FORE Georgia 0908C Web

8/14/2019 FORE Georgia 0908C Web

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GEORGIAPGA.COM GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM SEPTEMBER 2 0 08

record 23-under 257. Only threeplayers were over par for the wee2-over 282 tying for last place.

When you give these playe

greens, theyre going to shoot lighBurton says. It will be a lot differyear with greens that are firm and f

East Lake closed for play Marchwill not re-open until Tour Champ week. Players and spectators wilsome changes to the course, which wplay to a par of 70 for the tournbut has been lengthened to ju7,300 yards.

Perhaps the most dramatic changaddition of a new tee on the pictupar-3 sixth hole, one of the first infeature an island green. The hplayed 168 yards over a finger Lake, but can now play as long as 2carry over water from the new tesixth played under par last year tournament, something not expectrepeated this month.

The par-4 seventh, which measuyards and was responsible for onlbogeys in four rounds last year, wplay around 435, as the green hamoved back some 40 yards.

The tee on the slightly uphill parhas been extended back more t

B y M i k e B l u m

ust as in the Presidential race, the wordchange will be closely associated withthe 2008 PGA Tour Championship

presented by Coca-Cola.Other than returning to East Lake for

the fifth straight year the eighth timeoverall with a field of 30 top PGA Tourpros, there will be a lot of changes for thismonths event, with the tournament sched-uled for Sept. 25-28.

Since last years tournament, the coursehas undergone renovations, stemmingfrom the problems East Lakes bent grassgreens encountered from last summershot, dry weather.

East Lakes putting surfaces have beenconverted to mini-verde, an ultra-dwarfstrain of Bermuda grass that is comparableto the quality of bent grass greens, but

will provide a firmer surface in thesummer heat.Theyre a lot firmer, East Lake

Director of Golf Rick Burton says. Youcan cut them really close so the ball runsout and its hard to suck the ball back. Itbounces forward.

East Lakes bent grass greens sufferedheat damage last year, and while they werein decent shape for the TourChampionship, they were very soft andvery vulnerable. As a result, the scores wereextremely low, with the winning total a

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

770-235-0735Clark Spratlin captures

Section Championship

Indian Creek includes

unique design features

Padraig Harrington leads

Euro RyderCup team

INSIDETHISISSUE

12 14 16

[ See Tour Championship courses,pag

STEVEDINBERG

Lots of changes for Tour ChampionshiEast Lake renovated; new date; no Woods

J

With players like Sergio Garcia, the 2008 Tour Championship will be a blast

STEVEDINBERG


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

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

By Mike Perpich

PGA Director of Instruction

RiverPinesGolf

To be or not to be. That is the question.

Well, actually the question is to putt with a

straight back and straight

through path or to putt with an

inside to inside arc path. This

question has stumped players,

teachers and coaches alike

for years and the debate

continues. I want to show you not only the

proper method for putting but the reason

why you should choose to putt that way.

There are advantages to both putting

methods but there is only one method

which our bodys anatomy will allow us to

properly performthe putting

on theinside toinside arcpath.

First, the way our body is

aligned will not permit a

straight back and straight

through motion without

manipulation. When you are

properly set up to putt, your

back andspine areon an angle,

therefore allowing your shoul-

ders to rotate around that angle. If you are

attempting a straight back and straight

through putting arc, you will have to make

compensations such as turning your

shoulders like a see saw or even moving

your wrists from the close to open posi-

tion. This added movement will hinder

your putting stroke.

However, when you body is properly set

up to putt, your shoulders naturally turnon an angle and everything moves with

them on a tilted plane and the putter

moves on an inside to inside arc path. In

order to visualize this path in your mind,

think of swinging a bolt on the end of a

string asyou move yourarm itchanges the

path of the bolt.

The second factor is the putter itself is

built on an angle and therefore it must be

swung around you, your spine and your

back on an angle. Theputter isdesigned to

swing on an angled plane. By allowing

your putter to swing on an arc or tilted

plane, you can make a stroke that has a

one piece motion with few moving parts

and a body that has no need for compen-sating movements. The less movement

your putting stroke has the more consis-

tent you will be able to be with direction

and pace.

The putting path must be on an arc

because our posture is dictated by our

bodys alignmentand theputter is built on

an angle, allowing the putter to be swung

on an angled plane, inside to inside arc.

Now that you know why you should putt

on an inside to inside putting arc, lets look

atfivefundamentals which will make youa

better putter.

Below I have listed my 5 Points for

Putting which I use everyday to help

people become more consistent and

proficient putters.

Perpichs Points for Putting:

1. Putter must be soled flat on the ground

2. Eyes should be over the ball and target

line, more importantly your eyebrows

should be parallel to the ground

3. The shoulder line should be parallel

to the target line

4. The putter grip and shaft should run

parallel and in between both forearms

5. The shoulders provide the motion for

the putting stroke

Now that you know your body and your

club are built to swing most efficiently in

an inside to inside arc path, to be or not to

be should certainly be, inside to inside

arc path.

Mike Perpich is a top 100 GolfMagazine

instructor and a Top 50 U.S. Kids

Golf teacher

S E P T E M B E

3021 Kalah Place, Marietta, GA 30

770-933-04GA (Office)

770-953-6638 (Fax)

golfforegeorgia.com

[email protected]

PUBLISHER

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EDITOR Mike Blum

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Bud Robison, Callaway Garden

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Steve Godley, Jekyll Island Golf C

Bob Elmore, Bacon Park GC

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Scott Mahr, Barnsley Gardens Re

Clark Spratlin, Blue Ridge Golf & Riv

Dan Mullins, Classic Golf Manage

Josh Williams, Savannah Golf C

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mike Pa

TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR Pat D

JUNIOR GOLF DIRECTOR Scott GoOPERATIONS MANAGER Jeff Ash

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FOREGeorgia is produced by Golf Me

Copyright 2008 with all rights res

Reproduction or use, without perm

of editorial or graphic content is pro

Georgia PGA web site: www.georgiaForecast

INSIDETHISISSU

E

Instruction Fore You

FedExCup Playoffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Ryder Cup preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Georgia PGA pro-file: Rick Burton.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Spratlin takes Section Championship. . . . . . . . . . . 14

Indian Creek on the upswing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Georgians star on NationwideTour . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Does golf need the Olympics?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chip shots: Tournament round-up.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Golf Fore Juniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6

G o l f F o r e W o m e n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8

Course reviews: Callaway Gardens, Griffin CC . . . 30

To Be Straight Path

Or To Be Arc PathThat Is the Question

HOPSTIPE

Mike Perpich highlights 5 points

of set-up using Eye Line Golfs

Professional Putting Plane.


5/32

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yards, and will play around 475.The 15th, one of the shortest and easiest

par 5s on the PGA Tour, has added 30yards to 525, with a new fairway bunkerplacing more of a premium on accuracy offthe tee.

The 480-yard 16th hasnt increased inlength, but has added a pair of bunkers,

one along the fairway and another pro-tecting the green.

The hole with the most extensivechanges is the 17th, which had previouslyadded a back tee to push its length just over450 yards. Both the fairway and green havebeen extended to the left to make the entirehole play along side the lake.There will also be threenew fairway bunkers on ahole that played as thefourth most difficult lastyear and will be eventougher after the changes.

The second change is a

slightly different spot on the PGA Tourschedule. Last years tournament wasplayed two weeks earlier, and immediatelyfollowed the first three weeks of the inau-gural FedExCup playoffs.

This time, there is a two-week gapbetween the third playoff event and theTour Championship. After the tour takes a week off following the BMW Championship at Bellerive in St. Louis, theRyder Cup will be played in Louisville,Ky., with the Tour Championship next on

the schedule.That will give all the players except thosecompeting in the Ryder Cup two weeks off,with the Ryder Cup participants who playon the PGA Tour competing for the fifthtime in six weeks.

Perhaps the biggest change is the absenceof the defending champion

and the games No. 1player. This will be thesecond time in the lastthree years Tiger Woodswill not be playing at EastLake, but this time he hasa legitimate excuse fromhis doctor.

Woods skipped the Tour

Championship in 2006,lamely citing fatigue for his absence. Woodssaid he was re-charging his batteries for the2007 season, but in actuality, was taking a

month off in advance of a trip to the FarEast and Hawaii that included some

lucrative appearance fees. With last years Tour

Championship marking theculmination of the inauguralFedExCup Playoffs, Woodsreturned to East Lake ingrand style, shattering justabout every tournamentscoring record in the eventsrelatively brief history.

Woods posted rounds of64-63-64-66 for a 23-under

257 total, leading by threestrokes after the second and third

rounds before finishing with an8-stroke victory. Woods was denied a wire-to-wire victory, as TimClarkshot 62 totakethe first round lead, with PadraigHarrington also leading Woods after 18holes with a 63.

A second round 63 gave Woods a13-under 127 total after 36 holes, withWoody Austin three strokes off the lead andClark, defending champion Adam Scottand Mark Calcavecchiathird at 131.

Another 64 preserved Woods lead after54 holes, with Calcavecchia three backin

second and Sergio Garcia five off thepace in third. Zach Johnson was sixback after smashing the courserecord with a 10-under 60.

For the fourth straight year, therewas no final round suspense at EastLake. Woods coasted to his first winin six starts at the course, one ofthe few that he had played morethan a few times and had deniedhim a victory.

Wo od s b rok e a wa y f rom

Calcavecchia and Johnson, the only playersremotely close to him, with three birdies onthe last four holes of the front nine.Leading by four with seven holes to play, Woods again ran off three birdies in afour-hole stretch to pad his lead to ninebefore a meaningless late bogey.

Until his runaway victory last year,Woods record at East Lake was not quiteup to his expected standards.

His introduction to the course was less

than pleasant, as he was dead last after 36holes in the first Tour Championship inAtlanta in 1998. After opening with scoresof 75-76, he closed with a pair of 69s tofinish 20th at 9-over 289.

After winning the event in Houston in1999, Woods took the lead to the finalround at East Lake in 2000, but was beatenby a charging Phil Mickelson, one of thefew times Woods has lost after being on topafter 54 holes.

That happened again in 2004, with Woods sharing the 54-hole lead that yearwith Jay Haas. While Woods and Haasboth stumbled the final day, Retief Goosenroared past both with a sizzling 64, comingfrom four behind after 54 holes to finishfour ahead of Woods, who shot 72 afterrecording scores of 64 and 65 the previoustwo days.

Woods placed second again in 2005, with unheralded Bart Bryant scoring awire-to-wire triumph, beginning with what was an East Lake record of 62 in theopening round. Bryants 17-under 263 wasa comfortable six strokes ahead of Woods, who was unable to mount a final roundcomeback after beginning the day four offthe lead.

Woods and Mickelson were bofrom the 2006 Tour Championlast one played in early Novembetournament came and went wimpact either locally or nationally

Scott scored a mostly bloodlewith an 11-under score of 269, cloa 66 to hold off Jim Furyk, second at 272 after a final round 6three-stroke margin of victorsmallest for any of the last f

Championships, which has not hpenseful finish since 2001 in Hou

That years tournament endedway tie, with two other players onof the playoff and three others wstrokes of the winning total. Mbirdied the first extra hole, leavinErnie Els and David Toms to runner-up position.

Vijay Singh, who all but lockFedExCup title with victories intwo playoff events, has put togethstanding record at East Lake.

Singh lost in a playoff to Hal the first Tour Championship shooting a 63 in the first round tas the course record until 2005. Hthird two years later behind Mick Woods after sharing the 54-Singh broke through in 2002, hochallenge from Augusta nativeHowell, and has top 10s each ofour years.

In 28 rounds at East Lakescoring average is a shade over 6has earned more than $2.5 millseven starts in Atlanta.

Tour Championship[ Continuedfromthecover]

G O L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M S E P T E M B E6

Tiger Woods

STEVEDINBERG

Phil Mickelson


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8/32

FedExCup changes cant guarantee dram

B y M i k e B l u m

fter the inaugural FedExCup

Playoffs in 2007, the PGA Tourtweaked the entire points systemfor this years four playoff events.

The number of points awarded to the144 competitors at the outset of the play-offs was changed slightly, and the pointsallocation for the four playoff events wasaltered to produce more volatility in theweek-to-week standings.

Players making the cut in the first twoevents were rewarded, thosenot showing up or missingthe cut were penalized.Tiger Woods and PadraigHarrington finished theregular season first and

fourth in the points standings. After twoweeks of not playing or failing to make thecut, Woods was 32nd and Harrington44th, with Harrington failing to post a topfinish in the third playoffs event, knockinghim out of the Tour Championship.

After Woods dominance of the playoffslast year (two wins and a close second in histhree starts), the PGA Tour was optimisticthat the combination of a revamped pointssystem and the absence of Woods wouldprovide the drama missing from the TourChampionship last year.

Following some media carping at theconclusion of last years playoffs, it waspointed out in these pages that there isnothing the PGA Tour can do to ensure anexciting conclusion short of turning thefirst three playoffs events into lucrativequali fiers and making the TourChampionship a separate, essentiallywinner-take-all event.

Thanks to his victories in the first twoplayoff events, Vijay Singh was 99.9percent certain of winning the FedExCupeven if he finished dead last in both the

third playoff event as well asthe Tour Championship.Thats what happens whenthe player who started theplayoffs seventh in the

standings wins the first two

tournaments, and when Camilo Villegas won at Bellerive in St. Louis, Singhclinched the Cup.

Other than going to a gimmicky formatas the LPGA does with its version of theTour Championship, the PGA Tour andits highly promoted FedExCup cantguarantee an exciting conclusion as long asplayers like Woods and Singh dominate theplayoffs.

The 30 players who will be in the fieldfor this months Tour Championship willbe playing to win the tournament and its$1.26 million first prize, nothing more.The $10 million that will go to the winnerof the FedExCup was earmarked for Singhs

bank account after his superb final roundeffort on Labor Day earned him an easyvictor y in the Deutsche Bank Championship, and what little suspensethat was left disappeared thanks to the winby Villegas, who was not close enough toSingh to catch him even if he wins atEast Lake.

With a lead of almost $2 million over hisclosest active pursuer, the money title for2008 is also in Singhs pocket. As a result,the only outside impact the TourChampionship might have had was onPlayer of the Year honors, and that wentout the window when Harrington waseliminated.

There will likely be a call from some in

the media to again make changes to theFedExCup points system and/or format.But there isnt much of an alternative shortof going to an LPGA-style finish, whichwould almost totally devalue the first threeplayoffs events, something the PGA Tour isnot going to do.

The changes to the points standingsinstituted by the PGA Tour have done whatthey were intended to do, but with anunintended consequence.

There has been a considerable amount of

movement from top to bottom, obviouslynot as much at the top because of Singh.

Last year, it was nearly impossible forplayers near the bottom of the standings atthe end of the regular season to move upsignificantly short of winning a tourna-ment. Only a handful of players outside thetop 70 made it as far as the third of thethree playoffs events, and 27 of the top 30players after the regular season made it toEast Lake.

Villegas, who was 52nd at the end of theregular season, was the lowest-rankedplayer to move into the top 30 and qualifyfor the Tour Championship. The top 22players going into the playoffs all made it toEast Lake.

There was little movement last year,largely due to the playoffs success of

Woods, Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson,Rory Sabbatini and K.J. Choi. Stricker,who was 12th, was the only one of the fivenot among the top six at the end of the reg-ular season. When the players at the topgobble up most of the points, there isntmuch left for the rest of those at the table.

With the changes this year, KevinSutherland jumped from 57th to 3rd aftertying for second in the playoffs opener.Every player who made the cut in the firstplayoff event made it to the second tourna-ment, and players who missed the cutplummeted in the standings.

Players as highly ranked as Sean OHair(16), Jeff Quinney (25) and Rod

Pampling (33) missed two cuts, droppedout of the top 70 and headed home aftertwo weeks. Kevin Streelman, Tim Herronand Martin Lairdstarted the playoffs out-side the top 100, but all moved up aftertop-10 finishes.

Among the changes was a bonus formaking the cut in the cut, which hasenabled players to make relatively big jumps in the standings without playingespecially well. The bonus has also resultedin players like Harrington taking huge hitsin the standings for missing a cut.

Of the top 30 players in points at the endof the regular season, nine will not be in thefield at East Lake. Joining Woods on thesidelines are Harrington; 2006 U.S. Open

champion Geoff Ogilvy; Ryder Cupperand resident folk hero Boo Weekley; fellowRyder Cupper J.B. Holmes, one of thegames longest hitters; 2006 TourChampionship winner Adam Scott; and2006 Players champion Stephen Ames.

Villegas again cracked the top 30 afterfinishing the regular season on the outsidelooking in. He vaulted from 42nd tosecond with his win in the BMWChampionship. Also making big moveswere Mike Weir (43 to 5); Kevin

Sutherland (57 to 11); Dudleyto 14); Ken Duke (51 to 22); T(60 to 23) and Bubba Watson ( who replaces Holmes as the toupre-eminent bomber. Hunter Mto 16) and Billy Mayfair (37 toplayed their way in from close ran

Hart, who finished second in and Mahan were the only playerinto the top 30 in their final shot,out Brandt Snedeker and Ogwere 29th and 30th coming into

Chad Campbell, who withdthe tournament after the first ro with his wife for the birth of child, held on to the last of theafter beginning the week in 14th. next in line, narrowly missing thafter a tie for fifth in St. Louis.

Among the 30 players who mEast Lake were some who primatheir status to a victory during season, among them Andres Ryuji Imada, D.J. TrahaPettersson and Masters champioImmelman, who has contendeonce since his surprise win in Aug

Others, like Briny BairdAppleby, Robert Allenby, DStricker, played consistently throuseason, and were rewarded with bto East Lake and an invite tofor 2009.

Watson was likely the mosplayer to finish in the top 30, as

into East Lake outside the top 6money list. The top 30 at the eyear earn Masters invitations, witand Quinney both in positioninvitations if they play well dFall Series.

Because of the absence of plHarrington, Ogilvy, Scott, WeHolmes, there will again be a calcritics to change the system. Hahowever, had no problem exclusion from the Tour Chamand admitted to some puzzlemhe was still playing after misstraight cuts.

In the playoffs, some advance dont. Rigging the points distri

ensure that the big names move oplaying poorly in the three weekEast Lake is bogus, not to extremely hard to do.

Its also impossible to guarexciting finish short of a winnshowdown at East Lake, whisound promising but would be tricky to put together.

The PGA Tour will explore thWhether the tour goes down thatyear is another matter, altogether.

8 G O L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M S E P T E M B E

A

Singh wraps it up before arriving at East Lake

Vijay Singh

STEVEDINBERG


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10/32

Can U.S. end European control of Ryder Cup

B y M i k e B l u m

ontrary to recent history, theRyder Cup used to be a biennialcompetition that attracted scantattention as the American team

dominated the squad from Great Britainand Ireland.

The United States team was 17-1-1 from1947 to 1983, with many of the victoriesby lopsided margins.

In 1979, the Great Britain/Ireland teamwas expanded to include all of Europe, butthe addition of Seve Ballesteros did littleto immediately alter the balance of power.However, things began to change in 1983,when Bernhard Langer joined Ballesteros

to give the Europeans two stalwarts fromoutside the British Isles.

The 83 Ryder Cup came down to thefinal singles match before the U.S. eked outa narrow win. The Euros drubbed the U.S.in 85 and scored their first ever victory onAmerican soil at Muirfield Village in 87.

A tie and two narrow U.S. wins fol-

lowed, before the matches took anotherturn in 1995 at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.The Americans kicked away a final day leadin singles, starting a run of six Ryder Cupsthat has tilted heavily in the Europeandirection.

Europe has won five of the last six, withthe lone U.S. victory the near miraclecomeback in Brookline, Mass., in 1999.The last two matches have been Europeanrouts, including a 2004 U.S. embarrass-ment at Oakland Hills, site of the recentPGA Championship, which was won by aEuropean Ryder Cup team member withone of his teammates placing second.

Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcialead a strong European team into this

months Ryder Cup, which will be played atValhalla in Louisville, Ky. The players whobrought Europe to parity and beyondagainst the U.S. Ballesteros, Langer, NickFaldo, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, JoseMaria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerieand Darren Clarke will not be on the2008 squad, leaving a talented but notoverly experienced group to take on a U.S.team that does not exactly look formidableon paper.

With Tiger Woods rehabbing after knee

surgery, the Americans have a built-inexcuse, but his record in the Ryder Cup isless than stellar. Woods has competed inthe last five matches and the U.S. is 1-4with Woods on the team. He has a losingrecord (10-13-2), including a 7-12-1 markin team matches.

While the U.S. has not fared particularlywell in recent years in the Ryder Cup, the Americans have dominated the interna-tional squad in the Presidents Cup, losing

only once in seven matches. Consideringthat the international team has consistentlysported a more accomplished lineup thanthe European teams that have been beatingup on the Americans, the question arises:Why is that?

The answer: Who knows?For whatever reason, the European

players have performed better in the RyderCup than they have in the major champi-onships, although the recent play ofHarrington, Garcia and Robert Karlssonmay be changing that.

With Montgomerie not a member of theEuropean team for the first time since1989, and Olazabal and Clarke also notcompeting, the Euros have a new look.

Although Harrington has won three of thelast six majors, the new leader of theEuropean pack is Garcia, who is 14-4-2 inhis five appearances, including a staggering13-1-2 record in team matches. Harringtonhas a losing Ryder Cup record (7-8-2), butis 3-1-1 in singles.

Without Olazabal and the injured LukeDonald, his 2006 partners, Garcia willhave to break in some new teammates inbest ball and alternate shot. Garcia,Harrington and Lee Westwood, who has

partnered with Garcia in the past, will bethe leaders for a relatively inexperiencedteam that includes four Ryder Cup rookies.

Ryder Cup neophytes GraemeMcDowell, Oliver Wilson and SorenHansen finished ahead of the likes of IanPoulter, Paul Casey and Clarke in thestandings, and are joined by U.S.-basedJustin Rose, the fourth rookie. Poulter andCasey were added to the team, as captainFaldo went with youth over experience,bypassing Clarke, who has two wins thisseason and a history of Ryder Cup success.

The selection of Poulter over Clarke was

puzzling, as Poulter has had a very ordinaryyear other than his runner-up finish in theBritish Open. Clarke would have been theonly player who has competed with Faldo

on the team, and his absence leaving theEuros with only three players with morethan two Ryder Cup appearances.

Typically, Europe has ridden its horses inthe team matches, leaving its lesser playersto play the role of spectator for most of thefirst two days. It will be interesting to seehow Faldo mixes and matches his squadwithout some of the usual suspects in thelineup. McDowell, Wilson and Hansenmay see minimal action in team matches,as did Poulter, who played just once as arookie in 2004.

Look for Casey to join Garcia,Harrington and Westwood (14-8-3) as theteams anchors, with the remaining eightplayers, including talented Swedes Karlsson

and Henrik Stenson and Spanish veteranMiguel Angel Jiminez, splitting up theteam matches.

The Euros will miss Donald, who is 4-0in alternate shot the last two matches, as well as the experience Clarke andMontgomerie would have provided. Theyare probably not as imposing on paper asthey could have been, and once you getpast their top three, this is not a team thatcompares to those that included the veteranplayers who helped make the Ryder Cup

the event it has become. While Faldo had an excess

candidates for his two wild ca American captain Paul Azinawarded four selections by the Phad only two relatively obvious veterans Steve Stricker an

Verplank. Stricker would have team on points if the usual method had been in place, wPresidents Cup star Woody Aother player who would have team on points had the top 10 cut instead of the top 8.

Despite Verplanks record of the Ryder Cup (4-1) and Presid(6-2-1), Azinger bypassed him iHunter Mahan, Chad CampbelHolmes. Given the thin resumlatter trio, its hard to understAzinger could have bypassed the cessful active American Ryder Cuhe will deservedly get second-gue

of the three stumbles in the matcCampbell, who has played in thRyder Cups, and Mahan, a memyears winning team in the Presidhave both played pretty well of lStricker, who makes his first Rstart after two Presidents Cup app

Holmes, however, has donenothing in recent months, and dihis cause when he shot 81 in round of the PGA Championbeing tied for second after Azinger evidently had long sincehis mind on Holmes, one of the loleast accurate drivers in the game

Holmes game should be a goValhalla, which tends to favor lo

ters, and his Kentucky roots will a popular figure with the home stators. But in his three years on todone very little other than his twTPC Scottsdale, and does not harecord of playing well on Sunday

Of the eight who made thepoints, three will be making theirappearance in a Presidents/Ry Anthony Kim, Ben Curtis


C

[ See RyderCup, page12 ]

American victory possible,

but does not appear likely

PREVIEW

Ryder Cup

Sergio Garcia

Jim Furyk


11/32


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12/32

Club closed, but Burton has plenty to d

B y M i k e B l u m

ast Lake Golf Club closed for courseand clubhouse renovations onMarch 1 and will not re-open untilTour Championship week, which

begins Sept. 22.Even though his club has been closed for

more than six months, Rick Burton has notexactly been idle during that span. Farfrom it.

Burton, who is East Lakes GeneralManager as well as Director of Golf, hasbeen busy since early March, both at theclub and in his long time role as one of thetop rules officials for the PGA of America,

Im at the club every day, Burton said

about a month before 30 of golfs topplayers arrive at East Lake for the PGA TourChampionship and the re-opening of thehistoric facility.

I watch whats going on and help super-vise things. Weve still got bills coming in, soI have to approve invoices. And Imchecking on the employees.

East Lake has a sizeable staff of workers,and Burton points out, Our first concernwas what to do with our employees. Manyof them have been here more than five yearsand we did not want to do anything to jeop-ardize them coming back to us.

The club decided to pay its workers fullpay and benefits provided they agreed toreturn and give at least 100 hours of volun-teer service to the association or cause oftheir choice.

Burton says East Lake employees havebuilt three Habitat for Humanity homesand done a few other things as a group,along with work for the Humane Societyand church groups. Its been really excitingand everybody is coming back.

While he has spent a lot of time at EastLake paying the bills, keeping an eye on the work to the golf course and clubhouse, as well as keeping in contact with theemployees, Burton has also done some trav-eling to further his long-time avocation as arules official.

This year, Burtons travels took him over-seas, as he plied his trade for several weeks inGreat Britain, working at the BMWChampionship in Wentworth, England, oneof the top tournaments on European Tour,

followed by back-to-back weeks at majorchampionships the British and SeniorBritish Opens.

The British Open was the most fun Iveever had, said Burton, who has been amember of the PGA of America RulesCommittee for 27 years. Its a uniqueevent.

Burton has plenty of experience workingat majors in the U.S., having served as arules official at both the Masters and PGAChampionship. He is also a veteran of theRyder Cup, and will be working in thatcapacity there this month, the week beforeEast Lake re-opens.

The Ryder Cup is the most stressful

because its match play and the ref-eree can play a huge part. But Ive

done itenough times. Its not as scaryasit used to be.

During his previous Ryder Cupstints, Burton has not been involved in

many high profile controversies, butdid get caught up in the Paul

Azinger/Chip Beck vs. Seve Ballesteros/JoseMaria Olazabal one ball dispute in 1991.

Burton also had a unique perspective onthe famous Justin Leonard putt at Brooklinein 1999. He was refereeing the ColinMontgomerie-Payne Stewart match, thefinal one of the Sunday singles, withLeonard and Olazabal in the match ahead.

I was with Montgomerie and Stewartstanding in the 17th fairway when Leonardmade the putt.

The U.S. team, which was gatheredaround the 17th green watching their team-mate, celebrated Leonards across-the-greenbomb with uncharacteristic glee, which didnot sit well with the dour Scot.

Montgomerie marched over to Burtonand demanded action, exactly what Burtonhad no idea.

He thought I should have done some-thing, Burton recalls, chalking theexperience up to Montgomeries prickly per-sonality.

Burton has one request of PGA officialsfor this months matches. He would prefer

not to referee a match involving Atlanta arearesident Stewart Cink.

Stewart is a friend of mine and a memberof the club at East Lake. I would want toavoid any appearance of conflict.

Burton got his start as a club professionalin North Carolina, and has been a Class APGA Professional for 34 years, achieving thedistinction of Master Professional. His firsthead professional job was at Myers Park inCharlotte, and he moved to Alamance CC,a Donald Ross course in Burlington, before

a club ownership opportunity presenteditself in Florida.

The first Georgia stop for Burton came atJennings Mill outside Athens in the 1990s.After a few years there, he was contacted byacclaimed golf course architect Rees Jones,who said he should look into a job at a

course he had just renovated East Lake.Burton had heard some less-than-flat-

tering stories about East Lake in the yearsbefore Tom Cousins began the process ofrestoring the club to its former glory, butrecognized the potential of the club and thesurrounding area.

Its the best place in the world to be aclub professional. Its a wonderful placeto work.

Burton enjoys the fact that he doesnt haveto deal with the myriad committees that canmake the life for a club professional at a pri-vate club a political minefield.

At East Lake, Burton says the clubs direc-tion flows from Cousins, and he lets you do

your job. I report to one person.

East Lake is getting ready to hosChampionship for the eighth Burton says having the tournamannual basis at an earlier date hasruled out the possibility of hosting a major USGA event likeU.S. Amateur.

The marriage between tChampionship and East Lake haout nicely for both parties. Eastbeen a gracious host and Championship has helped fundLake Foundation, which has maddous strides in improving the quafor people in and around the East

The Tour Championship is afor us to do that, Burton says of tfund-raising impact. From a standpoint, people all over have hewhats gone on at East Lake, and wof guests who want to play here.

Our members are proud to havChampionship here.


E

Ryder Cup(Continued from Page10)

East Lakes man in charge

stays busy at home, abroad

GEORGIA PGA

Pro-file

Weekley are Ryder rookies, along withStricker, Mahan and Holmes. Kenny Perryis playing in just his second Ryder Cup, and was basically ignored by Hal Sutton in2004 at Oakland Hills.

The American team will be anchored bythe trio ofPhil Mickelson, Jim FurykandStewart Cink, who have the unenviable

combined Ryder Cup record of 18-29-10.The three are 32-25-12 in the PresidentsCup, with Furyk and Cink both sportingexcellent records in team matches and sin-gles against international opponents.

Mickelson will be without his twofavorite partners (David Toms and ChrisDiMarco), and unless he manages to playup the standards expected of the games No.2-ranked player, it is unlikely theAmericans can win. Mickelson has typicallynot played especially well in the latter stagesof the season, and after playing a heavy ifnot overly successful stretch of golfrecently, there is a question how muchquality golf he has left.

Furyk has been stout in singles (7-1-1

combined), but his 3-11-1 mark in RyderCup team matches is not encouraging. He will be a major player for the Americansalong with Cink, who should benefit fromValhallas generous fairways. Cink wasenjoying perhaps the best season in hiscareer through June, but has not playedwell since his win in Hartford.

Justin Leonard is playing in the RyderCup for the first time since his memorableputt that clinched the matches in 1999, buthis record in the two competitions is

abysmal. In 26 matches spannevents, his record is 6-13-7. Hesthe Ryder Cup (0-3-5) and has record of any prominent Ameriin the Presidents Cup (6-10-2).

Perry could emerge as a quietthe American team, and will altainly be the most motivated either side. Like Holmes, PKentucky native, and has been fthe Ryder Cup for quite shrugging off media criticismskipping the U.S. and British Ophis sensational stretch of golf thi

he has struggled of late with somcerns, and Azinger will need himof his game if the U.S, is going the recent European dominance.

The play of rookies Kim, CWeekley will also be vital for the Uwhich is in the rare position of uCurtis will likely be an alternatecialist, with Kim and Weekley exprovide a boost on four-ballwhich has been a surprising wethe U.S. in recent competitions.

Stewart Cink


13/32



14/32


15/32



16/32

Indian Creek seeking to shed reputatio

B y M i k e B l u m

hen Indian Creek Golf Club then known as CovingtonPlantation opened for playin the early 1990s, the course

quickly acquired a two-fold reputation: thelayout was very hard and very quirky.

The late Desmond Muirhead, the coursearchitect, included a number of unusualdesign elements that gave CovingtonPlantation some interesting visuals, butthose flourishes did not exactly enhance the

layouts playability. As the years went on, several of

Muirheads distinctive (but occasionallyawkward) visual displays were removed, andthe course began to suffer from a condi-tioning standpoint. Some last-ditch effortsto keep the club afloat failed, and it eventu-ally was sold to a new ownership groupthat inherited a course that was in bad shapeall around.

The new ownership group has invested aconsiderable amount of money in upgradingthe course conditions and improving thelayout, and those efforts have succeeded onboth counts. However, the early impressionsleft by Covington Plantations various prob-lems are still impacting Indian Creek, thename given the semi-private club after itsacquisition by the current owners.

PGA professional Bryan Raines, who ispart of the ownership group, says Indian

Creek still has the reputation of being ahard course, even though most of thedesign elements that made it a demandinglayout more than a decade ago are longsince gone.

Over the years, a huge number of treesthat made the course so demanding off thetee have been removed, allowing players tofind errant tee shots and recover from them.Some of Muirheads odd design devices the pot water hazard on the third hole, theeagles head bunker on the seventh were

removed some time ago.But there still a few of his unique design

concepts that remain, including theappealing floral bunker design on the par-312th and the Scarlett OHara hole (No.17), which resembles a womans face andtorso when viewed from above, which maybe beside the point unless you fly over thecourse in a helicopter.

From a playability standpoint, IndianCreek is considerably more player-friendlythan it was initially, although the fifth holeremains one of the tougher par4s youll encounter, even withseveral significant improve-ments.

You still have to drive the ballreasonably straight, but IndianCreek is not an overly tightcourse off the tee. If you are ableto keep it in the fairway, you will

find plenty of scoring opportunities. Thecourse is on the short side by modern stan-dards (under 6,850 yards from the back tees,justover 6,400 from the blues), andwiththeexception of a hole or two, plays shorterthan its yardage.

Indian Creek is rated at 72.7/139 (back

tees) and 69.8/133 (blues), with the whitetees under 6,000 yards andthe reds about 70yards short of 5,000.

From the blues, just par 4s are longer than400 yards on the card, with the somewhatinfamous fifth the lone two-shotter withserious length. Any tee shot to the right willplunge into a creek not far removed fromthe fairway, but the bunkers to the left aregone, providing more room to avoidtrouble. The wetlands short of the greenhave been restored, but there is a littlebailout room, although the multi-level greendoesnt make things much easier once youreach it.

Although there are hazards in play on

about half the holes, the fifth is the only seri-ously penal hole on the course. There aretwo scenic over-water par 3s (4 and 15), with a shallow green and a wrap-aroundhazard making the fourth a scary holedespite its absence of length. The blue tees atthe 15th are considerably shorter than theywere initially, but the new angle brings anoverhanging tree into play for those who hita fade from the tee. The triple tier green isintact and can make for some perplexingchips and putts.

The removal of the eagles head bunkerand a shorter blue tee has made the seventha much easier hole, but the pronouncedridge that divides the green will produce alot of three-putts for those who putt forbirdie from long range.

Indian Creek is justifiably proud of itsfour par 3s, with the 12th the closest toMuirheads original concept. Seven bunkerssurround the green in the shape of flowerpetals, with the visual appeal of thedownhill hole not getting in the way ofits playability.

The par-5s average 490 yards from theblues and all offer excellent scoring opportu-nities along with a risk or two. The sixthsimply requires accuracy, while the rollingninth has a creek crossing the fairway shortof the lay-up area that should not be a

serious concern, although a bunkeguarding the front of the green m

Big hitters have to be aware obisecting the 10th fairway, but tstill easily reachable for those whoto it off the tee. The most intrigupar 5s is the 17th, which requires c

water on both the drive and sec With OB left and water right, avital on the tee shot, and a pondthe green down the left side isaccommodating to pulled orattempts to reach it in two.

For those wondering where theits name, observe the mounds shgreen and the bunker that surroval-shaped putting surface. It mto discern from ground level, butrepresents a womens face face, thethe hair and the mounds are seltory. Before they were reduced abore more of a resemblance to Dothan Scarlett.

Excluding the fifth, the par 4s arinviting bunch. At least half of thdriver, short iron holes for moalthough several have some troublebeginning with the third. The tinyshort of the green is gone, but the lurks inches off the back of tremains, requiring considerable prthe short approach to set upattempt, ar at the least, remain dry

A creek that crosses the fairw13th is a hazard to shorter hitters,clear it, all thats left is a wedge anto put a circle on the scorecard.

Indian Creeks greens are vastly btheyve been in the past, with a newbent grass helping to revive them.

some roll but offer the possibilitysome putts thanks to their quabsence of excessive speed or soverall conditions are excellent, wcome as a surprise to those whomade the trip east on 1-20 for a w

Muirhead was one of the majotors in golf course design duringcareer, but eccentricity is a wordalso associated with him. A few oin regards to Indian Creek were athe top, but the essence of his molent layout remains, with the twhave been over the years improverall product, although they reduced its novelty somewhat.

Indian Creek is still a morecourse than some on the east side Atlanta, but is not close to most difficult.

Its a lot more player friendlyaccurately points out. Indian Cthoroughly enjoyable place to playdemand of the fifth hole and theof a few imposing hazards more tby the number of holes that arecomfortable in nature.

Take a ride out I-20 to exit 42 ayourself.


W

After changes, upgrades

Covington course rates high

for conditions, playability

The par-5 17th Scarlet hole

The scenic par-3 15th


17/32



18/32

Blanks on target for 2009 PGA Tou

B y M i k e B l u m

ith only a handful of weeksremaining on the 2008Nationwide Tour schedule,a number of golfers with

Georgia ties are in position to either earn aspot on the 2009 PGA Tour, or retain fullplaying privileges on the Nationwide Tournext year.

Leading the way is Warner Robins nativeand former Georgia club professional KrisBlanks, who was 13th on the money list with six tournaments left before the TourChampionship in early November inDallas. The top 25 earn spots on the 09

PGA Tour.Blanks, who won several Georgia PGA

tournaments while he was an assistant atThe Landings in Savannah, scored his firstNationwide Tour win earlier this year inChicago, edging out Bob May, famous forhis battle with Tiger Woods in the 2000PGA Championship. This is Blanks thirdseason on the Nationwide Tour after astretch on the Hooters Tour, where he wonthree times, the first of them comingin Savannah.

The victory in one of the NationwideTours top events is responsible for most ofBlanks $229,300 in earnings, as he hasjust two other top 10s, largely due to somestruggles on the weekend after some excel-lent play in the first two rounds oftournaments. Blanks, 35, lives just outsideSavannah in Bluffton, S.C., with his wifeTami, a club professional at Sea Pines onHilton Head Island.

Also in the top 25 is former GeorgiaTech golfer Matt Weibring, who was 18th

in earnings thanks to four top 10s andnine top 25s in 15 starts. Weibring, 28,who had been sliding down the money listeach of the previous two seasons, hasenjoyed an outstanding season statistically,ranking in the top 10 in greens inregulation, birdies, scoring and the all-around category, and was first in scoringbefore the cut.

Duluths Scott Dunlap won the season-opening tournament in Panama, but hasnot finished higher than 14th since, andhas fallen outside the top 20 to 28th. Theveteran tour pro, who has played six yearson the PGA Tour and is in his seventhNationwide season, is among the leaders in

hitting fairways and greens, but is rankednear the bottom in putting, his long timenemesis. Dunlap, 45, has two careerNationwide wins along with victories inCanada, South America and South Africa.

Back-to-back finishes of fourth andsixth this summer in Springfield, Mo., andColumbus, Oh., boosted Albanys JoshBroadawayinto the top 30, but he missedhis next three cuts to fall to 35th.Broadaway, 35, in his fourth Nationwideseason and known for his unorthodoxcross-handed swing, has struggled in theball-striking categories, but is ranked thirdin putting and sixth in birdies.

Former Georgia Tech great Bryce

Molder is back on the Nationwide Tourafter struggling last year on the PGA Tour.Molder was 37th in earnings, with almosthalf his total coming from a tie for secondin the South Georgia Classic at ValdostasKinderlou Forest. Molder, 29, has playedrespectably this season other than hisT2 in Valdosta, but has not nearlyachieved the success he enjoyed in collegeas a professional after some promisingearly results.

Brendon Toddhas enjoyed an excellentrookie season, with four top 10s and threeother top 25s in 16 starts. Todd, a memberof Georgias 2005 NCAA Championshipteam who enjoyed an outstanding careerwith the Bulldogs, won on the Tar Heel

and Hooters Tours last year after turningpro, and has continued his strong play onthe Nationwide Tour, coming intoSeptember just outside then top 50 on themoney list. He ranks among the leaders inputting, birdies and scoring and was 12thin the all-around category.

(Todd moved into the top 25 with a 6-stroke victory in Utah, and is very close tolocking up a spot on the 2009 PGA Tour.)

Chris Kirk, Todds teammate for fouryears in Athens and a fellow multiple

All-American, was 64th in earnings, justoutside the top 60 required to remainexempt for next season. Kirk lost in aplayoff in Knoxville, but has not finishedbetter than 15th other than his near miss.Kirk, who grew up in Woodstock and hassettled on St. Simons Island, has also madethree PGA Tour starts in his first fullseason as a pro, and made the cut inAtlanta, the Colonial and the U.S. Open.

Former Bulldog and PGA Tour veteranTommy Tolles was right behind Kirk in64th. Tolles, who has played nine seasons

on both the PGA and Nationwide Tours,contended for wins in Chicago andColumbus, but has struggled to recapturethe game that twice qualified him forthe PGA Tour Championship in thelate 1990s.

Also just outside the top 60 wasAugustas Scott Parel, who is playing hisfifth season on the Nationwide Tour andhas a chance to crack the top 60 for thefirst time. Parel, 43, ranks among the topball-strikers on the tour, but has had mixedresults in final rounds, preventing himfrom securing a spot in the top 60. Hisbest finish this year was a fourth placeshowing in Valdosta.

Despite having no status on the tour,

Eatontons Blake Adams is among the top90 on the money list in just seven starts,the highlight a tie for sixth in Valdosta.That finish got him into some of theNationwide Tours top events, and he ranoff a string of strong performances,including three straight top-20 finishes toenable him to keep playing. Adams, acareer mini-tour player, has to finish in thetop 25 in a tournament to earn a spot inthe field in the next event.

Snellvilles Jonathan Fricke is playing

his first season on the Nationwand moved into the top 90 aftetie for third in Rochester. Priotournament, Fricke had missstraight cuts, as he has struggled t ways and greens, offsetting a r11th on tour in driving distance.

Former Georgia Tech golfIsenhour has a combined 13 yePGA and Nationwide Tours, anished in the top 10 on the Namoney list three times since 2Isenhour, 40, who is eighth on thNationwide Tour money list, is otop 100 this year, missing 12 owith a best finish of 13th.

Also outside the top 100 is LJohn Kimbell, a Nationwide Toin Valdosta in his rookie seasonKimbell, 39, enjoyed some sumini-tour player before joiNationwide Tour player, but has

better finish than 18th this seasonsub-standard stats reflecting his p

Reid Edstrom, who grewNorcross before playing on the goAuburn and settling there, has 10 starts in his first Nationwseason. Edstrom, 33, had a top-10Raleigh and a top-15 in Knox was outside the top 125 inentering September, and needsinto the top 100 to have some tour next year.

Georgia PGA member Sonnyhas divided his time this year bejob at River Pointe in Albany anin Nationwide Tour and Geo

events. Skinner, a veteran of bothand Nationwide Tours from 19has played a partial schedule thistying for 18th in Athens, but has two cuts since. Skinners PGA stathe number of tour events he caand he has already reached that nthe year. Skinner leads the NTour in driving accuracy, but is ribottom in driving distance.

Savannahs Tim ONeal, tGeorgia Amateur champion, is pfifth season on the Nationwide Tthus far its been his least sONeal, 35, the lone African-player on either the PGA or NaTours, placed 44th and 36th on t

list in 2005 and 06, but is arothis year. In 12 starts, ONeal only four cuts with a tie for best finish.

One of the final Nationwide Toof 2008 will be played Oct. 16-1Creek Club in Chattanooga. Jason Bohn and Roswells Jusboth won there on the wayPGA Tour, and a victory could send another Georgian major leagues.


W

Leads Georgia contingent

on 2008 Nationwide Tour

Brendon Todd

Kris Blanks

ATHEN

SREGIONALFOUNDATIONCLASSIC


19/32



20/32

Should golf be added to Olympic

B y M i k e B l u m

he Summer Olympics havecome and gone, and one of theleftovers from the BeijingGames is the possibility that golf

will make its way onto the varied menu ofsports for the 2016 extravaganza.

Most, if not all, of the international golfcommunity is behind the idea, whichappears much more promising in theorythan reality. Then theres the matter of his-tory, which has been conveniently absentfrom the discussion thus far, but shouldalone be sufficient to dissuade any efforts of

making golf an Olympic sport.

Golf was supposed to be a part of the1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but was KOdby a 1-2 international/local punch thatprovided a painful lesson that has apparentlybeen forgotten.

The Olympics is rife with politics,hypocrisy, excess commercialism and

bombast, all of which golf can do without.Fortunately, given the mindset of Olympicofficials who will make the final decisionand the scheduling conflicts that mayultimately be the most important factor, thelikelihood that golf will be part of the 2016Games is relatively remote.

Golf was all set to be a part of the AtlantaGames, with Augusta National on board toserve as tournament host. Representatives ofthe sport had seemingly jumped through allthe hoops required to add golf to theOlympic roster. But that was before thenAtlanta mayor Bill Campbell and a disgrun-tled Australian IOC member teamed up tothwart the efforts of Billy Payne, who led thequest to bring the Olympics to Atlanta andwas the president of the group that con-ducted the games before moving on to hiscurrent jobas chairman of Augusta National.

Some IOC officials did not take kindly to Atlantas selection as the 1996 SummerGames host. The move to prevent golf frombeing added to the roster of sports that yearrepresented their most public success inexacting a little payback on Payne and theAtlanta Games, with the since-jailed Atlantamayor playing the race card to ensure golfsremoval from the Olympic schedule.

Campbell effectively portrayed AugustaNational as an unfit host because of its his-tory of exclusivity (the club had only recently welcomed its first minority member), andthat was enough to provide the IOC withsome cover to squash golfs hopes.

Ironically, and theres almost always ironyin such situations, the only party that actu-ally suffered from the decision was the mostprominent minority within the sport female golfers.

Playing on an equal footing with the menon arguably themost hallowed golf course inthe world, the womens game would have

received a tremendous boost. But no oneinvolved in the decision to remove golf gavethat much thought.

The PGA Tours representative to thecurrent attempt to addgolf to the Olympics

is Ty Votaw, who was legal counsel for theLPGA during the Olympics debacle of the

1990s and went on to become the organi-zations commissioner. More irony.

The international golf federations arehoping to increase the games exposure withits inclusion in the Olympics, but howmuch more exposure does golf really need?And if it gets it, which is a question in itself,what will it matter?

The likelihood that golf will draw muchattention at the Olympics is debatable. With

the sports top male and female playersparticipating, tennis was essentially ignoredin Beijing. How much media focus will beon golf, which will have to make some

significant adjustments to its schedule toensure that the games top players will com-pete in the Olympics, assuming they wouldeven want to.

Golf has its own version of the Olympics.Theyre called major championships. Unlike

the Olympics, which are held once everyfour years, both the PGA Tour and LPGAfeature four majors a year. One of them, thePGA Championship, is played in very closeproximity to the Olympics.

The LPGA schedule is more conducive tohaving its players compete in the Olympics,but the big prize for the Summer Games ismens golf, more specifically Tiger Woods,who will turn 40 before the 2016 Games.

The Olympics does not want golf as asport unless it is guaranteed that the gamestop players will participate. Baseball hasbeen booted from the schedule because themajor leagues will not suspend play for sev-eral weeks and allow its star players to

compete for their home countries, or thoseof their parents or grandparents.Golfs best players from all over the world

compete on a weekly basis. There are twohigh profile team competitions that alter-nate years and an annual Olympic-styleevent (the World Cup), in which two golfersrepresenting their country play against two-somes representing other countries.

Even when the likes of Davis Love-FredCouples and Tiger Woods-David Duval rep-resented the U.S., the World Cup did notexactly compel huge numbers of sports fansto watch the event. Other than Woods, nogolfer attracts fans from outside the sport,with most viewers not already golf fanslikelyto watch only to see the representatives of

their country, assuming they manage muchTV time.

Tennis, the sport most comparable to golfcurrently in the Olympics, was banished to


T

Conflicting schedule among

reasons it probably wont

Analysis

1. M at t Pete rson ,U .ofG eorg ia G C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

2. Son ny Skin ner, River Point e G C.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482.5

3. Jeff Hull, U. of G eorgia G C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

4. Craig S tevens, Fox Creek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 32.5

5. Tim W einhar t, St, Marlo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 31

6. Clark S pratlin, Blue R id ge GC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 29

7. Brian Dixon, Fox Creek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

8. Wi nston Tr ive ly, Crooked O ak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

9. G reg Lee, Chicopee W oods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 0

10. J ohn Duta, T PC Sugarloaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

11. Shawn Koch, CC of th e Sout h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220.5

12. Wyat t D et me r, Orchar d Hil ls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

13. Gar y C ress end, Augus ta C C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

14. Jordo n Arnold, Ac hasta GC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

1 5 . C h a n R e e v e s , A t l a n t a A C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 7

16. Todd Pe te rson ,M ar iet ta CC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17. Don Williams, Chattahoochee GC. . . . . . . . . . . . .

18. Ru ss Dav is, Che rokee CC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 9 . W i l l H u t t e r , S e a I s l a n d G C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20. Tommy Bra nne n, Au gu st a CC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21. Ste ph en Keppl er, M ari et ta CC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22. Ra ndyB rooks, An sl ey G C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23. D on n Pern o, Ca pi tal Cit yClu b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24. JeffF ra si er, Chi copee Woods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25. T ed Fort, M ar ie tt a G olf Ce nt er . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

26. Scott Cu ri el, Sta ndard Clu b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27. M ike Co ok, S ea Is land GC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28. Je ff G ot ham ,Cat eeche e G C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

29. Josh Wi ll iam s, Sava nna h GC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30. Brian Stock, Champions Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Divots 2008 Georgia PGA points leaders

the minor league cable networkseven with the likes of Roger FederNadal and the Williams sisters com

Given that every Olympic smerits significant air time on theconsists of competitors in leota

fitting swim suits, bare midriffs or and the bikini babes of beach what chance does golf have of earnthan highlight coverage?

The Olympics may or may not They certainly want Woods, but 40 by then and could be coming oknee operation and playing mWillie Wood.

Even if the Olympics want golfwant the Olympics?

Does golf want to be associateorganization that awarded its Grepressive, anti-democratic couChina, and looked the other way a jailed or expelled dissidents and

the medias access to informationtrayed China in a less than favoraDoes golf want to be part of a

that includes a multitude of eventsdoubt whether they meet the definsport, with accompanying fan barely exceed the number of comp

Does golf want to be part of aganza that features blatant cheatiage Chinese gymnasts), incompetsibly corrupt judging (gymnboxing) and still has to disqualifytors for use of performance enhanc

In order to fit in, maybe gorequest an amateur, handicap divintroduce the concept of sandbagg

The Olympics doesnt really

Golf doesnt need the Olympics. golf, let the Games add more extreor another event or two with comswim suits or leotards.


21/32



22/32



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24/32

Lees final round 65takes Assistants titleGreg Lee won the Georgia PGA

TaylorMade-adidas Golf Assistants

Championship for the third time, firing a

final round 65 at Jennings Mill Country

Club to score a 3-stroke victory.

Lee, a former assistant at Jennings Mill

now at Chicopee Woods, trailed seven

players after the morning round of the

36-hole event,postingan even parscore of

72. His 7-birdie, no-bogey 65 was the low

score of the afternoon by six strokes, with

only one other player breaking par.

Playing on his home course, Seth

McCain placed second at 140 with rounds

of 69 and 71. He led after the first round

and shot the second lowest score in the

afternoon, but could not keep pace

with Lee.

Andy Blanton of Country Club ofColumbus was third at 143. The top three

finishers qualify for the PGA Assistants

Championship, which begins Oct. 30 at

PGA GC in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Bill Murchison of Towne Lake Hills was

fourth at 144, followed by Chris Dixon of

Kinderlou Forest and Daniel Steele of

Great Waters at 145. Daniel Potts of CC of

the South was seventh at 146.

2 Bulldogs reachsemis in U.S. AmTwo members of the Georgia golf team

reached the semifinals of the 2008 U.S.

Amateur Championship, played at the

Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort.

Senior Adam Mitchell from

Chattanooga and Augustas Patrick Reed,

an incoming freshman, both came within

one win of reaching the finals, which

would have earned them a spot in next

years Masters.

Both players narrowly qualified for

match play, tying for 47th at 144. Mitchell

was seeded 61st in the 64-player draw andReed was 62nd.

Mitchell defeated fourth seeded Corey

Nagy 2-up in the first round after being

1-down after15 holes, and drubbed Rickie

Fowler, one of the tournament favorites,

5&4 in the third round. He lost 4&2 in

the s emif inals to Flor id a S tates

Drew Kittleson, losing five of the last

eight holes.

Reed, who recently moved to Augusta

from Louisiana, had to go 19 holes to win

his opening match against the No. 3 seed,

and needed 23 holes to take his third

round match. He was 1-down after 14

holes in the semifinals against eventual

champion Danny Lee of New Zealandbefore losing 3&2.

The only other Georgian to qualify for

match playwas SavannahsBrian Harman,

a senior member of the Georgia golf team.

Harman, who tied for 10th in stroke play

Lee Anne Busman President

Barter Consultants International, Inc.

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qualifying, won his opening ma

before losing1-upin thesecond

ledthatmatch1-upafter16, losin

two holes to trail for the only

the match.

Ploeger captures 4GSGA Senior titleBill Ploeger of Columbus won

Senior Championship for the fo

edging Atlantas Donald Crum

stroke. At 68, Ploeger becomes t

GSGA Senior champion,winning

for the first time since 1999.

Ploeger trailed Crump by thre

after 36 holes, but closed with a

Marshwood course at The La

Savannah to finish with a 3-u

total. Crump, who shot 69 the se

to take the lead, was tied with

heading to the finalhole, but toofor a 74 and a 214 total.

Curt Knorr of Dunwoody, w

Crump by one stroke after a seco

68, was third at 216, with Ma

Pavoni fourth at 217.

Greg Lee


25/32

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26/32

Quinn takes title

at Stone MountainEric Quinn of Norcross closed with a 71 to

nip Alpharettas Paul Brucknerbyone shotand win the Georgia PGAs Stone Mountain

Junior Classic at the rugged Stonemont

Course.

Quinn, a rising senior, shot a 3-over 143

to edge Bruckner, who had consecutive

rounds of 72. John Edge of Atlanta and

Aaron George of Dahlonega tied for third

at 6-over 146.JoelSawyer of Elberton was

fifth at 7 over.

In the girls division, Melanie Pray of

Mableton finished plus-23 to beat Atlantan

Laura King by one shot. Lauren Court of

Lawrenceville was third.

Other division winnerswere:Girls12-14

Sally Morgan of Alpharetta; Boys 12-13

Joshua Crews of Albany; Boys 14-15

Aaron George.

Beck scores wins

at Callaway GardensJimmy Beck of Columbus emerged from

the14-15year-old division to best theolder

players in the field at the Georgia PGAs

Callaway Gardens Junior Classic. Beck shot

rounds of 68 and 71 to beatJoshMoore of

Peachtree City, another 14-15 competitor,

by one shot.

Nate Gahman of Leesburg was third at141, while Chris Rajek of Suwanee and

Jonathan Klotz of Columbus tied for

fourth at 143. Gahman won the 16-18

division.

Kimberly Graff of Lilburn shot 167 to

win the girls division, one shot ahead of

Taylor Blair of Roswelland Lauren Courtof

Lawrenceville. Lauren Giambastiani of

Cohutta was fourth.

Buster Bruton of Dallas won the boys

12-13 division by a shot over Tommy

Swearingen III of Marietta.

Noble takes second

in U.S. Kids eventGavin Noble of Cartersville had a strong

final round, but fell short of winning his

division at the ninth annual U.S. Kids World

Championships in Pinehurst, N.C. Noble

had a 36 on the last day to finish second in

theboys 7 division. Noble hadroundsof 41,

37 and 36 to fall three shots short of

Californian Alex Pak.

Others who finished in the top 20 were:

Boys 6 and under Connery Meyer ofKennesaw, 17th; Boys 7 Thad Clark of

Ellaville, T-10; Tyler Lipscomb of Carrollton,

T-12; Boys 11 Joe Philaphet of Riverdale

and William Liu of Alpharetta,T-16;

Girls 7 and under Jenny Bae of

Maysville, T-10; Girls 8 Alexis Taylor

of Loganville, T-8; Girls 10 Paula Hong of

Duluth, T-13; Girls 11 Rinko Mitsunaga

of Roswell, fourth; Michaela Owen

of Alpharetta, seventh; Rachel Dai of

Suwanee, T-16; Girls 12 Ashlan Ramey

of Martinez, third.

There were 1,250 golfers from 36

countries at the tournament.All earned the

right to participate througha series of state

and local qualifiers.

PGA Junior Championship: Drew

Czuchry of Auburn finished 19th at the

33th Junior PGA Championship in

Maineville, Ohio. Czuchry opened with a 70

and finished at 4-over 292. KendallWright

of Duluth shot an 18-over 306 and tied for

26thin thegirlsdivision.Theywere theonly

Georgians in the field.

Thomson captures

Atlanta Junior titleRoss Thomson closed with a

70 to win the 15-18 divisio

Atlanta Junior Golf Associatio

Championship, played at Callaway

Thomsonhadrounds of76,73

finish at 3-over 219. Ben Ha

second at 223, with Sean Folen

231 and PaulBruckner fourth at

In the 13-14 boys divisio

Sylvester struggled the final da

81, but he still prevailed at 7-

Garrett Marschke closed with

finished one stroke behind. Will

wasthird andJohnHarman plac

The 12-and-under division wa

by Buster Bruton, whose final-rou

him at6-over222. Hewonby five

Kristopher Douglass. Nick Fazio

andJonathan Keppler fourth.

The girls division was won

Minter, whoshot14-over 230aft

of 75, 79 and 76. She finished

ahead ofLauren Giambastiani.

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27/32

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(You do not have to be present to win.)



28/32

Chteau Elan hosts Duramed Futures TouBy Jackie Cannizzo

Womens Editor

PGA Professional

Country Club of Roswell

The Duramed Futures Tour, the LPGAs

developmental tour, will bring its show to

Chateau Elan on October 16th 19th, with

the tours top 70 money winners vying for

the richest purse of the season. The

Georgia Invitational is the official name of

theevent andwillbenefitthe local chapter

of the Arthritis Foundation,

where all proceeds from the

admission price will be

donated.

This season ending eventis the tours inaugural event

at Chateau Elanin Braselton,

one of the states premier

resort destinations. The field

will be playing for $150,000,

the tours highest payout.

The players will also be playing for bigger

stakesas thetop 10 money winners for the

season will be awarded exemption cards

to the 2009 LPGA Tour.

Thatis anincreasefrom yearspast,when

the top 5 players received tour cards. The

players are all aware of the importance of

finishing well in an event this big, where

the first place winner will receive $21,000.

Vicky Hurst, the tours leading money

winner, has a solid lead over

Mindy Kim, while behind them

the players are bunched up with

only a few thousand dollars separating 3rd

to 10th place and beyond.

This means many cards are up for grabs,

which will bring an added excitement to

the event. Jean Reynolds of Newnan and

fellow UGA grad Whitney Wade are also in

the event with an outside chance of

gaining a tour card.

Hurst, 18, is a four time winner this year

on the Futures Tour in her rookie season.

Shejoined thetourat thebeginning of the

season fresh off an amazing career with

the American Junior Golf Association. She

has also played in two U.S. Womens

Opens. Her excellent play this year has

assured her an LPGA card at the end of

the season.

The event will also feature four previous

winners of the Golf Channels Big Break

series including KimWelch, Kristina Tucker,

Ashley Prange and Briana Vega. Welch was

last seasons winner and is currently sev-

enth on the money list. The Golf Channel

has been using Futures events to audition

players for the show with the hopes of

getting the best players on the show that

do not have tour cards. The winner of thecontest gets exemptions into two LPGA

tour events.

The tour,nowin its28th season, hasover

300 alumnae with alums winning 330

times on the LPGA and 35 majors. In 2006,

the Tour signed a multi-year agreement

with Duramed Pharmaceuticals, which

specializes in womens healthcare prod-

ucts. In 2007, the tour was acquired by the

LPGA and is its official second tour. The

most notable alum of late is LPGA tour

superstar Lorena Ochoa.

Formore information or to participate in

th e Pro A m, g o t o LP GA .c om or

Duramedfuturestour.com. This is a great

opportunity to come out and see the

future stars of the LPGA up close.

Reynolds to playGeorgia InvitationalJean Reynolds is having a

blast this year on the

Durameds Future Tour.She and her brother have

been traveling together

since the season started

in March in Lakeland, Fla.

Reynolds has been very pleased with how

things are going and her performance this

year, feeling she has a good opportunity

going into LPGA qualifying school.

Reynolds knows that even if she wins

the last two events of the year, it may still

notbe enoughto gether card,but shes OK

with making the trek to Mission Hills for

the first round of Q School. She has always

played golf forthe funand doesnt want to

change that mind set going to qualifying.

Reynolds played one year at the

University of Georgia, not because she

wasnt good enough, but because she

wanted to enjoy the real college experi-

ence. Enjoying her college experience

meant joining a sorority, studying abroad

in Austria and graduating with a degree in

child and family development. Reynolds

continued to compete and do well in

summer amateur events keeping her

game solid, but come fall would change

her focus to school.

She has never regretted her choice in

doing it that way. Reynolds feels

she can focus all of her attentio

without the distractions of schoo

she can succeed at the highest

year she qualified and played in

Womens Openin Minnesotaand

she missed the cut there, the ex

further fueled her fire to conten

LPGA. Her best finish on the Fut

is a tie for 5th in the Merce

Championship in Kansas and

that with a top 10 at the

Championship.

GSGA Sr. Women

crown new champDarlene Werhnyak and Mary R

tied after regulation and hea

sudden-death playoff both hopin

turethe 11thannual GSGASenio

crown. The players carded solid

79 and 77 on a long track, A

Pointe at Richard B. Russell Sta

Elberton. The playoff saw both p

the fairway with their drive. Bot

the green with approach shots

faced with similar putts for par. W

made her 6 foot putt and Riley m

Werhnyak, from Lawrencevill

the second round trailingdefend

pion Brenda Pictor, of Marietta

shots. She played steady on thewith a birdie and just two boge

1-over for the round, while P

struggling a bit with a balky put

from Perry, was on a roller coas

starting with a double bogey o

hole, and then birdied the third.

tinued the ride on the back sid

double then a birdie, while W

played steady until she doubled

She and Riley bested Pictor and

Lindberg, of Atlanta, who

third overall.

Phyllis Foisy of Stathem fired

round of the championship wit

the final day to tie for fifth ove

Mary Ellen McEleath of Augusta.

Other flight winners: Caroly

Augusta, 1st; Betsy Butler, Atla

Helen Kirbo, Albany, 3rd; Jan Cro

4th; Beatty Maffet, Atlanta, 5

Hudspeth, Midland, 6th; Julie

Roswell, 7th; Julie Herbert, Mar

Janet Richards, Kathleen, 9th

Evans, Fort Valley, 10th; Jea

Gray, 11th.

The GSGA had a record n

players this year event of 50 and


Golf FOREWomen

Vicky Hurst

Kim Welch

DURAMEDFUTURESTOUR

DURAMED

FUTURESTOUR


29/32

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30/32

Callaway Gardens Mountain View (PublicPine Mountain, Ga.; 706-663-5044; www.callawaygardens.com

STAFF: Bud Robison is the Director of Golf; Matthew Harris is the General Manag

PAR/YARDAGE:The Mountain View course is a par 72 with four sets Blue (7,05

White (6,630); Green (5,783) and Red (4,883).

COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 73.7/139 (Blue); 71.9/134 (White); 68.2/126 (Green);

69.4/120 (Red),

ABOUT THE COURSE: The home for a decade of an annual PGA Tour event,

Gardens Mountain View course remains a popular tournament site for the Geo

GSGA andjunior golf organizations, with thePGA Tourreturning in Novemberfo

stage qualifying event. The Georgia PGA will again host its Match Play Champio

the MountainView course later thismonth, withthe states topclub professionals

one of Georgias most respected layouts. Mountain View, the feature course of

Gardens 45-hole golf complex, is a wonderful, traditional-style layout designe

Wilson.Advances in modern technologyhave takensome of the teethout of the 7

back tees for pros andtopamateurs, butthe6,630-yardwhite tees remain a very s

for the vast majority of the resorts visitors. Mountain View is as straightforward a

of its caliber come, with only two holes where water hazards are seriously in pla

two with significant doglegs. The keys to playing well at Mountain View are avo

pesky Bermuda roughthatlinesthe fairwaysand hitting precise approachshots twell-guarded greens, which typically offer targets of modest size and can be tes

despite theabsenceof significant amounts of slope.With none of thepar 4shavi

length, longer hitters will have a succession of short iron approaches, but two of

and severalof the par 5s willprovide opportunitiesfor longirons,hybridsor fairw

Two of the par 3s are over 210 yards from the tips, with only one of the par 5s w

range in twofor theproswho will visit thecourse in thenext fewmonths. Thedo

second is just over 500 yards, but a tiny green surrounded by sand and trees nea

ting surface that must be negotiated make it a hole where a quality short game

as prodigious length. The par-5 15th, one of the two featuring water in play, is th

most famous(or infamous) hole,with a real risk for thosegoingfor thegreen in tw

a solid, playable and thoroughly enjoyable test of golf in a pastoral, natural settin

Griffin Country Club (Private)430 Country Club Drive, Griffin; 770-228-0710

STAFF:Tom Neary is the Golf Professional; Gordon Dixon is the General Manager

PAR/YARDAGE: Griffin Country Club is a par 72 with four sets of tees Blue (6,85

White (6,448); Gold (5,635) and Red (5,424).

COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 73.9/133 (Blue); 71.8/128 (White); 68.3/118 (Gold); 72.3

(Red).

ABO

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FORE Georgia 0908C Web