but was still conscoring by non-bombers when it l

the PGA.The wild card among the maj

this year is Turnberry, which will of the British Open for just the foIn the championships long hisseven 72-hole totals under 2been posted, four of them at TThe Scottish course was the siclassic Tom Watson-Jack Nickla1977, with Nick Price edginParnevik in another sub-par in 94.

But in 1986, the weather was nas conducive to low scoring, withwinning by five strokes with antotal of 280. For most of the li

tenders, this will be the first time played the course in competitionfor some uncertainty for most of tipants, Woods among them.

Woods is not the only vetcomes into the 09 with somemarks.

Phil Mickelson has not contemajor since his 72nd hole me Winged Foot in 2006. With birthday a year away, he still hasgame, but does he have the menness to claim a fourth major title

Vijay Singh won four timesstarts all against strong fields out the 2008 season, but recentwent minor knee surgery. At the

how long can he maintain his gaman elite level?

Ernie Els turns 40 later this given his results the past few yearmuch less likely than Mickelson oadd a fourth major title to his res

Padraig Harrington also hasmajors to his credit, taking three six, but his recent success has overthe fact that no other European won a major in the 21st century.

F E B R U A R

A

Tiger Woods

Zach Johnson

PREVIEW

PGA

Tour


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10/24

B y M i k e B l u m

hen the PGA Tour unveiledthe FedExCup prior to the2007 season, the hope wasthat the addition of three

new playoff events would help produce adramatic conclusion at the TourChampionship.

The PGA Tour set up a points system forboth the regular season and playoffs, but theinitial attempt failed to produce muchinterest during the regular season or volatilityonce the playoffs began. A handful of topplayers dominated the playoff events, with

Tiger Woods hoisting the first FedExCuptrophy despite skipping the first of the fourtournaments. Woods placed second, first andfirst in the next three, including a runawaywin at East Lake to end what little suspenseexisted in the points race.

The points for the playoffs were tweaked

after the07 season, with an emphasis placedon more movement in the standings duringthe playoff events. A sizeable bonus wasawarded for making the cut in the first twotournaments, whichresulted in some playersmaking big moves without doing much,whilethosewho missedthe cutwere severelypenalized.

This time, Vijay Singh won the first twoplayoff tournaments and had the FedExCuptitle wrapped up before the TourChampionship. Even though CamiloVillegaswon thethirdplayoff event plustheTour Championship, a missed cut in theplayoff opener left him second behindSingh.

With no Tiger and no drama, the TourChampionship drew minimal media cov-erage (almost all of it negative) andminuscule TV ratings, so it was back to thedrawing board again for the PGA Tour.

This time, the numbers crunchers whodevised the previous two formats have come

up with one that rewards players who per-form well during the regular system,increases the benefits to those who play thebest in the playoffs and ensures that no onewill wrap up the FedExCup title prior to theTour Championship.

The Tour Championship appears to bethebiggest winner in theprocess,largely dueto the change in when the FedExCup pointsare reset.

The previous two years, points earnedduring the regular season were reset prior tothe start of the playoffs, with playersawarded a specific number of points basedon their position on the points list.

This year, points earned during the reg-ular season will carry over to the playoffs,but will be greatly reduced from the num-bers awarded the first two years of theFedExCup. Instead of tournament winnersearning 4,500 points, they will now receivejust 500, with slightly more for World GolfChampionships (550) and major champi-

onship winners (600).Winners of the playoff events will receive

2,500 points each, but to prevent one playerfrom locking up the title prior to the TourChampionship, the points will not be resetuntil after the BMW Championship, thethird of the three playoffs events leading toEast Lake.

As a result of the new reset date and thechange in points distribution, if any playerin the top 5 after the reset wins the TourChampionship, he will also win theFedExCup. Mathematically, all 30 players inthe Tour Championship field will have achance to win the FedExCup, but theplayers near the bottom of the list will need

a lot of help from those at the top, whowould have to play poorly at East Lake forthat to happen.

The changes instituted this year seem tohave solved the various problems theFedExCup has encountered in its briefhistory.

Having regular season points carry overthrough the first three weeks of the playoffsgives those events greater stature, and shouldprevent a repeat of last year, when two-timemajor champion Padraig Harrington was

absent from East Lake after missing

two cuts in the playoffs.There will still be a chance for pl

make big moves in the standings in toffs, but they will have to play exwell to do so, not just make the cut past players who dont.

And most importantly from thpoint of theTour Championship, thchance the FedExCup championshipdecided prior to the tournament, witiple players having the opportunitythe title with a victory.

There are a few other changes tinvolving fields and tournament sitplayoffopener in suburban New Yorfrom the well-received Ridgewood C

much-hyped newer facility (National). The field has been reduc144 to 125, matching the spot money list required to retain exempfor the next season.

The Deutsche Bank Championsagain be played Labor Day weekenBoston area, with the only change ation in the field from 120 to 10BMW Championship (formerly WOpen) returns to its traditional hChicago at a renovated Cog Hill, wfield remaining at 70.

The Tour Championship will beSept. 24-27,giving its30 qualifiers ooff after a grueling stretch of golf. WGC event and the PGA Champjust prior to the start of the playoffs, the golfs top players will have playtimes in six weeks before the week o

Many of the players in thChampionshipfield will be back in athe Presidents Cup after a one weekmaking it seven high profile eventweeks. With the Ryder Cup played tbefore the Tour Championship lasome players were competingfor thetime in nine weeks at East Lake.

Vijay Singh

W

Camilo Villegas

PGA Tour tweaks FedExCup againLatest changes will ensure

East Lake to decide winner


11/24

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12/24

Strong Georgia presenceon Nationwide Tour

Veteran group seek to return to PGA Tour

B y M i k e B l u m

here are only a handful ofGeorgians who are fully exemptfor the 2009 Nationwide Tour,but the state will still have a

strong presence on the tour, with both itstournaments returning to the schedule.

The Athens Regional FoundationClassic and South Georgia Classic will beplayed on consecutive weeks for the firsttime. The Nationwide Tour will play atJennings Mill Country Club for a fourthstraight year, with the 09 tournamentscheduled for April 16-19, the week after

the Masters.Valdostas Kinderlou Forest will be the

host of a Nationwide Tour event for thethird consecutive year, with that tourna-ment played April 23-26, the same week asthe Champions Tour Legends of Golf inSavannah.

This years schedule includes 29 tourna-ments, one less than last year. The tour lostevents in Richmond, Va., Chicago,Rochester and Oregon, while adding asecond stop in New Zealand plus events inKansas City and southern California, thelatter one of three tournaments with mil-lion dollar purses.

The tours Georgia contingent for 2009

will include a number of familiar names, with just two newcomers MajorManningand David Robinson.

Manning is the latest former AugustaState golfer to move up in the pro ranks,firing a final round 68 in PGA Tour quali-fying to advance 27 spots and narrowlyearn exempt status. Manning, came to Augusta State from Clarkesville, andenjoyed success in both the junior and col-

lege ranks, completing his career at AugustaState after the 2007 season.

The highlight of Mannings first fullseason as a tour player was a victory inSouth Carolina on the Hooters Tour. Hehad one other top-4 finish on both theHooters and Tar Heel Tours, and made itthrough the first two stages of qualifying

before opening finals with a 7-under 65 toshare the first round lead. Manning waseven par over the next four days to almostfall out of the top 100, but finished 70thafter his closing 68 to earn his exemptstatus on the number.

Robinson, a Sandersville resident whoplayed on the golf team at Georgia College,was the Tar Heel Tours Player of the Year in2008, winning three times and posting 12top-10 finishes in 16 starts to become thefirst player on that tour to exceed $100,000in earnings.

After a number of years on the mini-tourcircuit, this will be Robinsons firstNationwide Tour season. Robinson fin-ished ahead of only 15 players in the finalsof PGA Tour qualifying, and will begin theseason with limited status on tour.Robinson shot 67 in both the second andthird rounds of qualifying, but was over parin each of his four other rounds in southernCalifornia.

Heading up Georgias veteran contingentis Duluths Scott Dunlap, who is playinghis sixth straight season on the tour andei ght h ove ra ll . Dunl ap w on th eNationwide Tours season opening event inPanama last year, but did not post another

top 10 finish and ended the year 37th withjust over $170,000.

Dunlap was 8th in fairways hit and 23rdin greens in regulation, but struggles withthe putter kept him from taking full advan-tage of his excellent ball striking. He shot16-under for six rounds of qualifying, but afinal round 67 left him three strokes shy of

a spot on the PGA Tour.The 45-year-old Dunlap has two career

Nationwide wins, with his rookie seasondating all the way back to the tours inau-gural year of 1990. Since then, Dunlap hasplayed all over the world, winning tourna-ments in Canada, South America andSouth Africa. He also spent seven seasonson the PGA Tour from 1995-2002, fin-ishing 44th on the money list in 2000, wh en he c on ten de d i n th e PG A Championship. He nearly won the 05BellSouth Classic after playing his way intothe tournament in a Monday qualifier.

Albanys Josh Broadaway enjoyed hisbest Nationwide season in 08, ending up36th with $172,880. Broadaway, 30, hadnot finished in the top 90 in his first threeyears on tour, but posted five top-10 fin-ishes last year, tying for third in Miami andcontending in one of the tours top eventsin Columbus, Oh. Broadaway, who hits theball cross-handed and putts left-handed,was fourth in putting in 07 and seventh inthe par breakers category.

Four Georgians who won on the tour in2007, including two who played on thePGA Tour last year, will be NationwideTour members.

Roswells Justin Bolli almostSugarloaf finale finishing infifth, qualified for the FedExCuand made it to the second playEven though he finished with m$458,000, it was not enough to status on the PGA Tour, and he the Nationwide Tour for a fourth

Bolli finished in the top 1Nationwide Tour in 2004 and 07tournaments both seasons, to eartrips to the PGA Tour. But a se

struggle with his putter in 08 from staying in golfs major leaguthan his tie for fifth at Sugarloaf, t walk-on to the Georgia golf teahigher than 30th in only one othment.

Paul Claxton had no more sucfourth PGA Tour season last yeadid in his first three. After placing177 and 184 on the money list in sons spread out from 1997 Claxton fell to 218th last year, m8 of 23 cuts with only two finishthan 50th. Claxton, a Vidalia nlives on St, Simons Island, Nationwide Tour after an excseason as the tours all-time leadi

winner, but returns as No. 2. TGeorgia Bulldog will be playingseason on the tour, where he has wand never finished lower than 61money list.

John Kimbell won in Valdorookie season on the Nationwid07, but suffered through a rougmore season, dropping from 37money list to 120th. The LaFayetstruggled statistically across thmanaging just three top-30 finisstarts, with a tie for 18th his best

Tour veteran Franklin Lendured a nightmare year in 2008the cut in every event he enter

calling it a season in earlyLangham, who has played seventhe PGA Tour and nine on the Nascored his third Nationwide win ifought a losing battle with his syear. Langham is seventh on thNationwide Tour money list andfor the PGA Tour Championshipbut other than one strong seasoNationwide Tour in 04, has notsame player since an elbow inflared up during the 2000 season.is a Thomson native and Peachtree City resident and was a of Claxton on the Georgia golf te

Five Georgians finished betwe94 on the 2008 money list to reexempt status for the 09 season.

Recent Georgia Bulldog standKirkof Woodstock was 77th in season as a pro, highlighted by a rfinish in Knoxville, where he playoff. Other than that, howevnot an especially productive firsKirk, although he made the cut iPGA Tour events he entered, inclU.S. Open.

F E B R U A R

T

[ SeeNationwideTour, page 17 ]

Justin Bolli

ATHENSREGIONALFOUNDATIONCLASSIC

Scott Dunlap




13/24



14/24

B y M i k e B l u m

he Champions Tour will not bereturning to Atlanta in 2009,but it will be back in Savannahfor a seventh straight year.

The over-50 tour welcomed a Georgianative late last year, with a less well knownGeorgian regaining his full time playingprivileges this year and a former state resi-dent making his debut early in the season.

Larry Mize, who was born and raised inAugusta and is a long-time Columbus res-ident, made his Champions Tour debut in

the latter stages of the 2008 season,making four mostly uneventful starts.

Duluth native and Dillard resident James Mason, who has played on theChampions Tour since 2001, posted a top-5 finish in the finals of the tours qualifyingtournament and will be fully exempt forthe first time since the 03 season, the yearafter he scored his lone tour win.

Bob Tway, who lived in suburban CobbCounty for most of his teens, will make hisChampions Tour debut in early May, andis expected to be a very competitive playerafter some solid showings on the PGATour last year.

They join Champions Tour veterans

Allen Doyle and Larry Nelson along withrelative newcomer Tim Simpson in com-prising the bulk of Georgias contingent onthe tour. Augusta native Jim Dent, whoturns 70 this year, remains exempt, but hasnot been a competitive player for a numberof seasons.

The tour makes its lone Georgia appear-ance in late April with the tournament thatstarted what was then the Senior Tour. TheLiberty Mutual Legends of Golfhas been

played since 1978, and its initial successwas largely responsible for the creation ofthe Senior Tour a few years later.

After making several changes in sites, thetournament landed at the Westin SavannahHarbor Resort in 2003 and has remainedthere since, with the format returning to itsoriginal team concept last year.

The Champions Tour was supposed tomake a return to the Atlanta area this year,but the faltering economy ended the hopesfor landing a title sponsor for the event.

The tour has not visited the north Atlantasuburbs since 2000, with Country Club ofthe South and Golf Club of Georgiaserving as hosts and Nationwide Insurancethe title sponsor.

This years Champions Tour schedulewillconsist of 26 tournaments, the fewestnumber in more than two decades. Thetour lost three events from 2008 in Hawaii,suburban Boston and New York, and didnot add a new tournament for 09. As aresult, the tour will have only one stretchthe entire season when it will play morethan three straight weeks, with the frequentoff weeks likely to result in stronger fieldsfor the remaining tournaments.

In recent years, the Champions Tour has

attracted a decreasing amount of attention,as the star players who made the tour whatit was have long since ceased to be compet-itive players. Arnold Palmer, JackNicklaus and Lee Trevino kept theChampions Tour relevant through the1980s and 90s, but the past decade has notbeen as successful.

The charismatically challenged HaleIrwin was The Man on the ChampionsTour for most of that stretch, with the

recent contenders for that title Jay Haas,Loren Roberts and Bernhard Langer cutout of the same mold.

Many of the more prominent players toturn 50 in recent years have either ignoredthe Champions Tour (Greg Norman, NickFaldo), not played especially well (NickPrice, Curtis Strange, Mark OMeara) orcant decide whether to stick it out on thePGA Tour (Fred Funk).

Its been quite a while since an Americanplayer with marquee appeal has turned 50,and this year is no different. Tom Lehmanand Tway are the only two players with any

sort of resumes to join the tour this year,and neither is going to greatly enhance thetours status.

Among the tours top players last year were such non-household names as R.W.Eaks, Bruce Vaughan, Mark Wiebe, D.A.Weibring, Denis Watson and EduardoRomero, with those six combining for 10victories, including three of the five majors.Lonnie Nielsen, Brad Bryant, GeneJones, DavidEger and Michael Goodes allqualified for the Tour Championship.

A number of familiar names GilMorgan, Jim Thorpe, Ben Crenshaw,Bruce Fleisher, Fuzzy Zoeller, Irwin areon the downside of their Champions Tour

careers, and the players replacing them onleader boards are not exciting any more fansthan they did.

Langer and Romero, who spent his careerplaying primarily in Europe and his native Argentina, were the only players to winthree times lastyear, with six others winningtwice each. Haas has been the tours topplayer over the last three seasons with 10victories and two money and Schwab Cuptitles each, but does not exactly strike fearinto the hearts of his fellow competitors orboost attendance totals.

Other than Simpson and the new-comers, Georgias Champions Tourcontingent is showing a little age.

Allen Doyle turned 60 last year, and has

not won since scoring his second straightU. S. Senior Open title in 2006. Aftereight straight seasons among the tours top20 players, he has finished around 40th inearnings each of the last two years, and didnot have a top-10 finish in 08 afterplacing second in the season opener. TheLaGrange resident has enjoyed a won-derful career since turning pro in his late40s, entering the 09 season sixth on theall-time Champions Tour money list with

more than $13 million.Marietta resident Larry Nelso

enjoyed a long run of success Champions Tour until he reached50s, scoring 19 wins between 192004. But Nelson, 61, has strugglthe last four years, in large partinjuries, and has gone two seasons wa top-10 finish in an individual eve

Tim Simpson has gradually mothe money list in his three seasonstour, advancing from 46th to 37th tThe Atlanta native and Lake Ocondent had a pair of runner-up finisyear, and remains among the betstrikers among his peer group, witing still his main nemesis.

Larry Mize and Bob Tway coulwind up competing for Rookie of thonors, with Mize enjoying a threehead start. Mize was not a factorPGA Tour after 2001, and will havacquaint himself with the feeplaying under pressure. He was respin his first four Champions Tour stawill need to card a few more scoreand 67 if he hopes to win for the fir

in more than 15 years.Tway kept his game in shape dee

his late 40s, and turned in a numstrong efforts last year, finishing thethe scoring leaders on the PGA Toualso ranked among the leaders inother categories, most notably pand rattled off a string of scores in t60s, including a 62 in his final evenseason. He will miss the firsChampions Tour events of the seaslook for him to make a big impact oturns 50 in May.

JimDentnotched 12 wins in hisseasons on the Champions Tour, last win was more than a decade ago

has earned almost $9 million durChampions Tour career and led thedriving distance six straight seasonswho made just 13 starts last year,the 2009 season 20th in career ChaTour earnings.

Tim Conley, a long-time Braseltdent and the 2005 Georgia champion, tied for ninth in the fqualifying last year, and will have status, playing in the tours Mondafiers in an effort to get intournament fields. Conley, who plboth the PGA and Nationwide Toto turning 50, has made 19 starts ttwo seasons, 13 of those as a ro2007. His earnings fell from $127

$36,000, with a tie for 30th hshowing in 08.

Javier Sanchez, who lives in thOconee area, tied for 20th in the fQ-school and will be eligible to comthe Monday qualifiers. Sanchenjoyed some success in his caremini-tour player, and is best knoqualifying for the U.S. Open four years, making it through both losectional qualifying all four times.


Mize, Tway among newChampions Tour names

Atlanta still missing from tour schedule

Allen Doyle

Larry Nelson

T


15/24



16/24

Mason regains status on Champions Tou

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B y M i k e B l u m

or the past five seasons, JamesMason has competed on theChampions Tour in a kind oflimbo.

Masons exempt status for winning aChampions Tour event in 2002 expired atthe end of the 03 season, and since thenMason has competed on an irregular basis.Hes gotten into some tournaments but notothers, and has spent the past two seasonshaving to rely on his success in Mondayqualifiers to get into fields for the dwin-dling number of tour events.

After placing around 40th in three of his

first four seasons, Mason has finished 69th,62nd and 75th on the money list the lastthree years, competing in fewer than halfthe tournaments in both 2007 and 08.

A few years ago, the Champions Tour didaway with its qualifying tournament thatallowed players like Allen Doyle and

Mason, who had little or no experience onthe PGA Tour, to gain access to theChampions Tour on a regular basis. Thetour expanded the number of spots avail-able from the weekly tournament qualifiers,but only a handful of players were able toparlay that into a healthy schedule and asufficiently successful season to earnexempt status for the following year.

Mason, a Duluth native and long-timeGeorgia PGA member who now lives inDillard in the northeast Georgia moun-tains, took advantage of the resumption ofthe qualifying tournament, but not withoutsome nervous moments at the end.

With only five spots available on the

2009 Champions Tour, Mason began thefinal round in the precarious position oftied for fifth. On a difficult day from aweather standpoint, Mason played steadily,recording nine straight pars before a bogeyon the 18th hole placed him in jeopardy offinishing outside the top five.

Without any scoreboards on the course,the players had no grasp of how they stoodcoming down the stretch, and Masonfeared that his closing bogey would costhim any chance of a top-5 finish. However,a number of players contending for the fiveavailable spots encountered some seriousstumbling blocks the final day. To his sur-prise, Mason wound up tied for fourth andin a three-way playoff for two spots.

After a trio of pars on the first playoffhole, Mason was the only one of the threeto par the second hole, and just like that, heis again a full-time player on theChampions Tour.

For Mason, the success in the qualifiercame at exactly the right time. He turned58 last month, and realizes Ive only gotone or two more shots at it then I m headedback to playing in the Section.

Even though its been a while sinceMason has made a serious run at con-tending in a Champions Tour event, he stillbelieves he can be a competitive playeragainst the games top players over the ageof 50.

Absolutely. Im still in good enoughhealth that I can totally compete, and Ivelearned so much the last six or seven years.Im going to get to play at least 20 or sotournaments. Im excited.

Mason turned 50 in 2001, and played infive Champions Tour events that year, all asa Monday qualifier. In just his second startof 2002, he won the long defunct NFLClassic in New Jersey just the eighth timein tour history a Monday qualifier won thetournament and contended for anothervictory later that year in Minnesota. He fin-ished the year 40th on the money list, andplayed respectably in 03, placing 41st inearnings to retain his status.

Since that year, Mason has cracked thetop 50 in earnings just once (42nd in

2004), and his number of playingnities has decreased the past threfrom 18 to 13 to 12.

Most of Masons recent starts hthanks to his play in Monday qa lt ho ugh h e ha s r ece ive dsponsor exemptions along the waytory from 2002 hasnt been much

in gaining access to eventsChampions Tour places more wwhat players did during their daPGA Tour than performanceChampions Tour.

Thats just the way the tour wMason says. Theyre looking oones who played the PGA Tour. can play, you can get a spot out h

Mason has shrugged off the vaulations that have made it harder succeed than former Tour players

I have certainly enjoyed it. Isomething a lot of people wish doing. I cant describe how good ityou had told me when I came o

would make over $2 million, I wasked you what you were smokin

Mason hasnt always played as would have liked, but has denough to stay out there for sevwith hopes of a few more.

Ive persevered. Its a seven djob, and if you dont approach ityou wont do any good.

In recent years, Mason has hadfew stops on the not very lucratmini-tour circuit, but can conceefforts this year on the ChampiMason will get into just about eevent this season, which he says weight lifted. Hopefully, Ill enough to make a lot of money.

Mason managed just one top-1each of his last two seasons, but shbetter this year without the weeuncertainty that is the life of the ttingent of Monday qualifiers.

Prior to joining the ChampiMason was a career PGA club pro working primarily in the metrarea. As his 50th birthday approturned to teaching to enable himcentrate more on playing (he stisome at The Orchard in Clarkesemerged as the Georgia PGAs tophis late 40s.

From 1997, when he was 46,Mason was the Georgia PGAs Pla

Year three times in the four-yearwon six Georgia PGA tournamens tr et ch, i nc ludi ng th e Championship three times, withhis victories, the Atlanta Opethem, coming at the age of 49 in

Mason won both the GeorgOpen and the Georgia PGAChampionship in 2001 beforechanging week in May of New Jersey.


F

Long time club pro ends

days of Monday qualifiers STANBADZ/PGATOUR

James Mason


17/24

Augustas Scott Parel was 81st, with hisbest showing a fourth place finish inValdosta. Parel was sixth in the driving stats,but some putting woes, particularly in thefinal round, kept him from retaining hisexempt status. Parel, 43, will be playing hissixth season on the Nationwide Tour.

Tommy Tolles, who played with Claxton

and Langham on the Georgia golf team twodecades ago, was 83rd on the money list,making just 14 starts and not playing late inthe season. Tolles, 42, played on the PGATour from 1995-2002, twice qualifying forthe Tour Championship, but has played allbut one season since on the NationwideTour. Other than 2003, Tolles has notenjoyed muchsuccess of late, but did managea pair of top-5 finishes in two of the topNationwide events last year.

Snellvilles Jonathan Fricke was 93rd inhis rookie Nationwide season, which fea-tured an odd second half. Fricke missed 13 ofhis last 15 cuts, but the two times he made itto the weekend in that stretch, he finishedthird and eighth. Fricke was among the tour

leaders in driving distance and putted well,but finished well down the list in fairwaysand greens hit. Fricke reached thefinals of Q-school and shot 63 in the second round, butfinished outside the top 100 and did notappreciablyimprove his status for this season.

Lake Oconee resident Blake Adams, whohas spent his pro career on regional mini-tours, finished sixth in Valdosta afterMonday qualifying for the tournament. Hemade it into 10 more events, posting threetop-20 finishes, and finished 94th on themoney list to earn limited playing privilegesthis season.

Georgia PGA member Sonny Skinnermade it to finals of Q-school and missed byonly three strokes of being fully exempt onthe Nationwide Tout this year. Skinner, 48,

played on either the PGA or NationwideTour from 1990-2005, and made 10 startslast year after a strong final round vaultedhim into the top 20 in Athens. Skinner, ateaching pro at River Pointe in Albany,placed second in last years PGA ProfessionalNational Championship at ReynoldsPlantation, and was named PGA Professionalof the Year. Skinner was also the 2006Georgia PGA Player of the Year, and wasrunner-up last year.

Former Norcross resident Reid Edstromand Savannahs Tim ONeal both finishedoutside the top 100 on the money list andlost their tour status. Edstrom enjoyed ahandful of solid weeks in his rookie season,but was only able toget into 14tournaments.

He did manage to uncork the longest driveon the tour last year, belting one that meas-ured 416 yards. ONeal, who was top-60 onthe money list in three of his first fourNationwide seasons, made just 4 of 13 cutsin 08, with his best finish a tie for 24th.

Nationwide Tour[ Continuedfrom page 12 ]


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18/24

Hatcher, Richardsontake Pro-Pro titleRichard Hatcher and Patrick Richardson

teamed up to win the Georgia PGA Pro-ProChampionshipat JekyllIsland GCto wrap up

the Sections 2008 tournamentschedule.

Hatcher, head professional at Ansley GC,

and Richardson, head professional at

Wilmington Island GC, won on the second

playoff hole against Jon Hough, head pro-

fessional at The Manor G&CC, and Wyatt

Detmer, headprofessional at Orchard Hills.

Both teams finished with 12-under 132

totals in the best ball competition, with

each posting back-to-back scores of 66.

After theteams halved thefirst playoff hole,

the 10th on Jekylls Oleander course,

Richardson holed a birdie putt on

Oleanders 18th to win the tournament.

Hatcher and Richardson took home first

place money of $2,200, with Hough andDetmer earning $1,500. It was the second

titlein theeventforHatcher andRichardson,

who also won in 2001. Hough and Detmer

were tournament champions in 2005 and

also won thePro-Pro Scramble in 2004.

Defending champions Jeff Hull of the U.

of Georgia GC and Chris Asbell of Georgia

Golf Centertied forthird at 133with Russell

Smith of Bent Tree CC and Jekyll Island

Director of Golf Harry Kicklighter. Smith

andKicklighter shot 64 thefinal round.

Tying for fifth at 134 were the teams of

Robert Graham and Bill Fedder of the

Piedmont Driving Club, Brian Stock and

SheaStancilof ChampionsRetreat,and Eric

Reeves of Healy Point and Brandon

Lovelady of Flat Creek.Reeves andLovelady

were thefirstroundleaders with a 64.

The tournament was sponsored by

Traynor Golf Collection, Cleveland Golf

and Srixon.

Georgia PGA seniorsclaim Challenge CupThe Georgia PGA won the Senior

Challenge Cup over a team of Georgia

amateurs at Barnsley Gardens, taking both

the teamand singles matches for a 10 to

7 victory.

The Georgia PGA team held a 4-2 lead

after team matches the first day, then

edged the amateurs6 to5 insinglestoclinch the victory.

Team winners for the Georgia PGA team

were Dan MullinsDeWitt Weaver,

Wyatt DetmerLonnie Reece, Steve

Ridge-Danny Elkins and Bill

JohnstoneJohn Nigh. Mullins, Weaver,

Nigh, Johnstone, Detmer and Ridge also

scored wins in singles. Phil Pavoni and

Donnie Crump were the lone amateurs to

win both their matches.

Weinhart secondin PGA tournamentTim Weinhart finished second in a PGA

Winter Tournament Series event at PGAGC in south Florida, the best showing by

a Georgia PGA member in the six-event

series.

Weinhart, an instructor at St. Marlo,

shared the first round lead with 68 and

shot 72 the next day for a 140 total, two

strokes behind the winner. He tied for

fourth and 11th in later series events and

finished eighth overall with earnings of

almost $6,900.

Michael Parrott of Brookfield CC tied

for fifth in the first event, and Bill

Murchison of Towne Lake Hill

15th. Murchison had ninth and

place finishes later in the series

Sonny Skinner of Albanys Riv

GC and Atlanta instructor Craigtied for fifth in the event

Weinhart was fourth, three

behind the winner. Skinner was

and fifth in the final three ev

ended up 15th in earnings for th

Skinner PGA Player of t

Thanks to his play in PGA even

appearances on the Nationw

Sonny Skinner finished first in

of Americas points list to e

Professional of the Year honors f

Skinner, who teaches at Riv

G&CC in Albany, placed secon

2008 PGA Pro fess io nal

Championship at Reynolds P

and was a close second on the

PGA Player of the Year Divots po

long time tour pro before bec

Georgia PGA professional, Skin

three cutsin his 10 NationwideT

in 08, including a top-20 fini

Athens Regional Foundation Cla

A highlight of the year for Sk

h is f ir st a pp ea ra nc e i n t

Championship.

The most recent addition is the Fairwaysof Canton, which opened late in 2007 as a

public golf course, but is now a private

course and is the 20th Canongate facility in

Georgia.

The cours e has been renamed

Canongate at Laurel Canyon, the nameof

the development where the course is

located in north Cherokee County outside

Canton.

Rocky Roquemore, who worked with

Joe Lee on a number of the Canongate

courses and has designed many of the

more recent Canongate layouts, is the

architect for the new course, which is visu-

ally appealing but also demanding

because of the dramatic terrain.

Roquemore says the course is his tribute

to course architects of golfs past, with the

layout distinct fromothersin the metroarea.

For information, call 770-845-1430.

State Parks coursesoffer Winter ratesGeorgias State Park courses are offering

special Winter rates at all facilities through

the end of February. A round of golf plus a

sharedcart is $28 any day of the week at all

theState Parkcourses, withthe loneexceptionFriday-Sundayat Georgia Vetsin Cordele.

The State Park courses are also offering

GreenPass memberships that provide

unlimited greens fees for a year at a home

StatePark courseand 50percent offat other

State Park facilities. Family and junior mem-

berships are also available.

For information, call 1-800-434-0982 or

visit www.golfgeorgia.com.

GSGA honors Nollwith Barnes awardDaltons David Noll earned the GSGAs top

honor for 2008, winning theTommy Barnes

Award as theorganizations overall Playerofthe Year.

Noll, who also captured his fourth Mens

Player of the Year honor, won his second

Atlanta Amateur Match Play Championship

in 2008, and posted a number of other top

finishes in state events. He was second in

the Mid-Am, third in the Georgia Amateur,

fourthwith partnerDougGreenin the4-Ball

Championship and was second among the

states amateurs in the Georgia Open. Noll

has won four GSGA titles since 2003, when

he wonthe Georgia Amateur.

Riverdales Mariah Stackhousthe first GSGA competitor to b

Player of the Year in two c

achieving that accomplishment in

and Womens categories.

Stackhouse, the 2007 Girls Pla

Year, ended Laura Cobles 10-y

Womens Player of the Year. St

defended her 2007 titles in the

Match Play and Girls Champions

also won the GWGA Cham

defeating Coble in a playoff. S

also finished secondin theAtlanta

Amateur, placed fourth in the Wo

60 Classic and reached the third

the U.S. Girls Championship.

Other Players of the Year for

Chase Parker of Augusta

BillPloegerof Columbus(Senior

Brenda Pictor of Marietta(Senio

Bob Flynn ofKennesaw wasth

of the Bill Todd Award, the high

that a GSGA volunteer can receiv

member at Pinetree,has beeninv

the GSGA in a variety of capacitie

decades.

The winners were honored at t

GSGA awards banquet, which w

the Cherokee Town Club.


Chip Shots

GolfTalk

Canongate familyadds 2 more coursesThe Canongate family of golf courses has

added two more courses to its growing list

of clubs, with its newest additions among

themostrecent courses toopen for play in

the metro Atlanta area.

Late in 2008, Canongate acquired the

Sun City Peachtree course in Griffin, which

opened for playlastyear. Thecourse ispartof an active adult community from devel-

oper Del Webb.

The course was designed by Gary

Stephenson, who is part of Phil Mickelsons

design team and worked on such noted

courses in the southwest as Whisper Rock

and Frisco Lakes. The course features five

sets of tees and maxes out at just over

6,800 yards with a modest Course

Rating/Slope.

For information, call 678-877-0773 or

visit canongategolf.com.

Pro-Pro winners Richard Hatcher (L)

and Patrick Richardson


19/24

Woody Austin

Masters field could be largest since 6

ith the 2009 Masters a fewmonths away, the field forthe first of golfs fourmajor championships is

largely completed, but has already added

three new names the first three weeks of the09 season.

At the end of the 2008 calendar year, theMasters already had 88 qualifiers for thisyears event. With the three recent addi-tions and the likelihood that several moreplayers will be added, this could be thelargest Masters field in more than fourdecades.

Players can still qualify by winning aPGA Tour tournament that offers fullFedExCup points before the 09 Masters(the two events opposite the World GolfChampionships tournaments dont count)or by moving into the top 50 in the WorldRankings as of March 30.

Pat Perez earned a Masters invitationwith his victory in the Bob Hope Classic,and Spains Alvaro Quiros moved into thetop 30 in the rankings with his win in theEuropean Tour Qatar Masters, assuringhimself of a spot in the top 50 one weekprior to the Masters.

The Masters also issued a special invita-tion to Japanese teen-ager Riyo Ishikawa,who is closing in on a spot in the top 50 atthe age of 17.

If the Masters adds seven more players,the tournament will have its largest fieldsince 1966, when 103 players competed.The largest field since was 2007, when 97players competed.

With nine weeks remaining for the dead-

line to earn a spot in the 2009 Mastersfield, there were a number of prominentplayers still looking to earn a late invitationto Augusta.

Topping the list of American players notyet in the Masters field was Davis Love,who was 60th in the World Rankings as oflate January. Love won the 2008 PGA Tour

finale at the Disney resort, but that win didnot earn him an automatic spot in the field.

Other top American players not yet qual-ified include Woody Austin, ScottVerplank, David Toms, J.B. Holmes and

Augusta native Charles Howell, who willneed a victory to avoid missing the Mastersfor the first time since his first full season asa Tour player in 2001. Fellow Augustan Vaughn Taylor and Georgians HeathSlocum, Troy Matteson, Jonathan Byrdand Jason Bohn also need a tournamentwin in the next two months to make it toAugusta in April.

Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerieare among the top international playerswho have yet to qualify, with Montgomerieso far down in the World Rankings (135)that even a victory between now and theMasters would be unlikely to move himinto the top 50.

Several lesser known internationalplayers were just outside the top 50 as oflate January, and need only one or twostrong tournament showings between nowand the Masters to qualify.

Masters qualifiers:1. Masters champions: Trevor Immelman,Zach Johnson, Phil Mickelson, TigerWoods, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Jose MariaOlazabal, Mark OMeara, Ben Crenshaw,Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, IanWoosnam, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize, CraigStadler, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller, GaryPlayer, Ray Floyd. (Others not expectedto compete.)

2. U.S. Open champions, 2004-08:Angel Cabrera, Geoff Ogilvy, MichaelCampbell, Retief Goosen.

3. British Open champions, 2004-08:Padraig Harrington, Todd Hamilton.

4. PGA champions, 2004-08:

5. Players champions: 2007-08:Sergio Garcia.

6-9. Amateur qualifiers: Danny Lee(U.S. Open winner), Drew Kittleson (U.S.Open runner-up), Jack Newman (Mid-Amwinner), Steve Wilson (PubLinks winner),Reiner Sexton (British winner).

10. Top 16, 2008 Masters: Stewart Cink,Brandt Snedeker, Steve Flesch, MiguelAngel Jiminez, Andres Romero, RobertKarlsson, Nick Watney, Lee Westwood,Paul Casey, Stuart Appleby, Sean OHair.

11. Top 8, 2008 U.S. Open: RoccoMediate, D.J. Trahan, Carl Pettersson.John Merrick.

12. Top 4, 2008 British Open: IanPoulter, Henrik Stenson, Greg Norman.

13. Top 4, 2008 PGA Championship:Ben Curtis, Camilo Villegas.

14. PGA Tour FedExCup tournamentwinners, post-2008 Masters: Boo Weekley,Adam Scott, Anthony Kim, Ryuji Imada,Kenny Perry, Justin Leonard, Chez Reavie.

15. Top 30, 2008 FedExCup points list:Jim Furyk, K.J. Choi, Kevin Sutherland,Dudley Hart, Ernie Els, Steve Stricker,Hunter Mahan, Robert Allenby, Ken Duke,Billy Mayfair, Tim Clark, Briny Baird,Chad Campbell, Bubba Watson.

16. Top 30, PGA Tour money list:Stephen Ames.

17. Top 50, World Rankings (end of2008): Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, LukeDonald, Rory Sabbatini, Ross Fisher, AaronBaddeley, Graeme McDowell, ShingoKatayama, Jeev Milkha Singh, OliverWilson, Soren Hansen, Soren Kjeldsen,Rory McIlroy, Wen-Tang Lin, RichardSterne.

2009 qualifiers (through Jan. 25): Ishikawa (special invitation); Pat Pe(PGA Tour winner); Alvaro Quiros50 World Rankings).


W

LAKE-FINLAYIMAGEGROUP

Colin Montgomerie


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Kalpak, Wright win

2008 GPGA finaleThe Georgia PGA Junior Tour completedits

2008 schedule in December at the

Hampton Club on St. Simons Island, with

David Kalpakof Greensboro and Kendall

Wright of Duluththe overall boysand girls

winners.

Kalpakshot 73-74147 to winthe 16-18

division by one stroke over Eric Quinn of

Norcross. Ryan Trocchio of Norcross, Drew

Czuchry of Auburn and Zach Lindsey of

Kennesaw tied for third at 151.

Michael Garretson of Acworth was the

13-14 winner with a 153 total, followed by

Caleb Morris of Metter at 154 and

Sanders Parkof Alpharetta at 154. Buster

Bruton of Dallas shot a second round 74for a 155 total to win the 12-13 division by

one stroke over Joshua Crews of Albany.

BenHolm of Alpharetta was third at 160.

Wright shot 158 to finish six ahead of

Jessica Welch of Lavonia in the girls 15-18

division. Sloan Shanahan wasthe girls 12-

14 winner at 159.

Final 2008 points standings: Czuchry,

Morris and Burton placed first in their agegroups in the final 2008 points standings.

Boys 16-18: Czuchry, 580; Jonathan

Klotz, Columbus, 440; Paul Bruckner,

Alpharetta, 437; Joel Sawyer, Elberton,

430; Trocchio, 387.5.

Boys 14-15: Morris, 672.5; Aaron

George, Da hl on eg a, 3 89; Chris

Guglielmo, Cumming, 335; Brice Eaton,

Jasper, 319; Jimmy Beck, Columbus, 300.

Boys 12-13: Bruton, 630; Crews, 477.5;

Holm, 312.5; Tyler Young, Kennesaw, 285;

Clayton Faulkner, Watkinsville, 280.

Girls 15-18: Kimberly Graff, Lilburn, 720;

Wright, 500; Dona Kioseff, Valdosta, 425;

Jessica Arthur, Lakemont, 370; Mary Kate

Linder, Athens, 340.Girls 12-14: Shanahan, 500; Emily Kurey,

Alpharetta, 422.5; Sally Morgan,

Alpharetta, 385.

2009 schedule: Feb. 14-15 Forest

Heights, Statesboro; March 14-15

Brickyard at Riverside, Macon; March 28-29

Cateechee, Hartwell; April 25-26

GeorgiaVets,Cordele; May16-17 Bartram

Trail,Evans;May 27-28 TheFrog,VillaRica;

Ju ne 1 -2 G eorg ia P GA J un ior

Championship, Cartersville CC; June 17-18

Barnsley Gardens, Adairsville; July 8-9

Glen Arven, Thomasville; July 14-15

Stone Mountain GC; August 15-16

Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain; Sept.

12-13 Wilmington Island, Savannah;

Oct. 10-11 Georgia Club, Statham.

Skeadas takes firstin SJGT 09 openerSavannahs John Skeadas III won the

Southeastern Junior Golf Tours season

opening tournament at Sanctuary Cove in

Waverly, shooting 142 to take the boys 16-

18 division by six strokes over Scott

Wolfes of St. Simons Island.

Cody Shafer of Evans was the boys 14-

15 winner at 146, with Sam Straka of

Valdosta second at 148. Ben Holm of

Alpharetta shot 156 to win the 12-13 divi-

sion by one stroke over Joe Philaphet ofRiverdale and by two over Parker Derby

of Columbus.

Amelia Hill of St. Simons was the girls

15-19 winnerat 155, with Caitlin Pisciotta

of Alpharetta second at 159. Katy Harris

of St, Simons shot 161 to win girls 12-14.

Results from late 2008 SJGT tourna-

ments:

At Amelia Island, Fla.: Boys 12-13

Buster Bruton, Dallas, 1st, 159; 16-19

David Hobby, Valdosta, 2nd, 156; Girls 15-

19 Lacey Fears, Bonaire, 1st,

12-14 Isabella Skinner, Cumm

167.

At Tallahassee: Boys 12-13

Columbus, 1st, 154; 14-15 Sep

Valdosta, 2nd, 151; Sam Straka,

At Wilmington Island: Boys

Skeadas, 1st, 145; Tyler Erickson

and Austin Graham, Powder Spr

147; 14-15 Howard Hickey, S

1st, 158; Alex Dye, Evans, 2nd, 1

Philaphet, 1st, 159; Girls 15-1

Voll, Alpharetta, 1st , 172;

Elizabeth Kim, Martinez, 1st, 17

At Kinderlou Forest: Boys

ShawnYim, Buford, 1st, 145; 14-

Straka, 1st, 144; Sepp Straka,

Boys 12-13 Philaphet, 2nd,

playoff); Girls 15-19 Ann

Moultrie, 1st, 154; Emilie

Hoschton, 2nd, 156; 12-14 Ka

2nd 170.

2009 SJGT tournaments in

Feb. 28-March 1, Callaway Garde

28-29, Dublin CC; April 4-5, JekGC; April 18-19, Lakes at Laura S

May 16-17, Meadow Links; M

Orchard Hills; June 8-9, Marietta

29-30, West Lake CC; July 9-10,

July 27-28, Hawks Ridge; Au

Doublegate CC; Sept. 12-13

Columbus; Sept, 26-27, Forest Hi

4, Glen Arven CC; Oct. 17-18, U. o

GC; Nov. 21-22, Valdosta CC;

Kinderlou Forest.


Golf FOREJuniors

Kimberly Graff Caleb Morris

Kendall Wright David Kalpak


21/24


Winner Receives:Golf Trip for 2 to the 2009 British Open

Airfare, Accomodations, and Transfer

Tickets for 2 rounds each of the British Open

2 rounds each of Golf for 2 days

Presented bye Georgia Golf Course OwnersAssociation in partnership with VisitScotlandthe Official Tourism Bureau of Scotland

2009 British Open

Drawing Date Prior to Masters

A portion of proceeds may be tax-deductible

RAFFLE


22/24

Wilmington Island Club (Semi-Private)501 Wilmington Island Rd., Savannah 912-897-1615

STAFF: Patrick Richardson is the Golf Professional; Don Hemmerle is the Superin

PAR/YARDAGE: Wilmington Island plays to a par of 71 with four sets of tees: Blue

yards); White (6,274); Gold (5,658) and Red (5,152).

COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 72.5/133 (Blue); 70.7/129 (White); 67.7/120 (Gold); 70.8

(Red).

ABOUT THE COURSE: One of the states most historic courses, the club has unde

many changes over the years, including its name and several renovations to the

Formerly known as the Savannah Inn & CC and later the Sheraton Savannah Reso

became Wilmington Island Club in the 1990s after the once nationally known res

on some lean times. The club has since rebounded with the addition of a first cla

house and some major renovation work that has put much of the shine back on

classic Donald Ross layout.The original Ross design dates back to 1927, with Wil

overseeing the first re-design in the mid-1960s.The course became a popular to

site for the Georgia PGA and GSGA, serving as host for the Georgia Open through

early 1990s, as well as the GSGA Championship in 1979. The club has also hosted

GSGA 4-Ball Championship four times since 1991, most recently in 2006, and is a

stop on state and regional junior tours. The most recent renovation work came edecade, and included some significant changes. The first and 18th holes were sw

with the former par-5 18th now a par 4 beginning with a tee shot over a pond. T

18th is now a demanding par-4 with a pond fronting a small green that presents

difficult target to hit. The nines have been reversed, with holes 2-9 now 10-17 an

now 2-9, with the front nine now playing to a par of 35. A ditch that winds throug

course was expanded in several spots, enhancing the appearance and adding a

more challenge to the predominantly friendly layout. Water is in play on more th

the holes, including a trio of scenic, short-to-medium par 3s. A variety of coastal

border almost all the fairways and place a premium on driving accuracy, with the

guarded greens complexes including some bunkers that can produce some nerv

glances with water looming just off the putting surface.

Green Island Country Club (Private)6501 Standing Boy Rd., Columbus 706-324-3706

STAFF: Richard Korytoski is the Director of Golf; Matt Heitmueller is the Golf Prof

PAR/YARDAGE:GreenIsland CCis a par71 with five sets oftees: Blue (6,435yards

(6,215); White (5,968); Ladies Member (5,335) and Red (5,095),

COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 71.9/136 (Blue); 71.1/133 (Member); 70.0/129 (White);

(Ladies Member); 70.8/129 (Red).

ABOUT THE COURSE: Green Island has a proud tradition as a tournament ho

professional and amateur events, including the PGA Tour for more than 20 years

Open, 1970-90) and a Champions Tour event in 2003. The GSGA has played its

onship there three times, andwill playits second Senior Championship at the club

Prolificgolf course architect JoeLee created theoriginal designin 1961, with som

tion work done in the 1990s. Despite its absence of length, Green Island held

against the Tour players, with the distinctive old-style layout requiring players to

variety of uneven lies on the rolling fairways. With a number of short par 4s alon

scoring opportunitiesabound,but sound strategic thinking,a healthy dashof acc

a deft short game are required to capitalize on them. Many of the greens are elev

open up towards the back, usually behind bunkers that can make for some v

approach shots. Among the most recent design changes was the reduction omore severe slopes on the putting surfaces, which made things a little easier on

buthasalsoresulted insomenew pinpositionsthatcan bedifficult toattack. Offs

short 4sand onerollingbut invitingpar 5 are a pair oflong par5s with waterin p

as two stout, uphill par 3s. A scenic, downhill par 3 with a pond in front will test

tance control and the sloping green will challenge your putting touch. Am

highlights of the unique layout is the par-4 10th, which played as the opening ho

tour pros. Starting from a small tee along side a pond, the hole offers all sorts of p

beginning with an angled, uphill tee shot that has to avoid overhanging trees an

right portion of the fairway to provide an unobstructed approach to a wide green

by trees left and a hazard short. Good luck if you miss a shot or get out of positio


CourseReviews


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FEB 8

FEB 24

FAMILY NIGHT

FEB 28



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Documents

FORE Georgia 0209B