June 2015 FORE Georgia Magazine

The renovations have resulted in con-siderable changes to the CourseRating/Slope numbers, which are signif-icantly higher than before Billy Fullerdid some tweaks to the original JoeLee/Rocky Roquemore design.

Other than the removal of theshort, downhill par-3 13th and itsreplacement by a new par 3 locatedin proximity to the clubhouse andplaying as the 10th hole, the changesmade to the course are not obviouslyevident. But as head professional BrianConley points out, “This is not EmeraldPointe. It’s short but it’s mean. Theyardage is very misleading. If you don’tunderstand how the course plays, it canbe challenging.”

It doesn’t take a great deal of under-standing of visual appeal to recognizethat Legacy on Lanier is one of the mostscenic golf courses you’ll encounter. Ofthe 18 holes, 12 play along Lake Lanier,down from 13 prior to the removal of theold 13th hole.

The lake is not a serious factor on all12 holes, but is very much in play on allbut a handful of the dozen, and provides

one splendid view after another. “This is probably the most scenic

course in the Southeast,” Conley attests.“There are no homes and the course sitson top of the lake.”

In addition to attracting resort guestsand a local clientele that enjoys thecourse’s beauty and challenge, Legacy on

Lanier is a very popular site for variousoutings.

“The course lends itself to scramblegolf,” says Conley, citing the risk/rewardnature of a number of the holes and thefrequent presence of hazards that caninflict severe damage to individual scorecards.

B y M i k e B l u m

hen evaluating the dif-ficulty of a golf course,one of the first aspectsto consider is the

length of the course in question. At Legacy on Lanier, the yardage

listed on the scorecard is one of thelesser elements of the challenge posedby one of the Atlanta area’s most visu-ally appealing but deceptivelydemanding courses.

Legacy on Lanier has been aroundsince the mid-1980s and has under-gone a few name changes (originallyLake Lanier Island GC, then EmeraldPointe) along with a fairly extensiverenovation in the late 2000s.

The renovation added around 240yards to the back tees, but the coursestill maxes out at a modest 6,580 yardsfrom the black tees, with the blues justunder 6,200. Among the alterations tothe course was a change in the bunkerpatterns that brings sand more intoplay off the tee, and the addition of anall-new par 3, which replaced a par 3which is no longer part of the course. [ See Legacy on Lanier, page 6 ]

WEntertaining layout not long, but not easy

Legacy on Lanier offers beauty, challenge

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Legacy on Lanier

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Five ways to improve your putting game

Atlanta Open preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Nance wins at Rivermont . . . . . . . . . 10

Georgians in PGA PNC . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Georgia Amateur preview . . . . . . . . . 14

Travel: Sequoyah National . . . . . . . . 16

Kirk captures Colonial . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Scott Dunlap feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Georgians on Web.com Tour . . . . . . 24

Judson Pro-Am preview . . . . . . . . . . 26

Mitsunaga a USGA champion . . . . . 28

NCAA golf championships. . 30, 32, 34

Dogwood, SE Am previews. . . . . . . . 38

2. The speed is more importantthan the line.

Place three tees into the green, threepaces apart. Start with putts at 12 feet, 18feet and 24 feet. Hit three balls to each teein the ground focusing on correct speed.Putts that end up near each tee are as easytwo putts on the course.

3. On putts outside ten feet, do several practicestrokes looking atthe hole, feeling the club move back and thru to the hole. Repeat the same feel over the ball togauge distance.

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

4. Posture and ball position. Correct stance builds a repeatable stroke.Your eyes should be over the ball whentaking the stance. Ball position is playedtoward forward foot closest to the hole.

5. Use a yardstick to master threefooters.Drill a small hole in end of a yardstick. Buy one at Lowe’s or Home Depot for onedollar. Place the ball on the hole at end ofthe stick. Practice putting keeping the ballon the stick. Instant results will show if youpush or pull the stroke.To keep the ball on the stick, focus on theback of your left hand. Keep it square withthe clubface and follow through to target.(Right handed golfer)

Practice, Play & Win

Karl E. Gross, PGAHead Professional/ManagerThe Creek at Hard LaborGeorgia Junior Golf [email protected]

3021 Kalah Place, Marietta, GA 30067770-933-04GA / 770-953-6638 fax

FOREgeorgia.com / [email protected] all press releases to: [email protected]

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E D I T O R Mike BlumW E B S I T E / FA C E B O O K / S O C I A L M E D I A

Jason McCullough / Kristen ZeckJUNIOR/COLLEGE GOLF NEWS COORDINATOR

Samantha StoneM A R K E T I N G & A D V E R T I S I N G

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[email protected] R T D I R E C T O R Lori Ors

C R E AT I V E S E R V I C E S Catalina MontanaC O N T R I B U T O R S

Karl Gross • Steve DinbergRob Matre • Al Kooistra

G E O R G I A S E C T I O N , P G A O F A M E R I C A O F F I C E R S

PresidentMark Mongell, PGA / [email protected]

Vice PresidentBrian Albertson, PGA / [email protected]

SecretaryJohn Godwin, PGA / [email protected]

Honorary PresidentBrian Stubbs, PGA / [email protected]

C H A P T E R P R E S I D E N T S

Central Chapter PresidentWinston Trively, PGA / [email protected]

East Chapter PresidentBrandon Youmans / [email protected]

North Chapter PresidentShawn Koch, PGA / [email protected]

AT- L A R G E D I R E C T O R S

Billy Jack, PGA / [email protected] O’Dell, PGA / [email protected]

Brandon Stooksbury, PGA / [email protected] Lammi, PGA / [email protected]

Brian Conley, PGA / [email protected] Evans, PGA / [email protected]

Todd Ormsby, PGA / [email protected]

S E N I O R D I V I S I O N

PresidentMike Schlueter, PGA / [email protected]

A S S I S TA N T S ’ D I V I S I O NPresident

Will Bartram, PGA / [email protected]

S E C T I O N S TA F F

Executive Director Mike PaullAssistant Executive Director/

Junior Golf Director Scott GordonTournament Director Pat Day, PGAOperations Manager Eric Wagner

Section Assistant Carrie Ann Byrne

FOREGeorgia is produced by Golf Media, Inc.Copyright ©2014 with all rights reserved.Reproduction or use, without permission,

of editorial or graphic content is prohibited.Georgia PGA website: www.georgiapga.com.FORE Georgia website: www.foregeorgia.com

Instruction Fore You

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Fore

cast

FEATURES:

By Karl Gross PGA Head GolfProfessional/Manager The Creek at Hard Labor

1. Practiceputting withlots of balls. Use a shag bag at the practice green.Many practice putting with two or threeballs and waste time chasing balls. Spendyour time working on the stroke hittingtwenty balls in sequence to the sametarget.

P R E S E N T E D BY

DEPARTMENTS:

Golf FORE Juniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Chip shots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Crossword puzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

For a wrap-up of

the Yamaha Atlanta

Open and updates on

golf in Georgia, visit

www.foregeorgia.com

Need help with

your game?

Visit your local

PGA Professional


http://www.curraheeclub.com/


“In stroke play, it can eat you up, butit’s fun and enjoyable in a team environ-ment. You can try to drive some of thepar 4s and go for the par 5s in two.”

With two inviting par 3s of short tomedium length and one of the two over-water par 3s lacking serious distance, theopportunities for a hole-in-one exist,with Conley pointing out that threehave been made at Legacy on Lanier inrecent events.

One of the changes made to the coursethat predated the renovations was thereversal of the two nines. That keptplayers from starting on a difficultstretch of holes that began with a dan-gerous par 5 and included a trio ofpotentially penal par 4s and the mostdemanding par 3 on the course.

The original back nine (now the front)is shorter than the current back nine anddoes not have as many holes capable ofproducing some ugly numbers on thescorecard. But it has a few holes wherethe lake is a serious concern, althoughthere are also several holes that can bevery inviting if you can hit it solid andrelatively straight.

Legacy on Lanier is rated at 72.7/141from the black tees and 71.0/137 fromthe blues. The white tees measure justover 5,700 yards and are rated at68.8/128, with the forward tees around4,850.

Because several holes require carriesoff the tee or on approach shots overwater, the selection of which tees to playcan be the difference between an enjoy-able round or too many visits to yourbag for a new ball. The lack of serious

scorecard yardage can be anenticement for golfers to play the coursefrom a set of tees that may be a littlemore than they can handle, with the dif-ference between the blue and white teesparticularly significant on a handful ofholes.

If you play the correct set of tees,Legacy on Lanier is definitely capable ofyielding more than its share of scoringopportunities, along with the occasionallikelihood of an unpleasant number onthe scorecard.

The course begins with a trio of holesthat exemplify its dual nature. Theopening hole is a short and relativelynarrow par 5, with trouble lurking onthe right, particularly for those going forthe green in two. The hole takes a bit ofa dip for the second shot, with an uphillthird over front bunkers to an angledgreen with some friendly mounds to theleft and rear of the putting surface, but asharp drop-off to trouble on the right.

The second hole is an all-carry-over-water par 3, but maxes out at 170 yardsfrom the back tee with room to miss onthe right. The third also features a carryover the lake, but in this case it’s a teeshot on a par 4 with a strong risk/rewardnature. Longer hitters can go directly atthe green, but there is trouble left andlong even if you clear the water off thetee.

The tee shot is also a challenge forthose who have no prayer of driving thegreen, with a small landing area beyond

two bunkers requiring a precise shotthat has to carry water and sand withoutflying too far into trees at the corner ofthe hole just before it makes a sharpturn to the left.

The only other serious troubleremaining on the opening nine isfound on the winding par-5 sixth,with water down the left in play allthe way to the green, most notably onthe second shot where the fairwayangles to the right.

The course turns inland for a trioof par 4s to conclude the nine, withall three beginning with downhilltee shots. The most interesting ofthe three is the eighth, with a trio

of bunkers in the fairway forcinga decision for longer hitters toeither attempt to carry them orlay up. A sharply uphill approachto a shielded putting surfacerequires both a solid strike andprecise distance control to avoiddifficult short game shots from infront of the green.

The new par-3 10th featuresfour tees with four slightly dif-ferent angles to hole locations on alarge green that slopes from left toright off a hillside and is flanked by

three bunkers. With the short, downhillformer 13th no longer part of the course,it’s replacement is the last respite beforea before a perilous five-hole stretch thatdoes not respond well to miss-hits or off-target shots.

The downhill, dogleg left, par-5 11thnecessitates both accuracy and length,with bunkers and a drop-off left of thefairway and trees tight to the right onthe second shot. Anything left of thegreen will plunge down an embankmentinto the lake or trees and a dicey lie ifyou choose to attempt a recovery shotrather than accept a penalty stroke.

The 12th is among the more dramaticholes on the course, with the angled teeshot having to carry a sizeable expanse ofthe lake to reach the fairway from theback two sets of tees. The tee shot is con-siderably shorter but still daunting fromthe white tees, but if you can keep it dryoff the tee, the hole becomes much moreinviting as long as you avoid the bunkerthat guards the front of the green withthe Lake precariously close on the right.

Lake Lanier looms all the way downthe right side of the 13th, but there is alittle room left off the tee and a bailoutarea left of the green that takes some ofthe peril out of the hole.

The 14th is the toughest hole on thecourse and one of the mostdemanding par 4s in all of Atlanta.The landing area for the tee shot isamong the more generous on the course,

but the lengthy second offers no room tomiss, with the lake below the level of thegreen to the right and a hill with densevegetation on the left. For shorter hitterswith a fairway metal in hand, it’s do ordie, usually the latter.

The toughest par 3 at Legacy onLanier is the 15th, with a healthy carryover the lake and a bunker to a largegreen, and anything right plungingdown a hill to a watery grave.

Like the front, the back nine turnsinland for the last three holes – a shortpar 4 with a green obscured from view, areasonably long and rolling par 5 withsome helpful fairway slopes and astraightaway par 4 of moderate lengthwith one of the more adventurous put-ting surfaces on the course.

Even with all the hazards in play, thegreens are a big part of Legacy onLanier’s challenge, offering sufficientmovement and pace to keep things inter-esting once you reach them.

Because of its location and scenicappeal, Legacy on Lanier’s rates are in theupper tier of metro Atlanta’s daily feefacilities, but food and drink in the club-house is free, with fresh sandwichessupplied daily by Blimpies.

Legacy on Lanier is one of two coursesbuilt on the island, but PineIsle, theoriginal Lake Lanier layout, remains outof use, with Conley noting that its pos-sible revival “is still up in the air.”

Until then, Lake Lanier will still haveone of the state’s most entertaining andscenic courses, with Legacy on Lanier ajoy to play even if your scorecard mayhave a few blemishes on it.

Legacy on Lanierscenic, challenging[ Continued from the cover ]

Legacy on Lanier

For information visit www.lanierislandsgolf.com,

or call 770-945-8789

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http://www.wantteetimes.com/atlanta

B y M i k e B l u m

t’s been 15 years since WhiteColumns has served as the hostcourse for the Yamaha AtlantaOpen, but it would not come as a

major surprise if the three names at thetop of the leader board in 2000 were con-tenders in this year’s tournament.

James Mason, Tim Weinhart andGreg Lee all finished at 7-under 137,with Mason winning on the secondplayoff hole when he parred the difficultpar-4 18th for a third straight time.

The 2015 tournament will be playedJune 15-16, just a few miles away fromAtlanta National, which hosted lastyear’s Atlanta Open. Hank Smith, thehead pro at Frederica Club on St. SimonsIsland, won the 2014 Atlanta Open bythree shots at 6-under 138, with thetournament barely finishing before dark-ness set in following a rain delay.

Smith broke away from a crowdedleader board with five birdies in a six-hole stretch midway through the round,with the last of the five coming justbefore play was halted. In a short span oftime, Smith went from four shots behindRivermont head pro Matthew Evans tothree ahead, as Evans suffered a pair ofdouble bogeys, one when he was penal-ized for playing the wrong ball after heand one of his playing partners laid up onthe par-5 ninth hole.

After play resumed, Smith protectedhis lead with some deft short game play,with Cateechee Director of Golf JeffGotham taking second at 141. Smithwas the only player to break 70 the final

day, closing with a 4-under 68.Gotham opened with a 68 toshare the first round lead withEvans, following with a 73.The two double bogeys leftEvans with a 76 and a tie forseventh at 144.

Smith went on to win asecond Georgia PGA majorlast year, running away fromthe field in the SectionChampionship at Sea IslandGolf Club, where he onceworked as an assistant.Smith, a native of Waycrosswho played in college atboth Georgia Tech andAlabama, was a mini-tourplayer for most of his golfcareer, working off and onat Sea Island GC beforetaking the job atFrederica.

The Atlanta Open hashad a diverse group ofwinners in its long history, which datesback to at least the late 1920s, withBobby Jones winning in 1929 andTommy Barnes capturing three of hisfive titles in the 1930s. Amateurs havewon three Atlanta Opens since 2007,with Armstrong State golfer CoryGriffin taking the rain-shortened 2013tournament at Polo G&CC in a playoffover Stephen Keppler.

The Atlanta Open is the only one ofthe four Georgia PGA majors thatKeppler, the Director of Golf at MariettaCountry Club has yet to win. He misseda playoff by one shot at ChattahoocheeGC in 2012 and has had several otherclose calls over the years.

Also seeking his first win in the tour-nament is Sonny Skinner, who won hissecond Georgia PGA Player of the Yeartitle in 2014. Skinner tied for seventhlast year at Atlanta National, with hisbest chance at victory coming in 2007 atNewnan CC, where he finished one shotbehind fellow former tour player MattPeterson.

Most of the top Georgia PGA playershave won the tournament at some point,including Weinhart and Lee, who botheventually claimed an Atlanta Open titleafter losing in the 2000 playoff.

Lee, a long time assistant at ChicopeeWoods who was recently promoted to head pro, won in a playoff over

Jeff Hull at Marietta CC in 2003,and Weinhart won by three shots atHeron Bay in 2009 after two playofflosses and a few other near misses. Bothhave contended in the Atlanta Opensince their victories, with Weinhartplacing second and Lee ninth in lastyear’s Georgia PGA points standings.

Other recent champions includeJennings Mill assistant Seth McCain(2012 at Chattahoochee GC in a three-way playoff that included Mason);Brookstone instructor Craig Stevens,who shot 13-under 131 at the Frog in2011 to win by one over Crooked Oakhead pro Winston Trively; amateurDave Womack, who won on his homecourse at Georgia National by a shot overWeinhart and Hull in 2010; and amateurBob Royak, who won by two over Hullin 2007 at the Standard Club.

Hull, the former head pro at PortArmor (now Reynolds Landing) and cur-rently an assistant coach on the Furmanwomen’s team, placed second in the tour-nament three times between 2003 and2010.

Other Atlanta Open championsinclude Country Club of the SouthDirector of Instruction Shawn Koch(Dunwoody CC, 2006); Atlanta AthleticClub Director of Instruction ChanReeves (Golf Club of Georgia, 2005);

and Ansley GC Director GolfPhil Taylor (Golf Club ofGeorgia, 2002).

White Columns has hosted anumber of events for both theGeorgia PGA and GSGA, aswell as USGA qualifiers. Theoutstanding Tom Fazio designhas changed little since it lasthosted the Atlanta Open in2000, and remains a course thatcan yield some low numbers.

Like many Fazio layouts,White Columns is reasonablygenerous off the tee with theexception of some well-positionedfairway bunkers, some of which areparticularly penal. Measuring7,050 yards from the tips, WhiteColumns is not especially long, withonly a handful of holes featuring sig-nificant length.

At least two of the par 5s are wellwithin reach in two shots, with noneof the four falling into the risk/rewardcategory, and at least three of themoffering excellent birdie opportuni-

ties.Six of the par 4s top out at under 400

yards, and also offer scoring chances toplayers who are precise with their posi-tioning off the tee and with short ironapproaches.

Three of the par 3s measure more than200 yards from the back tees, with thelong, downhill 17th one of Atlanta’s bestand most scenic, with a creek fronting awide green that appears to have verylittle depth from the back tee, which is235 yards away.

The hole is part of an outstandingstretch of six finishing holes, whichincludes two par 5s, one long and oneshort, and an interesting trio of par 4s ofvarying lengths, all with hazards in play.Three of the six offer hopes of birdie (orin the case of the par-5 16th, an eagle),with the other three more likely to yieldbogeys (or worse), including a long anddemanding par-4 18th.

The large, undulating putting surfacesare one of White Column’s primarydefenses, but the greens have lost a littlebit of their slope since the club lasthosted the Atlanta Open 15 years ago.

Entry into the tournament is on a first come, first served basis, with qualifiers no longer required for non-exempt players.

Yamaha Atlanta Open back at White Columns

I


James Mason

GEO

RGIA

PGA

Hank Smith

Mason won in playoff last time club was host

GEO

RGIA

PGA


http://www.governorstowneclub.com

B y M i k e B l u m

hroughout the final round of the recent RivermontChampionship, TravisNance thought the best he

could do was finish as low pro in theGeorgia PGA tournament.

Nance, an assistant at Coosa CountryClub in Rome who lost in a playoff inthe inaugural Rivermont tournamentlast year, began the final round threeshots off the lead in a tie for fifth. Nanceclosed with a solid 69 to finish the tour-nament at 3-under 139, but with firstround leader Erik Martin 7-under forthe tournament after 29 holes, Nance hadall but conceded the victory to Martin, anamateur and a former Rivermontmember.

But Martin struggled over the lastseven holes after playing his first 11 holesof the final round in 3-under without abogey. Over his final seven holes, Martinmade four bogeys and a double bogey,managing a par and a birdie on the twopar 3s on Rivermont’s back nine.

Martin, who opened with a 4-under 67to lead by two shots, held a comfortablelead for most of the final round, butplayed holes 12 through 16 in 5-over tofall one behind Nance as he was playingthe dramatic downhill par-3 17th.Martin rolled in a nice birdie putt toregain a share of the lead, but suffered hissecond three-putt on the incoming nineon the 18th for a bogey to hand Nance asurprise victory, his first win of conse-quence in almost a decade.

When asked when he first knew thathe had a chance to win the tournament,Nance replied, “Not until I finished. Ithought I was tied for low pro. No joke.”

Nance was non-committal about notknowing where he stood in relation tothe overall lead coming down the stretch.

“It wouldn’t have made any differenceas aggravated as I was with my putting.”

Nance holed an 8-foot birdie putt onthe par-4 third and rattled in a putt inthe 20-foot range on the difficult par-5seventh. He missed from just outsidetap-in range on the 10th, but managedtwo more birdies on the short, par-4 11thand the par-3 14th, holing a putt of sim-ilar length to the one he made on thethird hole.

The birdie on the 14th followed abogey on the previous hole, and Nance

endedhis round with four pars, playing

“pretty steady” after the birdie at 14 gothim back to 3-under for the tournament.

Nance had an excellent chance to winlast year’s tournament at Rivermont, butmissed short birdie putts in the finalround at 16 and 17 and three-putted the18th to end in a tie at 6-under withChris Nicol of Georgia Golf Center, whowon on the first hole of a playoff afterNance could not find his errant tee shot.

“It feels better to be on the other side,for sure,” he said. “It hasn’t set in yet. It’shard to believe I won.”

Martin, who was in the first group offthe first tee in the opening round, was incontrol of the tournament from theoutset. He birdied four holes on his firstnine and ended the day with a 67 to leadby two shots over Country Club of theSouth instructor David Potts,Brunswick CC instructor MarkAnderson and Rivermont head proMatthew Evans, who was looking towin on his home course.

When Martin pitched within a fewfeet for an easy birdie on the short 11ththe second day, he was 7-under and fourshots clear of the field. But he three-putted the 12th from long range,bogeyed the 13th after hitting a treewith his second shot and made doublebogey on 15 after topping his tee shotinto the thick native grass in front of thetee.

That dropped him in a tie with Nanceand West Pines pro Chris Cartwright,who dropped out of the lead when he

bogeyed the 17th. Martin cameup short with his approach onthe par-4 16th and made bogey,but regained a share of the leadwith his birdie at 17.

Cartwright, who postedback-to-back scores of 70, tiedfor 2nd at 140 with Martin,who shot 4-over 39 on theback nine for a 73, and seven-time Georgia PGA PlayerTim Weinhart, who also shota pair of 70s. Weinhart, aninstructor at the StandardClub, had three birdies onthe back nine the secondday, but bogeys at 12 and15 stalled his comebackeffort.

With neither Nance norCartwright yet to achieve Class A statuswithin the PGA, Weinhart wound upwith first place points and is looking tobreak a tie with Gregg Wolff and earnhis eighth Player of the Year title.

Rob French, an instructor for PGATour Superstores, finished 5th at 141with scores of 70-71, with a bogey at the18th costing him a tie for 2nd and a shareof first place points with Weinhart.

Nicol was 6th at 142 after a finalround 70, with three bogeys on the frontnine stalling a round that began withbirdies on the first two holes.

Tying for 7th at 143 were Potts,Highland Country Club head pro ToddOrmsby and Sonny Skinner, who leftimmediately after the tournament tocompete in the Senior PGAChampionship, which began two dayslater in Indiana.

Ormsby closed with a 67, matchingthe low score of the tournament,shooting 3-under 32 on the back nine,where he started his second round. Pottsshot himself out of contention with a 40on the front nine, playing the back ninein 1-under with a birdie on the par-510th followed by eight straight pars.Like Nicol, Skinner began his final roundwith birdies on the first two holes, butmanaged only one more birdie the rest ofthe round and shot 70.

Evans was among a group of playerstying for 10th at 144. He shot 4-underon the front nine the opening round withfive birdies, but settled for a 2-under 69and fell back with a 75 the second day,including a costly double bogey at the

par-3 sixth. Also tying for 10th were Gary Miller,

the head pro at the Oaks, Cherokee Town& CC assistant Peter Jones, Towne LakeHills instructor Bill Murchison, andamateur Gus Wagoner, who played onthe Georgia State golf team this pastseason.

Murchison made a big early surge withconsecutive birdies at holes 2, 3 and 4,but went bogey-double bogey on holes 5and 6 and made another double on the14th. Miller closed with a 69, with hisonly bogey of the day coming on the18th.

Nance, who took home $2,200 for hisvictory, shot 70 the first round, with abogey at the ninth, his final hole of theday. Nance has broken par in all fourrounds at Rivermont the last two years,shooting back-to-back 68s in 2014 high-lighted by a pair of eagles on the drivablepar-4 11th.

Prior to joining the staff at Coosa,Nance played nine years as a tour pro,mainly on regional mini-tours in theSoutheast. He played one season on whatis now the Web.com Tour, and enjoyedsome success as a tour player, winningtwice on the 2006 Hooters Tour,including the Tour Championship at St.Marlo, ending the year sixth on themoney list.

Less than a year later, Nance was doneas a tour pro, and has worked at Coosa forfive years, making the adjustment fromfull-time player to occasional participant.

“I don’t have my time to put into mygame that I used to. In my head, I canstill make shots, but I physically can’t.I’ve learned to accept certain shots, andbeing older, wiser and more mature, Iunderstand my limitations. “

Nance still has plenty of game, partic-ularly from tee to green. Although he hasplayed a limited schedule in recent years,he has recorded top-5 finishes in both theAtlanta Open and Championship atBerkeley Hills, and has several solidshowings in recent Georgia Opensagainst fields that include current mini-tour pros.

Nance said that Coosa head pro BrianAlbertson and club members “have beenasking when are you gonna win one?This trophy is something I can put in theshop for the members.”

The Rivermont Championship was pre-sented by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.

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Nance takes title in Rivermont Championship

Travis Nance

Moves past leader Martin in final round

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http://regattabay.com/

B y M i k e B l u m

he Georgia PGA will haveseven of its members in thefield for the 2015 PGAProfessional National

Championship later this month inPhiladelphia, but the Section’s two mostsuccessful players over the past 15-plusyears will not be among the state’s repre-sentatives.

Tim Weinhart has played in the PGAPNC – the national championship for thecountry’s club professionals – each of thepast 15 years, but that streak will bebroken this year. Craig Stevens, whohad qualified for the PNC almost everyyear along with Weinhart and made atotal of 17 appearances, also missed outin qualifying for this year’s champi-onship.

Weinhart and Stevens have a combined11 Georgia PGA Player of the Yearhonors since 1999, but both came up afew shots short of qualifying for the 2015PNC in the Georgia PGA PNC, whichwas played last Fall at the Legends atChateau Elan.

This year’s Georgia PGA contingent inthe PNC will include Phil Taylor, whowon last year’s qualifier at the Legends,and 2014 Player of the Year SonnySkinner, who has been a fixture in theevent since he joined the Georgia PGA in2006.

Joining them in the 2015 PNC, whichwill be played June 28-July 1, are BrianPuterbaugh, Kyle Owen, Gary Miller,Clark Spratlin and Hank Smith, whoearned his spot in nationals by winninglast year’s Georgia PGA Championshipat Sea Island Golf Club.

Those seven players will competealong with more than 300 other PGAmembers at historic Philadelphia CricketClub, with the tournament broadcast onGolf Channel. The club’s 1922 A.W.Tillinghast design will be the primaryhost, with a course built in 2002 servingas co-host for the first two rounds.

Taylor, the Director of Golf at AnsleyGC, qualified for the PGA PNC

four times in the late 1980sand early ‘90s,

with his

most recent appearance coming in 2012in northern California. Taylor has threeGeorgia PGA titles spread out over 20years, winning the Griffin Classic in1994 and the Atlanta Open at Golf Clubof Georgia in 2002.

Taylor won a Section event for the firsttime in a dozen years last Fall, posting a2-over 146 total on the challengingLegends layout to win the event by oneshot. It was a particularly sweet victoryfor Taylor, who had let a chance toqualify for the Senior PGA PNC slipaway several weeks earlier at SettindownCreek, one of Ansley’s two courses.

Finishing second at the Legends wasPuterbaugh, the Director of Instructionat the Hooch in Duluth. This will be thesecond start for Puterbaugh in the PGAPNC, with his first coming at ReynoldsPlantation on Lake Oconee in 2008.

Puterbaugh won the Georgia PGAPNC at Cuscowilla on Lake Oconee in1999, but at that time, there wereRegional qualifiers in between Sectionevents and nationals. Puterbaugh led hisregional after the first round that year,but was unable to advance to nationals,later losing a playoff for a spot beforefinally making it in 2008.

The battle for the spots in the PNCbehind Taylor was very competitive lastyear, with Puterbaugh nailing down hisberth with three birdies on the final fourholes in the second round at the Legends.

Skinner, who plays out of River

Pointe in Albany, has split his playingtime in recent years before Georgia PGAand national PGA events, as well as theoccasional start on the Champions Tour.Skinner competed on both the PGA Tourand what is now the Web.com Tourduring his years as a tour pro, playingprimarily in Section events since 2006.

Since becoming a full-time PGAmember, Skinner has qualified fornationals every year, but did not competein 2012 when he got into a ChampionsTour event. Skinner finished second inthe PGA PNC in both 2008 and 2010,nearly winning the ‘08 event at ReynoldsPlantation. He also tied for ninth in2013 to earn a third trip to the PGAChampionship based off his finishes inthe PNC.

Skinner has also been a regular inrecent years in the Senior PGAChampionship, and is one of four seniorsamong the Georgia PGA contingent inthe PNC along with Taylor, Puterbaughand Spratlin. Skinner tied for 31st in lastyear’s PNC at Myrtle Beach highlightedby a third round 68 that had him in thetop 10 with 18 holes to play.

In addition to twice earning GeorgiaPGA Player of the Year honors,Skinner has also been named PGAProfessional and Senior Professionalof the Year based on his play inSection and national PGA events.

Skinner, who made the cut inthe recent Senior PGAChampionship, tied for third inlast year’s Georgia PGA PNCalong with Owen and Miller,who both made their only PNCstarts in 2012 in California.

Owen, the head professional atDunwoody Country Club, made arun at a top 20 finish in the 2012PNC, which would have earned hima spot in the PGA Championship atKiawah Island later that Summer.

Prior to joining the PGA, Owenenjoyed some success as a mini-tourplayer, and has been a competitiveplayer in Georgia PGA events inrecent years, winning at ChicopeeWoods last year for his first sectiontitle.

Miller, the head pro at the Oaks inCovington, also played in the 2012PNC in California, but was not 100 per-cent physically that week, and is lookingforward to getting another shot at thenational level.

In last year’s Georgia PGA PNC atSettindown Creek, Miller shared theopening round lead with Taylor and wasstill tied for the lead late in the secondround before a double bogey at the 17thderailed his hopes for winning the event.

With neither Weinhart nor Stevensqualifying this year, Spratlin has com-peted at nationals more than any of theGeorgia PGA players in the field, andwill be making his ninth PNC start.Spratlin, the Director of Golf at CurraheeClub in Toccoa, has come close severaltimes to a finish in the PNC that wouldearn him a spot in the PGAChampionship, but has yet to make itinto one of golf’s four majors.

Spratlin has won seven Georgia PGAtitles, including the Match PlayChampionship three times and the SectionChampionship in 2008, and recentlyjoined the Georgia PGA’s growing rosterof successful career club professionals whohave reached the age of 50.

To earn his spot in the 2015 PNC,Spratlin had to hole a 40-foot birdie onthe first hole of a four-man playoff in theGeorgia PGA PNC, with only one spotavailable for the playoff participants.

Smith, a relatively recent addition tothe Georgia PGA’s list of members, madea splash in his first year of playing inSection events in 2014, winning theAtlanta Open and SectionChampionship, two of the Georgia PGA’sfour majors. Smith played on the mini-tours and worked as an instructor at SeaIsland Golf Club before taking over ashead pro at the Frederica Club on St.Simons Island.

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Familiar names missing from PGA PNC field

Phil Taylor

Clark Spratlin

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Weinhart, Stevens fall short of qualifying

ROBMA TRE


http://www.cherokeerungolfclub.com/

http://www.theliongolfclub.com/

B y M i k e B l u m

he GSGA Championshipreturns to the Georgia coastfor the first time since 1998,and the event, scheduled for

July 9-12, has changed markedly since itwas last played at Sea Island Golf Club in1989.

The last time the Georgia Amateurwas played at Sea Island GC, AllenDoyle was nearing the end of his 13-yearreign as the state’s top amateur, winningsix times and finishing second four timesbetween 1978 and 1990.

Danny Yates won the ‘89 GeorgiaAmateur at Sea Island GC, making theYates family 3-for-3 when the GSGAplayed its championship event on St.Simons Island. His father Dan and uncleCharlie won the GSGA Championship inthe 1930s at the pre-renovation SeaIsland Golf Club, with this year’sGeorgia Amateur the first one played onthe extensively re-designed Tom FazioSeaside layout.

Doyle won his sixth and final GeorgiaAmateur the next year, but the successthe state’s mid-amateurs had enjoyed inthe event did not end with his departurefrom amateur golf in the early 1990s.

Carter Mize won back-to-back GSGAChampionships in 1992 and ‘93, andYates captured the title for a third timein ‘95, with all three of his victoriescoming in different decades.

During the post-Doyle 1990s, thetournament champions were almostequally divided between mid-amateurslike Mize, Yates, Bill Roberts and RickCloninger and college players, at leasttwo of whom are still playing profession-ally (Paul Claxton and Tim O’Neal).

Roberts and Cloninger won back-to-back in 1998 and ‘99, with Robertssurviving a three-way playoff at SeaIsland’s Ocean Forest course with fellowmid-am Jeff Knox and future PGA Tourplayer John Engler.

Since Cloninger’s victory, the state’scollegiate contingent has taken control ofthe tournament, winning all but ahandful of times over the past 15 years.Many of the college-age winners werealready well known in Georgia amateurcircles and have gone on to successful procareers at a young age.

That group includes current PGATour players Brian Harman (2005),

Harris English (‘07) and RussellHenley (2008, ‘09), who have fourWalker Cup appearances and five PGATour victories among them. DavidDenham began a six-year run of currentor former UGA golfers to win the GSGAChampionship in 2004, but the tourna-ment has also had winners from statecolleges with lower profiles.

Colleges represented over the past twodecades include Georgia Southern(Adam Thomas, 1995), Georgia State(Jack Croyle, 2000), Augusta State(Michael Webb, 2001), Kennesaw State(Jimmy Beck, 2013) and ColumbusState (Robert Mize, 2014).

Lee Knox (Jeff’s son) won in 2010and ‘12 while a member of the golf teamat Alabama, but unlike all but a handfulof the other college players who have wonthe tournament, did not turn pro almostimmediately after graduating.

Harman, English and Henley wereeither about to enter Georgia or early intheir college careers, with Harman andHenley both GSGA Junior champions.All three were already among the state’smost prominent amateurs when theywon the tournament. But a number ofother recent and current high profile col-lege players from the state have focusedtheir Summer schedules more on nationalamateur tournaments, opening the doorfor players from smaller schools or thosewith less impressive resumes.

Beck is the most prominent collegeplayer to win the GSGA Championshipsince Henley in ‘09, but his participationin 2013 was largely predicated on thetournament being played at PinetreeCountry Club, the home course forKennesaw State.

While not all of the state’s top collegeplayers have played in the GeorgiaAmateur in recent years, the tournamentfields have not lacked for talented partic-ipants from Georgia, Georgia Tech andall the other Division 1 schools from thePeach State.

Georgia Tech’s Anders Albertson andSeth Reeves both had top-5 finishes in

2011, and Georgia’s Sepp Straka hasback-to-back top 10s the past two years,with UGA freshman Zach Healy in thetop 15 both years prior to enrolling inAthens. Mercer (Trey Rule) andKennesaw State (Kelby Burton) bothhad players tie for second last year at IdleHour in Macon, with Georgia Southernalso represented in the top 10 (MattMierzejewski).

The depth of the state’s college talentwas evident last year, when a player froma Division II school won. ArmstrongAtlantic has had players contend inrecent tournaments (Travis Williamson,Ridge Purcell), with the state’s topjunior golfers also figuring prominently.Will Chandler was part of a four-way tiefor second last year, with several otherplayers yet to begin their college careersplaying well enough to finish in the top15, guaranteeing spots in this year’s field.

Since Cloninger moved to SouthCarolina following his win in 1999, themost consistent contender among thestate’s mid-am contingent has beenDalton’s David Noll, who won in 2003and 2011, was runner-up in 2005, ‘09and ‘12 and has been out of the top 10just once in the tournament since 2002.Noll was unable to play in the recentGSGA Mid-Amateur Championship dueto a hand injury, and his status for theGeorgia Amateur is uncertain.

Although the only other mid-amplayer to win the GSGA Championshipsince 2003 is Bill Brown in ‘06, theyhave not been absent from contention.Georgia Southern golf coach CarterCollins was part of the four-way tie forsecond last year, and Bonaire’s StanGann had the lead going to the finalround.

Augusta’s Jeff Knox has been a fre-quent contender over the years, tying forthird as recently as 2013, with runner-upfinishes in 1998 at Ocean Forest, 2006and ‘07. Chris Waters, Billy Mitchell,Matt Russell and Mark Stricklandhave also had top finishes in the tourna-ment in recent years, but have beenunable to hold off the charge of the tal-ented and deep group of college playersfrom the state.

Ten qualifiers were scheduled for thetournament in June, with members ofthe state’s top college teams among theentrants. The list of qualifiers includeGeorgia’s Greyson Sigg and ParkerDerby, Kennesaw State’s ChrisGuglielmo, Wyatt Larkin and BusterBruton, Georgia State’s NathanMallonee, Damon Stephenson andGus Wagoner, Georgia Southern’sHenry Mabbett and Mercer’s AustinConnelly.

Scott Wolfes, the top player onGeorgia Southern’s team in recent sea-sons and a St. Simons resident, is exemptfor the tournament and will be amongthe favorites. Wolfes, who has completedhis college career, won the GSGA JuniorChampionship in 2009 on Sea IslandGolf Club’s Retreat course, and repeatedhis title the following year in Columbus.

Layne Williams, the GSGA’s SeniorDirector of Rules and Competition, saysthe par-70 Seaside course will play to itsfull distance of over 7,000 yards,

[ See Georgia Amateur, page 38 ]

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Georgia Amateur heading to the state’s coastFamed Seaside course to host event in July

Robert Mize

GSG

A

David Noll

GSG

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http://www.cuscowilla.com/

B y M i k e B l u m

eorgia golfers looking fornot too distant getawaysthat offer a strong attractionother than golf have both

beaches and mountain resorts within easydriving distance.

The mountains of North Carolina havean added bonus with the presence ofHarrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort forthose who enjoy a little gambling awayfrom the golf course.

Sequoyah National Golf Club islocated within close proximity toHarrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, and isowned by the Eastern Band of theCherokee Indians. The course, designedby Robert Trent Jones II with a con-sulting assist from PGA Tour player andbroadcaster Notah Begay, is a scenicbeauty that takes full advantage of itslocation in the heart of the Great SmokyMountains.

The course offers the splendid viewsyou expect from a mountain course andthen some, but along with its visualappeal, Sequoyah National presents thetype of challenge that is typical for lay-outs in a mountain setting.

Measuring just 6600 yards from theback tees and 6250 from the next set,Sequoyah National lacks for seriouslength, but the mountain nature of thelayout lends itself to some expectedpenalties if you stray too far with your teeshot or approach.

The course is rated at 71.7 with a slopeof 140 from the back tees and 69.8/138from the golds. The silver tees are 5810yards (67.6/129), with two shorter setsplaying 5325 and 4692.

Sequoyah National is managed byAtlanta-based Sequoia Golf, now a partof ClubCorp, with the conditions of thecourse improving markedly since Sequoiaassumed management of the facility lastFall.

With bluegrass fairways and fescuerough, the maintenance staff at SequoyahNational is challenged to keep the coursein top shape throughout the year, butafter some recent neglect, the course hasbeen restored to quality condition withbetter days ahead.

The bent grass greens are not espe-cially fast, but given the challenge of thecourse, they don’t need to be. They rolltrue and offer the possibility of holing a

few putts if you can solve their subtlenature.

Sequoyah National is a comfortableand pleasant drive of about 2 ! hoursfrom metro Atlanta and is locateddirectly along U.S. 441 just outside theCherokee Indian Reservation. Ashevilleis less than an hour to the east.

The wonderful views of the nearbyGreat Smoky Mountains National Parkare present throughout the course, begin-ning from the deck just outside theclubhouse to the practice area and theelevated first tee, which provides an earlytaste of what’s to come. The hole turnsright past a fairway bunker and narrowsas you near the green, with a hazard andthick tree line all the way down the leftside.

The par-5 third bears some similaritiesto the opening hole, but the main troubleis along the right side from tee to green,with a sharp drop-off just to the right ofthe long, narrow putting surface.

The nine closes with a third par 5,with the hole also turning right but witha more generous fairway. Trouble againlurks right of the green, which is guardedshort and right by sand, with severalbunkers also in play off the tee and on thelay-up.

There are also three par 3s on the nine-- two short, one long and trouble withinreach on all three. The second holerequires a carry over a scrub area wellbelow the tee and green, which is pro-tected in front by a rock wall. Theputting surface is extremely shallow anda serious test to your distance controlability.

The sixth measures 234 and 219 from

the two back sets of tees and requires apartial carry over water, with a creek leftof the green. There is no elevated tee toeffectively reduce the yardage, but thehole has a little room to miss to the right,and may not quite earn its status as theNo. 1 handicap hole on the course.

Like the second, the par-3 eighth is onthe short side, with thick native grassand a creek left of a long, narrow greenwith bunkers on each side.

The first two par 4s are both in the350-yard range from the back tees, withtrouble down the left side of both butrelatively ample landing areas if you playup the right side away from the slightdoglegs. The fourth features one of themore adventurous greens on the course,with all sorts of movement at the back ofthe putting surface.

The seventh has a little more length,along with a rolling fairway that willlikely determine how well you canhandle an uneven lie.

The front side is the tamer of the twonines, with the back beginning with thelongest and most difficult of the par 4s.The 10th is 416 from the tips and a veryhealthy 390 from the middle tees. Theuphill second shot has to clear an area ofheavy vegetation, and shorter hitters facea likely lay-up, with the fairway slopingdown towards the ravine, making for ademanding uphill third that is allcarry.

The tee shot over a ravine on thepar-5 11th is among the mostintimidating on the course, butis not as long as the obscuredview of the fairway makes itappear. Things don’t get any easier

as you near the green, which is fronted bya rock-walled creek and flanked bybunkers on three sides.

The carry to reach the fairway on the12th is not as long, but the hole is thelengthiest of the par 5s, with the sharplyuphill third having to clear a frontbunker that swallows up many under-clubbed approaches.

The two par 3s coming in both are200-yards-plus from the back two tees,with thick grass left and bunkers righton the 13th, and a long, narrow greenproducing some potentially long distanceputts for those capable of hitting it offthe tee on the bunker-less 17th.

After getting past the 10th, theremaining par 4s are much friendlier,with three of the four under 360 yardsfrom the tips. Bunkers surround thegreen on the 14th and are in play at thecorner of the fairway on the dogleg right15th, which offers one of the more gen-erous landing areas from the mostelevated tee at Sequoyah National.

The short and open 16th presents oneof the best scoring opportunities you’llencounter on the day, with the finishinghole including an array of fairwaybunkers followed by an approach oversand to an angled green with troublelurking just off its left edge.

With the possible exception of holes10 and 11, Sequoyah National is not anoverly demanding mountain-style layoutfor players of modest ability, but thosewho struggle to break 100 can expect tolose a few golf balls, although you mayfind even more during your searches.

Given the quality of Jones’ layout andthe beauty you’ll experience throughoutthe course, the rates are reasonable, and afriendly staff headed up by GeneralManager Kenny Cashwell helps makeyour visit an enjoyable one.

With various stay and play packages,the casino and an area rich in nativeAmerican culture, there is no lack foractivities other than golf, but SequoyahNational is worth a visit strictly for thegolf experience it offers.

Sequoyah National

G


Sequoyah National a challenging beautyN.C. course offers best of mountain golf

For information, call 828-497-3000 or visit www.sequoyahnational.com. For local

information, visit www.visitcherokee.com.


http://www.sequoyahnational.com/index.php

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B y M i k e B l u m

hris Kirk has had an affinityfor Colonial Country Cluband the Ft. Worth, Tex., areasince he was a junior at the

University of Georgia. Kirk came to Ft. Worth after a stellar

junior season on the Georgia golf team,hoping to win the Ben Hogan Award,which is presented to the nation’s topcollegiate golfer. He intended to turn proand forego his senior season, but had achange of heart after Matt Every wonthe award.

After an outstanding senior season,Kirk was back in Ft. Worth as a BenHogan Award finalist, and this timereturned home to Georgia with thetrophy.

Kirk took home another trophy fromFt. Worth recently, capturing theColonial Invitational for his fourth PGATour victory.

After holing a clutch par putt on the72nd hole to prevent what would havebeen a 4-way playoff, Kirk reflected onthe role the Hogan Award and Colonialhave played in a career that has him inthe top 20 in the World Ranking afterplacing second in 2014 in the finalFedExCup Playoffs points list.

“I had been planning on turning proafter my junior year,” Kirk recalled. “Ihad a great year that year, thinking OK,what else am I going to accomplish mysenior year? So after I came here and didthe whole deal and had the ceremony andI didn’t win, it sort of motivated me.

“So I went back to Georgia for mysenior year and had a great year and cameback and won the Ben Hogan Award.Those experiences, those two yearscoming here and getting to play the golfcourse and just seeing the incredible his-tory of this place really, really made melove it.

“And then once I got on tour, I foundthat it was a course that really, reallysuited my game, and I’ve always enjoyedthe town of Ft. Worth. So all those thingscombined has made it my favorite placeto come year in and year out. So to win itfor all those reasons is really just beyondbelief.”

Kirk became the first Hogan Awardwinner to win on Hogan’s home course,shooting 65-66 the final two rounds aftertrailing Kevin Na by seven after 36

holes. Kirk was still three back going tothe final round, but made a quick moveup the leader board when he hit hissecond shot on the par-5 opening hole to14 feet from almost 250 yards and holedthe putt for eagle.

After a bogey at the seventh holeresulting from one of several missed fair-ways in the final round, Kirk birdiedthree of his last 10 holes, two of themfrom inside five feet and the other on an18-footer. He also saved par three timeson the final five holes, capped by theclutch 7-footer for the win at the 18th.

“I’m kind of surprised to be sittinghere with y’all at the moment,” Kirk saidin his post-victory press conference.“Every other time that I’ve either won orbeen in this position, I’ve felt really greatabout pretty much all aspects of mygame.

“To be able to do it when I didn’t reallyfeel like I quite had it is a huge step forme. “

Kirk had a similar feeling two weeksearlier in the Players Championship. Hewas not entirely satisfied with the qualityof his play for 54 holes, but led going tothe final round, playing what hedescribed as “really efficient golf.

“I didn’t really feel great with myswing there. I was getting the ball upand down, making putts and hittinggood iron shots when I had to. So to goin there with the lead going to the finalround and not win, I really wasn’t thathard on myself.”

Kirk admitted that he did not expectto win Colonial coming into the week,and said he was “probably more nervoustoday than any of my previous three winscoming down the stretch,” owing to hisuncertainty with his ball striking.

“I’m a little bit surprised but veryproud of myself that I was able to do it.”

Kirk was one of a large number ofplayers who had a chance to win the tour-nament, including recent Masterschampion and local favorite JordanSpieth, Brandt Snedeker and JasonBohn, like Kirk an Atlanta area resident.

Bohn and Spieth had both posted 11-under totals with Kirk standing at12-under late in his final round.Snedeker had a birdie putt on the finalhole that would have gotten him to 12-under, and after he missed, Kirk rolled inthe tournament-clincher to avoid aplayoff.

Kirk claimed the winner’s check of$1.17 million, which will come in handywith he and wife Tahnee about to closeon a house in Athens. Kirk grew up inWoodstock in Cherokee County and aftergraduating from Georgia in 2007, settledon St. Simons Island.

Once he and his wife started a family,the Kirks moved back to the Atlanta areato be closer to relatives. But with theirtwo young sons now old enough totravel, they decided to return to the col-lege town where they both went toschool.

Although he was a national-caliberjunior, Kirk did not emerge as an eliteplayer in Athens until his sophomoreseason, when he won twice and helpedlead the Bulldogs to an NCAA champi-onship along with fellow PGA Tourwinner Brendon Todd and KevinKisner, who has made several runs at hisfirst PGA Tour victory the past fewmonths.

Kirk won two college tournaments as asophomore, two more as a junior andthree as a senior, placing second individ-ually in the NCAA Championship as ajunior and tying for ninth as a senior,when the Bulldogs finished second as ateam. He was second team All-Americanas a sophomore and first team as a juniorand senior.

After completing his college career,Kirk played in the 2007 Walker Cup onthe U.S. team that included DustinJohnson, Rickie Fowler, WebbSimpson and Billy Horschel, anddefeated the GBI team led by RoryMcIlroy.

Kirk spent three years on what is now

the Web.com Tour, playing respectablyin his rookie season in 2008 highlightedby a playoff loss in Knoxville. Afterstruggling through a poor sophomoreseason as a pro, Kirk reclaimed hisplaying privileges for 2010 and enjoyedan outstanding season, winning twice,finishing second twice and ending theyear second on the money list afterhaving to miss the Tour Championshipwith a hand injury.

In Kirk’s final appearance before hisinjury, he tied for 15th in the inauguralPGA Tour McGladrey Classic at SeaIsland GC, playing on a sponsor’s exemp-tion. In his second start as a PGA Tourmember two months later, Kirk tied forseventh in the Bob Hope Classic, andcame close to a victory the week beforethe Masters, tying for second in Houstonwhen he shot 67 in the final round butlost to Phil Mickelson’s 65.

Kirk captured his first PGA Tour titlelater that season, winning in Mississippiin a tournament played opposite theBritish Open.

Although he played steady golf in the2012 and ‘13 seasons, placing 49th and34th in the FedExCup standings, Kirkwas winless for more than two yearsbefore capturing the McGladrey Classicat the outset of the 2013-14 season. Thatwin began an outstanding season thatincluded a runner-up finish in Hawaii,top 20 showings in his first appearancesin the Masters and British Open, and avictory in the Playoffs event in Boston.

That win gave Kirk a chance to winthe FedExCup last year and he tied forfourth in the Tour Championship at East

[ See Chris Kirk, page 31 ]

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Colonial a special place to Georgia’s Kirk

Chris Kirk

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Former Bulldog claims 4th PGA Tour title


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or almost his entire professionalcareer, Scott Dunlap has been atextbook example of the quin-tessential journeyman tour pro.

Dunlap literally fit the journey part ofthat description, playing in South Africa,Canada and South America along with a6-year stint on the PGA Tour from 1996-2002 and a career-length stretch on whatis now the Web.com Tour that spanned aquarter century and included member-ship under all five title sponsors.

During that time, Dunlap won tourna-ments in six countries, but just one of hiswins came in the U.S. With the excep-tion of one season on the PGA Tour atthe age of 48, Dunlap spent the entiredecade of his 40s on the Web.com Tour,not the best place for a veteran playerwho wasn’t that long off the tee and wasnever an especially skilled putter.

Dunlap remained a reasonably compet-itive player throughout his 40s, and liketour pros of a certain age, had his cal-endar circled for one particular day, in hiscase, August 16, 2013. That was the dayDunlap turned 50 and the day his careerwas about to take a different direction,although not immediately.

The day he turned 50, Dunlap wascompeting in a Web.com tournament inKnoxville and played well enough tomake it to the weekend, but not wellenough to make much of a check($1,485). He took one last shot at thePGA Tour, but played well only one outof four weeks in the Web.com Finals andfell well short in his attempt, a disap-pointing end to a season that began withpromise. Dunlap was in the top 25 on themoney list midway through the season,but did not finish as strongly as hestarted.

As he did frequently late in the year,Dunlap set his sights on the qualifyingtournament for the following season, butthis time it was qualifying for theChampions Tour. To get a little tourna-ment action in, Dunlap entered aMonday qualifier for the final regularseason event of the season, played his wayinto the field and tied for 15th, earningmore than one-third as much money($32,300) in one weekend as he had theentire season on the Web.com Tour($95.000).

One month later, Dunlap was playing

in the finals of Champions Tour quali-fying and for 54 holes, was looking goodfor one of five exempt spots for the 2014season. After shooting 69-64-66 the firstthree days, Dunlap closed with a 73,recovering from an early triple bogeywith a string of birdies before a 3-putt onthe 72nd hole sent him into a 5-wayplayoff for the final two spots.

Several of Dunlap’s fellow competitorshad a tougher time the last day than hedid, and that continued in the playoff.Dunlap parred the first extra hole andthree of other four players made bogey orworse. Dunlap exited the playoff withexempt status on the Champions Tour for2014, and about a year-and-half later, hasa much healthier bank account and a lessstressful professional outlook.

Dunlap finished his rookie season10th on the money list with $1.1 mil-lion, the most money he has made in ayear as a tour player. The highlight of hisseason was a victory in the Boeing Classicin Seattle, part of a career-changing two-month stretch of golf that changedDunlap’s journeyman status to frequentChampions Tour contender.

During that stretch, Dunlap had top-

10 finishes in the U.S. and British SeniorOpens, his win in Seattle, and consecu-tive runner-up finishes in Quebec andHawaii, an appropriate geographical pairconsidering his career travels.

Dunlap was among the players com-peting in the recent Greater GwinnettChampionship at TPC Sugarloaf, a homegame for Dunlap, a long time Duluthresident. It was not a particularly prof-itable week for Dunlap, who tied for 31stand collected a check for $11,400, whichleft him 17th on the money list six tour-naments into the 2015 season.

After he completed what turned out tobe the final round of the rain-shortenedtournament on Saturday, Dunlapreflected on the change in his career sincehe turned 50.

“This is a nice gig if you can get outhere. It’s a tough start to get a shot atwith five spots in qualifying. And if youdon’t have much of a year and not playwell, it’s all gone. You’ve got to stay inthe top 30, and hopefully I’ll be able todo that again.”

Players like fellow Atlanta area resi-dent Billy Andrade, who won fourtimes on the PGA Tour and earned more

than $12 million in his career, areexempt on the Champions Tour as soonas they become eligible, and remain thatway because of their career earnings.

Dunlap’s career earnings from thePGA and Web.com Tours are under $4million, and even after his successfulrookie season last year, he is less than halfway to the total needed to earn exemptstatus off his standing on the careermoney list.

The way Dunlap has been playing inhis first year-plus on the ChampionsTour, he may not have to worry aboutdropping out of the top 30 any timesoon.

“The last two years I’ve played the bestgolf of my life at 50 and 51. I have thesame length, but I was never a bomber.It’s more about not making mistakes.When I’m playing the way I can, I’mcapable of some good, low rounds. Mygood is still really good.”

As an example, Dunlap cited last year’sseason-opening Champions event in BocaRaton, Fla., his first appearance as a tourmember.

“I shot 63-67-76. I had a good coupleof rounds and then I shot 76, which isgolf’s version of throwing up on your-self.”

The occasional poor final round wasDunlap’s main concern during his firstyear on the Champions Tour, and almostproved costly in two events that had asizeable impact on his first-rate rookieseason.

Dunlap had to compete in sectionalqualifying to qualify for the U.S. SeniorOpen and needed a birdie on his finalhole to avoid a playoff. He was tied for2nd in the event after 54 holes at 4-under209, but shot a 77 the final day to tie for9th at 286 with Bernhard Langer, whoalso closed with a 77.

Fortunately for Dunlap, his finish washigh enough to get him into the SeniorBritish Open without having to qualify,and he again played well in one of thetour’s majors. A third round 65 movedhim into a tie for 4th, but he fell backwith a 75 the next day and tied for 6th.He still beat Tom Watson (77) and FredCouples (78) that day, with both alsoamong the leaders going to the finalround.

Those two efforts enabled Dunlap totake a nice move up the money list andset up him for his August/September run

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Dunlap finally sheds status as journeyman

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Scott Dunlap

Champions Tour win in ‘14 a career changer

which included a win and two runner-upfinishes in a span of four tournaments.

A third round 63 gave Dunlap the leadat 12-under 132 going to the final roundin Seattle and he closed with a 68,playing his last 11 holes in 5-under withan eagle on the 8th and three birdies onthe back nine. Mark Brooks birdied sixof the last seven holes to force a playoff,but Dunlap won on the first extra holewhen he hit his second shot on the par-518th close to the hole and tapped in for awinning birdie after missing his eagleputt.

Two weeks later in Quebec, Dunlapshot 66-64 the last two days, with hisfinal round including a pair of eagles andtwo birdies over the final 10 holes.Dunlap eagled the 18th to take the lead,but Wes Short shot 29 on the back nineand also eagled the 18th to edge Dunlapby a shot.

Dunlap finished tied for 2nd in hisnext start in Hawaii, shooting 65 thefinal day to finish one behind PaulGoydos, who birdied four straight holeslate in the round.

During his tenure on the Web.comTour from 2003-13, Dunlap scored a pairof wins, but both times he said, “Mygame went into the crapper for about ayear. This time I followed a win up byfinishing second two times. Usually Idon’t do that after I expend so muchenergy winning. “

Until Dunlap won a Web.com event inCalifornia late in the 2004 season, all hisvictories had come outside the U.S. Hewon twice each in Canada (1994 and ‘95)and South Africa (1995 and ‘99) and fivetimes in South America between 1996and 2000, twice in Argentina and threetimes in Peru. His play in Canada andSouth Africa led to appearances on thePGA Tour and a spot in the BritishOpen, with Dunlap’s strong 1995 seasonworldwide paving the way to his quali-fying for the PGA Tour for the first timelater that year.

Dunlap’s best season on the PGA Tourcame in 2000 when he finished 44th onthe money list with just over $1 million,contending in both the PlayersChampionship and PGA. But he lost his

status after the 2002 season and did notmake it back to the tour until 2012, bywhich time he was closing in on 50.

“After I fell off the tour, I bottomedout and spent ten years on the Web.comTour. My good was good, but there wasnot enough of it. I played good maybeone-third of the time.”

Dunlap added a second Web.com winin Panama to open the 2008 season, butdid not play well enough the rest of theyear to earn a return to the PGA Tour. Heended up 37th on the money list, his bestshowing in 13 seasons.

At the outset of 2014, Dunlap hadstatus on both the Champions andWeb.com Tours, and initially planned tocompete on both. But after a few suc-cessful showings against players closer tohis age, he bid farewell to the tour thathad been his home for more than adecade.

Dunlap made more in his rookie seasonon the Champions Tour than in his entireWeb.com career, and quickly scrappedhis plans to split his schedule.

“It didn’t take a finance major from

Florida to do the math,” said Dunlap,who was his high school’s valedictorianand a 1985 graduate from the U. ofFlorida with a finance degree.

Dunlap is enjoying his new-found suc-cess on the Champions Tour and hasgained confidence from his excellentplay. But his career has taught him thatnothing is guaranteed in golf.

“I’m a year-to-year guy. It’s never easyout here; you have to prove yourself everyyear. That’s the way it should be. But I’ma whole lot better off at this stage than Iwas last year.”

Despite his lack of sustained successduring his two decades on the PGA andWeb.com Tours, Dunlap felt he wascapable of holding his own on theChampions Tour.

“I knew if I played like I could play, I’ddo all right. I didn’t know if I was goingto win, but last year I played goodenough three times. This tour has no cutsand you’re guaranteed to make a check,but you can’t get by finishing 30th everyweek. Then you’re 75th on the moneylist and you’re out of a job.”


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B y M i k e B l u m

he 2015 Web.com Tour isalmost halfway through itsregular season, and threeplayers with Georgia ties are

in line for top 25 finishes on the moneylist, which would result in PGA Tourmembership for the 2015-16 season.

Two other Georgians were among thetop 75, and would be eligible to competein the four-tournament Web.com Finalsseries, with the top 25 money winnersfrom those tournaments also qualifyingfor the 2015-16 PGA Tour. A number ofother golfers form the state were in posi-tion where one strong showing wouldmove them into a spot in the top 75.

Patton Kizzire, a former Auburngolfer who has settled on St. SimonsIsland, has already locked up his PGATour card for next season after an out-standing stretch of play that includedfive top-10 finishes in the span of sevenstarts. Kizzire was fourth on the moneylist with $162,000 after last month’stournament in Greenville, S.C., and willfinish among the top 25 even if hedoesn’t make a cent the rest of the season.

After graduating from Auburn in2008, Kizzire earned limited status onthe ‘09 Web.com Tour in the finals of Q-school, but made only four starts thatseason and played in just two more tour-naments on the tour over the next fiveyears. He tied for 21st in last year’s qual-ifying event for the Web.com Tour, andstarted this season with a terrific stretchof golf on the early season swing throughSouth America.

Kizzire tied for fourth in Colombiaand for ninth in Brazil before a tie forsecond in Mexico vaulted him near thetop of the money list. Since the tour hasreturned to the U.S., he’s finished fifth inEvansville and 10th in the BMW Pro-Am in Greenville. Kizzire made his firstcut in three PGA Tour starts last Fallafter receiving a sponsor’s invitation tothe McGladrey Classic at Sea Island GC.

Henrik Norlander was one of the toptwo players on Augusta State’s nationalchampionship teams of 2010 and ‘11along with Patrick Reed and is in hissecond season on the Web.com Tour aftermaking it to the PGA Tour for the 2013season. Norlander played respectably as aPGA Tour rookie, but was unable toretain his playing privileges and played

the Web.com Tour last year, finishing50th on the money list.

Thanks to finishes of fifth in Panamaand a tie for second in Brazil, Norlanderwas 20th in earnings this season withmore than $75,000. His lone PGA Tourstart last year came in the U.S. Openafter he earned medalist honors in theSectional qualifier at Ansley Golf Club’sSettindown Creek.

Luke List was a highly touted playeras a junior golfer in Georgia and his ama-teur career included a runner-up finish inthe U.S. Amateur and appearances inthe U.S. Open and Masters, where hemade the cut in 2005. But his profes-sional career has not matched thepotential he displayed as an amateurother than the 2012 Web.com season.

List placed fourth on the money listthat year, winning the former tourstop in Valdosta and finishing secondthree times. But his rookie season onthe PGA Tour in 2013 was a bust,and he did not play well on theWeb.com Tour last year. List hasgotten off to a much better start thisyear, tying for fourth in Colombiaand for sixth in Mexico, and was28th on the money list.

The 30-year-old List is one of thetour’s longest drivers, averaging 321yards through nine tournamentsthis season.

Augusta’s Vaughn Taylor wontwice during his 10 years on the

PGA Tour and was a member of the 2006Ryder Cup team, but has not been anexempt member of the tour since 2012.Playing off past champion’s status, Taylorhas made five PGA Tour starts thisseason, highlighted by a tie for 10th atPebble Beach.

Taylor has three top-25 finishes onboth tours so far this season, but has nothad a Web.com top 10 in 2015. He shota 64 in Colombia and a 63 in theLouisiana Open, but with a best finish of12th in five starts, was 64th on themoney list. Taylor had a win and tworunner-up finishes on the tour in 2003 toplay his way onto the PGA Tour, and was47th in earnings last year.

Michael Hebert has settled in theAtlanta area after playing his college golfat Auburn, and was 69th on the moneylist on the strength of a recent tie for fifthin Evansville. Hebert made six starts as aWeb.com rookie in 2014 and made fivecuts, closing out the year with a solidshowing at Q-school to earn status forthis season.

Former Clayton State golfer WillWilcox enjoyed success on the Web.comTour from 2011 to 2013, winning inValdosta in ‘13 and shooting a finalround 59 in Utah to finish third, endingthe year 7th on the money list to earn aspot on the PGA Tour. He placed 8th inhis first PGA Tour start in Hawaii andlater added a 4th place showing in theGreenbrier and three other top 25s, but

got into just 16 tournaments and did notearn enough points to qualify for theFedExCup playoffs.

Wilcox has limited PGA Tour statusthis season and has one top 10 and twoother top 20s in seven starts, but againmay not get into enough tournaments.He tied for 16th in the recent Web.comevent in Greenville, and with an earlierT12 in Mexico, was 80th on the moneylist after making just three starts on thattour.

Richy Werenski, a 2014 GeorgiaTech graduate, made it to the Web.comTour in his first attempt and was 95th inearnings after making five of the firstnine cuts with a tie for 18th in Mexicohis best showing. Werenski’s biggestachievement thus far as a pro was win-ning Golf Channel’s Big Break PalmBeaches, defeating fellow ex-YellowJacket Kyle Scott in the finals.

Atlanta area resident CaseyWittenberg has played either the PGAor Web.com Tour every year since 2008,with this season his sixth on theWeb.com. He led the tour in earnings in2012, but after playing on the PGA Tourthe next season, was back on theWeb.com last year and finished 71st. Hewas 96th as of late May this year, with atie for 12th in Mexico his top finish.

Matt Weibring and Troy Matteson,both former Georgia Tech golfers withPGA Tour experience, were 103 and 114respectively on the money list. This is

Weibring’s 10th season on theWeb.com Tour, with last season(32nd) one of his best. His bestshowing this season is a tie for 20thin Evansville.

Matteson has two wins on the PGATour, including one as a rookie in2006, and was 45th on the money listas recently as 2012. But after back-to-back seasons in the 160s on theFedExCup points list, he is back onthe Web.com Tour for the first timesince 2005, when he topped themoney list with one of the best seasonsin tour history. He has made four startson both tours this season, with onefinish on each tour just outside the top20.

Augusta’s Scott Parel celebrated his50th birthday last month, but con-tinues to play on the Web.com Tour,

[ See Web.com Tour, page 33 ]

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List among players off to strong Web.com starts Kizzire, Norlander also among top 25 on money list

Luke ListALKO

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B y M i k e B l u m

he Judson Collegiate &Legends Pro-Am Challengereturns to Country Club ofRoswell this month, with the

tournament expanding to five days ofcompetition with a complete day addedfor the Women’s Leadership Conferencethat has become an integral part of theevent.

This year’s tournament will be playedJune 25-29, with the conference sched-uled for June 24 at Georgia Tech’sMcCamish Pavilion.

During the first three years of theevent, the tournament consisted of fourdays of golf, beginning with a pro-amthat featured one LPGA Legendsmember, one collegiate player and twoamateurs per team. The Legends playerscompeted the next day along side twocollege players, with the Legends fieldplaying for a first place prize of $15,000from a purse of $120,000.

The college players began their 54-hole competition along side the LPGALegends, and had the tournament tothemselves for the final 36 holes.

This year, there will still be two days ofpro-am play, but they will not be part ofthe college portion of the tournament.The collegiate players will compete over54 holes, playing the three days after thepro-am competition concludes.

The pro-am teams will consist of oneLegends player, one collegian and threeamateurs, with several competitionsbeing held simultaneously. The Legendsplayers will be competing for the profes-sional purse, and also teaming with theircollegiate partners in a best-ball compe-tition.

There will also be pro-am team scores,with the amateurs competing in a modi-fied scramble format (shamble). Part ofthat competition will be an inter-clubchallenge that tournament officials hopewill attract three-member teams fromarea clubs. For information on pro-amparticipation, contact Dianne Kaseta at404-217-1740 or at [email protected].

The Legends portion of the first threetournaments at Country Club of Roswellwas held over 18 holes, with two of thelesser-known players on the LegendsTour coming away with victories.

Alicia Dibos won each of the first two

Judson Pro-Am tournaments. She shot 3-under 68 to win by one over SherriSteinhauer in 2012, and won again thefollowing year, defeating NancyScranton on the second playoff hole afterboth players shot 70. Dibos, a non-winner during her decade on the LPGATour, is the Director of Instruction at thefamed Winged Foot Golf Club.

Dibos again wound up in a playoff lastyear after matching the 68 she shot in theinaugural tournament in 2012. Thistime she lost on the second extra hole toBarb Moxness, who left the LPGA Tourafter a short but relatively successful stintin the early 1980s to be a stay at homemom. Moxness worked as an instructorbefore returning to competition whenthe Legends Tour was launched in 2000.

Moxness ranks among the top 10money winners on the Legends’ all-timelist, with her victory at Country Club ofRoswell last year her second on the tour,the first one coming a decade earlier.

Dibos and Moxness won against fieldsthat included many of the legendarynames from the heyday of the LPGATour in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Amongthe players who have competed atCountry Club of Roswell the last threeyears are Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley,Beth Daniel, Laura Davies, RosieJones, Betsy King, Nancy Lopez,Liselotte Neumann, Hollis Stacy andJan Stephenson, with Helen

Alfredsson and Michelle McGannexpected to make their first appearancesin the event next month.

In addition to Jones, a long timeAtlanta resident and the tournamenthost, the Legends Pro-Am has featuredseveral other players with local ties,including Atlanta area residents CindySchreyer, Jenny Lidback andLuciana Bemvenuti, a member ofthe Country Club of Roswell golfstaff. Tifton native and former UGA

golfer Nanci Bowen, who will beinducted into the Georgia Hall

of Fame in 2016, also com-peted in the tournament last

year. Jones has been the tour’s

most consistently successful playerin recent years, winning at least onetournament in each of the last threeyears and has seven career Legends vic-tories after capturing 13 LPGA Tourtitles. One of her LPGA victories came

in the 1988 Nestle World Championshipat Pine Isle Resort on Lake Lanier, andshe is looking for her first Legends win inher adopted home town after close callseach of the last three years.

The Judson Collegiate Invitationalhad a local winner last year, withRoswell’s Jessica Haigwood finishingnine shots ahead of her closest pursuers.Haigwood, who recently completed hersophomore season at Augusta State,trailed by five shots after opening withan even par 71, but broke away fromthe field with scores o 66-69 the finaltwo days to finish at 7-under 206.Golfers representing the Ohio Stateand Illinois teams shared secondplace.

Haigwood is part of a strong localcontingent of college players enteredin the event. Alpharetta’s AmiraAlexander and Cumming’sIsabella Skinner are both mem-bers of the Georgia women’s team.Georgia resident Hannah MaeDeems plays on the golf team atMercer, and will be joined in theJudson field by incoming Mercerfreshman Payton Schanen ofMilton.

Other Georgians in the fieldinclude north Atlanta area resi-dents Kayla Jones (Florida State),Emee Herbert (Coastal Carolina)Emily Kurey (UNC-Greensboro) and

Michaela Owen (Auburn) signee, andCarrollton’s Sydney Needham(Samford).

The Judson Collegiate & Legends Pro-Am Challenge began in 2012 to honorthe lives of Beth and Jim Judson, activemembers of the Roswell Catholic andphilanthropic communities. The Judsonsdied in a private plane crash coming backfrom watching daughter Lauren competein a college tournament for SouthernMississippi, and Lauren Judson and herbrother Dean helped create the JudsonFoundation as a way to help further theirparents’ support of women’s participationin college athletics and women’s leader-ship development.

The inaugural Judson Women’sLeadership Conference was held last yearand has been significantly expanded thisyear into a full day event with speakersfrom a number of different fields.

“The leadership aspect of the event hasgrown,” says Jackie Cannizzo, the tour-nament’s Executive Director and amember of the golf staff at Country Clubof Roswell. “This is not just a golf tour-nament, and it’s cool for me to beinvolved in stuff other than golf.”

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Format for Judson tournament being expandedFive days of golf to follow Leadership Conference

Barb Moxness

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For more information on the tournament and the Women’s Leadership conference,

go to www.judsongolf.com or www.jcifoundation.org.

Jessica Haigwood

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B y M i k e B l u m

oswell’s Rinko Mitsunaga, a2015 signee for the Georgiawomen’s golf team, was partof the winning team in the

first ever U.S. Women’s Four-BallChampionship, played last month atOregon’s Bandon Dunes Resort.

Mitsunaga teamed with CalifornianMika Liu, with the two both attending asports academy in south Florida.Mitsunaga previously attendedCentennial High School in Roswell.

The two players barely made the entrydeadline, signing up with just minutesto spare. Mitsunaga was one of sevenGeorgians to compete in the event,including fellow high school ageplayers Lauren Lightfritz and MeganCarter, who won their opening roundmatch.

Mitsunaga, 18, and Liu, 16, won 4&3in the finals against fellow teen-agersRobynn Ree of California and HannahO’Sullivan of Arizona, who placedsecond in stroke play qualifying.Mitsunaga and Liu tied for 10th with a5-under 139 total for 36 holes and wereseeded 13th among the 32 teams to reachmatch play.

The 4&3 margin in the championshipmatch was the largest for Mitsunaga andLiu in the tournament, with the winningduo 8-under par for 15 holes. Afterlosing the first hole to a birdie,Mitsunaga and Liu birdied six of the nextseven holes, winning 6, 7 and 8 withbirdies to take a 3-up lead. Mitsunaga allbut clinched the victory when she holedout from 88 yards for eagle on the par-512th to put her team 4-up with six holesto play.

Mitsunaga and Liu won their first twomatches 2&1, with their second roundopponents including 2014 U.S. Women’sOpen sensation Lucy Li. Mitsunaga andLiu birdied the first four holes and five ofthe first six, and finished the day 8-underthrough 17 holes. They led 3-up afterseven holes, but Li and her partner wonholes 8 and 9 with birdies beforeMitsinaga and Liu answered with win-ning birdies at 11 and 12.

The toughest match for the winningteam came in the third round, when theyneeded 21 holes to get past the fifth-seeded team. Mitsunaga and Liu were2-down after 13, but won the par-3 14th

with a par and the par-317th with a birdie to force extra holes.They won with a birdie on the par-512th, the third playoff hole.

Mitsunaga and Liu won 3&2 in thesemifinals against the No. 9 team thathad defeated the qualifying medalists inthe quarterfinals. They got off to anotherfast start with five birdies in the firstseven holes to take a 3-up lead, and lostjust one hole after that, playing 16 holesin 7-under par.

Ree and O’Sullivan easily won theirfirst four matches to reach the finals,including a 10&8 victory in the firstround when they won all 10 holes.

Carter, from Blackshear, andLightfritz, from Cumming, tied for sev-enth in stroke play qualifying at 6-under138. They won their opening match 2&1over Rachel Carpenter of St. SimonsIsland and Angela Stewart from NorthCarolina. Carter and Lightfritz were 1-upafter 12 holes in the second round, butlost three of the next five and were elim-inated 2&1.

Carter and Lightfritz earned a spot inthe championship by placing second in aqualifier at the Oaks course inCovington. Also qualifying for the cham-pionship were Brenda Pictor ofMarietta and Sue Rheney ofGreensboro.

Ralston, White leadU.S. Open qualifiers

Golfers with Georgia ties earned 11 of14 spots from two U.S. Open local qual-

ifiers played last month at the Legends atChateau Elan and Golf Club of Georgia.

Gainesville’s Spencer Ralston, one ofthe state’s top junior golfers, shot 5-under 67 to earn medalist honors at theLegends. Ralston had seven birdies on hisround, including five in a six-hole stretchon the back nine after starting on the10th hole.

Jimmy Beck of Columbus, the 2013Georgia Amateur champion, was secondat 68. Beck, who recently completed anoutstanding career on the KennesawState golf team, was 5-under in a 5-holestretch beginning at the seventh,including an eagle on the par-5 ninth.

Qualifying on the number at 69 wereAnders Albertson of Woodstock, asenior on the Georgia Tech golf team,Web.com Tour player Michael Hebert,who played his college golf at Auburn,and mini-tour player Richard Swift ofTucker. Albertson birdied three of hislast five holes to qualify. Also qualifyingwere pros Paul Apyan of Chattanoogaand Adam Hart of Columbia.

Shad Tuten of Elberton won a six-wayplayoff for first alternate after shooting70, with UGA signee David Mackey ofWatkinsville the second alternate. Alsoshooting 70 were pros Blake Palmer ofDawsonville, David Kalpak ofGreensboro and Kyle Scott of Decatur,who lost in the finals of the recent BigBreak competition to fellow ex-GeorgiaTech golfer Richy Werensky.

Recent Georgia Tech golfer JamesWhite of Acworth shot 6-under 66 the

next day at Golf Club of Georgia’sLakeside course with eight birdies to earnmedalist honors. Reid Edstrom, a vet-eran mini-tour pro who grew up in theAtlanta area before playing on theAuburn golf team, birdied his first threeholes and took second at 67.

Qualifying with scores of 68 wereGeorgia Tech senior Drew Czuchry ofAuburn, former Georgia Tech golfer JTGriffin of St. Simons and BrookfieldCountry Club instructor MichaelParrott. Franco Castro of Alpharetta,who has turned pro after completing hiscollege career at Charlotte, got the finalspot in a playoff after shooting 69,carding birdies on five of his last 10holes. Also qualifying was pro JasonPerry of Myrtle Beach.

Among the players falling short wasAtlanta Braves Hall of Famer JohnSmoltz, who was 2-under after nineholes and finished with a 72.

A number of Georgians advanced fromlocal qualifiers held outside the state,among them Savannah’s Tim O’Neal,who shot 63 in nearby Okatie, S.C., towin by five shots over Werensky, who isa rookie on the Web.com Tour. FellowWeb.com member and former Big Breakchampion Mark Silvers of Savannah isfirst alternate after shooting 69.

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Mitsunaga shares title in first USGA event

James White

Part of winning team in Women’s 4-Ball

Rinko Mitsunaga (left) and Mika Liu


[ See USGA qualifiers, page 31 ]

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eorgia’s surprising showingin the NCAA GolfChampionship came to anend in the semifinals, as the

Bulldogs lost 3-1-1 to LSU. Coming into the NCAAs, the

Bulldogs were ranked 28th and 33 in thetwo main national polls, and were seeded26th out of the 30 teams to qualify forthe championship, which was played atConcession GC in Bradenton, Fla.

The Bulldogs had the lead after threerounds of stroke play, finishing in a tiefor third to join seven other teams in thematch play portion of the tournament.Georgia, seeded third in the eight-teamfield, defeated tournament host SouthFlorida 4-1 in the quarterfinals, but lostlater that afternoon to LSU after leadingmidway through the match.

Georgia played well from the outset ofthe tournament, shooting even par 288the first round to end the day in secondplace, two strokes behind eventual strokeplay winner Illinois.

Freshman Zach Healy of PeachtreeCorners led the Bulldogs with a 70, withDuluth senior Mookie DeMoss nextwith a 71. Junior Lee McCoy ofClarkesville, the team’s No. 1 player,opened with a 73, making bogey on the10th hole along with 17 pars. SamStraka, a junior from Valdosta, had theother counting score for the Bulldogswith a 74.

The Bulldogs shot 293 the second dayfor a 581 total, seven shots behind USC and four in back of Illinois. Straka led the

way with a 70 and Healy added a 72 tofinish 36 holes among the individualleaders. DeMoss shot 74 and theBulldogs had to count a 77 by McCoy,who was 4-over early in the round aftera triple bogey on the third hole.

Georgia moved into the lead after theconclusion of the weather-delayed thirdround, shooting 2-under 286 to movethree shots in front of USC and sixahead of Illinois. Healy and DeMossboth shot 2-under 70, with DeMosscarding four birdies in a five-holestretch before play was halted late inthe day. Augusta sophomoreGreyson Sigg was 3-under after 14holes and settled for a 72, withMcCoy shooting a 74 after being 3-under after seven.

The Bulldogs shot 291 the final

day, the fourth best score among the 15teams that made the 54-hole cut. Illinoisand Vanderbilt both closed with under-par team scores to move past theBulldogs, with Illinois finishing first at3-over 1155 and Vanderbilt placingsecond at 1157.

Alpharetta’s Zack Jaworski shot paror better in three of four rounds forVanderbilt and tied for 11th in the 156-player field at even par 288. Vanderbiltlost to LSU in the quarterfinals, withJaworski’s match not completed after itwent to extra holes with LSU alreadyhaving won three matches.

Georgia and Texas, which also shotunder par the final round, tied for thirdat 1158.

McCoy, who was selected first teamAll-American after stroke play wrappedup, had his best round of the tourna-

ment, posting a 2-under 70. He tied for33rd at 294. DeMoss shot 73 and had thebest finish in the tournament among theBulldogs, tying for 11th at 288. Siggcontributed for the second straight daywith a 73 and Straka added a 75, asHealy struggled for the first time in fourdays with a 77. He still finished tied for16th at 289.

The Bulldogs drew sixth seed SouthFlorida in their match play opener andscored a decisive victory, winning theonly three matches played to their con-clusion.

Healy won the first match out 2&1,taking a 2-up lead with birdies on thefirst two holes and losing only two holesafter building a 3-up lead after eight. Hehalved six straight holes after TreyValentine cut his lead to one hole,ending the match by winning the 17th.

Straka also started fast, taking a 2-uplead after four holes, before ChaseKoepka pulled even after seven. Strakarecovered to win three of the next sixholes and score a 3&2 victory.

McCoy provided the winning point inthe anchor match, playing 15 holes in 8-under par to win 5&3. McCoy was 3-upafter four holes with two birdies and aneagle and did not lose a hole.

DeMoss was 1-up after 15 holes andSigg was 1-down after 16 when bothmatches were halted with the final out-come already decided. DeMoss trailed inhis match after 11 holes, while Siggjumped out to a 3-up lead after threeholes before falling 2-down after 11. Hepulled even after 15,, but lost the 16thhole just before McCoy clinchedGeorgia’s victory.

McCoy was the only Bulldog to win inthe afternoon against LSU, defeatingStewart Jolley 2&1 in the anchormatch. McCoy won three of the last fourholes on the front nine with two birdiesand an eagle to take a 2-up lead, andparred the last eight holes to remain incontrol of the match.

Straka was 3-up twice on the back nineand was still 2-up with two holes to play,but bogeyed the last two holes. He wasplaying the first extra hole when LSUwon its third match to advance to thefinals.

Healy was 1-up after 11 holes in hismatch, with Georgia ahead in threematches at the time. But LSU senior BenTaylor applied the pressure down the

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stretch, winning three of the last sevenholes and matching Healy’s birdie at the17th. A superb approach by Taylor onthe 18th led to a conceded birdie and a 2-up win over the Georgia freshman.

Sigg won only one hole in his matchand lost 4&3, trailing 3-down at theturn. DeMoss lost four straight holesearly and was 4-down after five, losing7&6.

It was the third time the Bulldogsmade it to match play since the tourna-ment format was changed in 2009. TheBulldogs have made it to at least thesemifinals each time, reaching the finals

in 2011 when they lost 3-2 to AugustaState and former teammate PatrickReed.

Georgia Tech narrowly missed quali-fying for match play, finishing ninth instroke play with an 1175 total, threeshots behind eighth place UCLA. It wasa disappointing finish for Atlanta areaseniors Ollie Schniederjans andAnders Albertson, who each managedjust one good round on the demandingConcession layout.

The Yellow Jackets were tied for sixthafter an opening 293, with Albertsonnotching six birdies and shooting a 69.

Chris Petefish, one of two freshmen inthe starting lineup, shot a 72 with a 33on the back nine and fellow freshmanJames Clark of Columbus contributed a76 with a late triple bogey. Schniederjanswas even par after 15 holes, but was 4-over on the last three and also shot 76.

Tech stayed in the top eight after tworounds, shooting 295 for a 588 total tostand seventh after 36 holes. SophomoreVince Whaley was low for the Jacketswith a 71, carding five birdies.Schniederjans shot 74 and Clark andAlbertson both turned in scores of 75.Albertson had two 7s on his scorecard,including a costly triple bogey on his17th hole.

After three rounds, Tech was tied foreighth with UCLA after a 290. Whaleycame up big with seven birdies and a 68,and Schniederjans had his best round ofthe tournament, shooting a 70 with fivebirdies. Petefish turned in a solid 73, butthe Yellow Jackets had to count Clark’s79 as Albertson shot 85 with three 7s,two of them triple bogeys.

Clark shot a clutch 2-under 70 thefinal day, but the next best Tech scorewas 74, as the Jackets had a team total of

297 to come up three strokes short.Albertson closed out his college careerwith a 74 and Whaley carded a 76, fin-ishing tied for 33rd at 294, playing thelast there rounds in 1-over. Petefish shot2-under on the back nine, but carded a77 after a difficult front nine.

The big disappointment for theJackets was the play of Schniederjans,whose final round for Georgia Tech was anon-counting 78. Schniederjans was 1-under after five holes, but was 7-overafter that and finished tied for 49th at298 after losing in a playoff for medalisthonors in last year’s NCAAChampionship.

Schniederjans was selected first teamAll-American for a second straight year,but had a much better junior seasonwhen he made a strong run for Player ofthe Year.

Tech had qualified for match play fourof the last five years, failing to make it tothe NCAA Championship the othertime. Three of those visits to match playended with losses to the eventual cham-pion, two to Augusta State and once toAlabama in 2013 at Atlanta’s CapitalCity Club Crabapple Course.


Drew Aimone of Savannah wasmedalist at Amelia Island, Fla., with a66, with St. Simons’ Scott Wolfes, whorecently completed his college career atGeorgia Southern, qualifying with a 67.

Qualifying in Ninety Six, S.C., wereHunter Hamrick of St. Simons, whowas second with a 65, and DykesHarbin of Augusta, who shot 68 andwon a three-player- for-two-spots playoff.

Kyle Mueller of Athens, a member ofthe golf team at Michigan, qualified inEast Lansing, Mich., recent UGA golferJoey Garber qualified in Vero Beach,Fla., and Canton’s Kyle Beardsleeshared medalist honors in Fort Collins,Colo., with a 68,

Ten Sectional qualifiers will be heldJune 8, with one of them at HawksRidge in Ball Ground.

3 Georgians earnSenior Open spots

Three Georgians shot 1-under 71 atCherokee Town & CC and survived a 5-man playoff to earn spots in this month’sU.S. Senior Open.

Amateurs Jack Larkin of Atlanta andDoug Hanzel of Savannah qualifiedalong with teaching pro Danny Elkinsof Roswell. Larkin birdied the firstplayoff hole and Hanzel and Elkins madepars to advance. Pro Sid Corliss ofCumming is first alternate.

It was a contested battle for the threequalifying spots, with Georgia amateursBob Royak, Jack Hall, Doug Stilesand David Maddox all shooting 72along with club pro Charlie King.

Also qualifying for the U.S. SeniorOpen, which will be played June 25-28in Sacramento, Cal., was pro SonnySkinner, who won a multi-player playofffor one spot in Illinois.

U.S. Women’s Open: Druid HillsGolf Club hosted a qualifier for the 2015U.S. Women’s Open, with two LPGAplayers earning the two available spots.Jane Park, who lists Woodstock as herresidence, shot 68-68—136, withChattanooga’s Brooke Pancake next at70-68—138.

The top Georgia finishers wereNewnan tour player Jean Reynolds andRiverdale’s Mariah Stackhouse, amember of the Stanford team thatrecently won the NCAA Championship.Both players tied for fifth at 4-under140, with Reynolds shooting 67 in thesecond round and Stackhouse 69.

USGA qualifiers [ Continued from page 28 ]

Chris Kirk [ Continued from page 18 ]

Lake, but finished second in the finalstandings behind Tour Championshipwinner Horschel.

Kirk began his 2014-15 season with atie for fourth in the McGladrey Classic,and shot 62 and 64 in the final rounds ofthe first two tournaments of 2015 inHawaii, but went five months betweentop-10s before a tie for eighth in San

Antonio two weeks before the Masters. With his win in the Colonial, Kirk

moved up to 14th in the FedExCupstandings and to 17th in the WorldRankings, and is in position to make asecond straight appearance in the TourChampionship. After being consideredbut passed over for a Ryder Cup selectionlast year, he was fourth in the PresidentsCup standings and is likely to make thatteam, which plays later this year in SouthKorea.

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iverdale’s MariahStackhouse lifted Stanfordto the NCAA Women’sChampionship in Bradenton,

Fla., winning the decisive match on the19th hole to give the Cardinal a 3-2 vic-tory over Baylor.

The two teams were tied 2-2 withStackhouse’s match against HayleyDavis the only one left on the course.Stackhouse was 2-down with two holesto play after Davis won the 16th with abirdie following a terrific second shotfrom a muddy area within a hazard.

Stackhouse won the par-5 17th whenshe reached the green in two and two-putted for a birdie, and sent the match toextra holes after another birdie on thepar-4 18th, holing a 15-foot putt.Stackhouse, a junior, parred the firstextra hole and Davis, a senior, missed ashort par putt to give Stanford its firstever NCAA women’s golf title.

Stanford, seeded fourth among theeight teams in the match play field, wonits quarterfinal match 4-1 against No. 5Arizona, with Stackhouse winning hermatch 2-up over Arizona’s No. 1 player.Stackhouse had six birdies and won the13th and 14th holes after the match wasall square with six holes to play.

Stackhouse lost her next match laterthat afternoon to the No. 1 player fromtop-seeded Southern Cal, but Stanfordwon three of the other four matches for a3-2 victory. Stackhouse won the first twoholes, but struggled the rest of the wayand lost 6&4, dropping eight of the last12 holes.

In her match in the finals againstDavis, only two holes were halved, aseach player won eight holes. Stackhouselost four holes in a five-hole stretch onthe front nine to fall 3-down after eight.She won holes 9 and 10, but the twoplayers went back and forth from there,with Davis winning holes 11, 13 and 16to go 2-up after Stackhouse won the pre-vious holes.

Davis was on the verge of taking con-trol of the match after driving the short,par-4 12th, leading 2-up. But Stackhousechipped in from just short of the greenfor a winning eagle when Davis missedher eagle putt.

After fighting a losing battle with anextremely severe green on the 13th,Stackhouse played flawless golf over the

next six holes, carding four pars and twoclutch birdies in her winning comeback.

“I actually thought a lot about it lastnight,” Stackhouse said after her champi-onship match. “It felt kind of silly, but Ienvisioned some kind of crazy finish withme having to hit huge shots. I knew Iwas going to be down and have to dosomething crazy to come back.”

It was an up and down week for bothStackhouse and Stanford, which was tiedfor the lead in stroke play after shooting293 the first day, but fell 16 back at thetournament’s midway point following asecond round 323, the highest score by

any of the 15 teams over four days. Stackhouse shot 68 the first day to take

the individual lead, but fell back with a78 in the second round. She was still theteam’s low scorer that day, as none of herteammates broke 80.

Stanford moved back into contentionwith a 296 in the third round, withStackhouse contributing a 75. The teammoved up to fourth with a final round287, the only under par team score forthe tournament. Stackhouse closed witha 70 to finish at 3-over 291, sixth in theindividual competition.

The final day heroics capped what had

been the least successful of Stackhouse’sthree seasons at Stanford.

Stackhouse was a first team All-American as both a freshman andsophomore, winning two tournamentsboth years with a string of other top fin-ishes. One of her wins as a freshman camein a tournament hosted by Stanford, withStackhouse shooting a record-setting 61en route to her victory.

She finished third in the Pac-12 tour-nament, and played well along with herteam for 36 holes in the NCAAChampionship at the UGA course inAthens. But Stanford fell back the final

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Stackhouse leads Stanford to NCAA title

Coastal Georgia repeated as NAIA men’sgolf champions, while Dalton Stategolfers took home both men’s andwomen’s individual titles, with thewomen’s event played at SavannahQuarters.

The men’s event was held at LPGAInternational in Daytona for a secondstraight year, but was played on a dif-ferent course. The Mariners finished witha 7-under 1145 total for 72 holes, sharingthe lead after an opening 282 andleading by six shots after 36 holes and by16 after 54, ending up 11 in front of theirclosest pursuers.

Coastal shot 289 the second day, 283the third round and preserved its leadwith a final round score of 291. TwoCoastal golfers tied for fourth at 5-under283, including senior Hunter Corneliusof Ringgold.

Cornelius lowered his score each day,shooting 74-72-69-68. Also tying forfourth at 283 was Alastair Tidcombe,whose opening 65 matched the lowround of the tournament. He followedwith scores of 73-70-75.

Allen Bradford, a senior fromElberton, tied for 13th at 290 with scoresof 70-73-74-73. All three players were firstteam All-America selections.

Trevor Smith, a junior from Newnan,shot 71-70-75 the last three rounds, whileteammate Alan Barnhardt contributed afinal round 73. Both were third-team All-America.

“It’s amazing,’ said CoastalGeorgia coach Mike Cook,a long time instructor atSea Island Golf Club.”Inever thought this whenwe started the programfive years ago. The goalfrom the beginning wasto recruit the best playerspossible and try to win anational championship. Now, we’ve wontwo in a row. That’s just special.”

Coastal Georgia won eight of its 10 tour-naments on the season, finishing second inone event and third in the conferencechampionship, which was won by DaltonState.

The Mariners had to come from behindto win last year, coming from six shots backafter 54 holes to win by four. Bradford,Cornelius and Smith were all starters onthat team along with Dylan Freeman ofAthens and Chase Miller of Dalton, whowere both seniors.

Sean Elliott of Dalton College capturedthe men’s individual title by eight shotswith a 16-under 272 total. Elliott shot 68-69-65-70, leading by just one shot after 36holes and by six after 54 thanks to his third-round 65. Elliott is a sophomore from NewJersey. Dalton finished 13th in the teamstandings with an 1184 total.

The Dalton State girls tied for second atSavannah Quarters with a 1233 total, 22shots behind Northwood (Fla.). Dalton Statewas only one behind Northwood after 54

holes, butshot 317 the final day while Northwoodturned in a tournament best 296.

Julia McQuilken, a junior from Tampa,shot 4-over 292 to win the individualcompetition by four strokes. McQuilkenshot 74-70-71-77, taking the lead for thefirst time after the third round.

Caroline Griffin, a freshman fromSycamore, was sixth at 301 with scores of73-74-75-79. Rachel Rebne, a sopho-more from Ft. Oglethorpe, and TaylorMarie Griner, a freshman from Moultrie,were also in the starting lineup for theRoadrunners at Savannah Quarters.

Both Elliott and McQuilken work withAtlanta area instructor Ted Fort.

Coastal Georgia repeats NAIA title;Dalton duo wins

Sean Elliott and Julia McQuilken

two days, while Stackhouse sufferedthrough a difficult final round.

Stackhouse again won two tourna-ments as a sophomore and was a firstteam All-American for a second time.She led her regional after 36 holes andfinished 11th and turned in a steady per-formance in the NCAA Championship.

After four wins her first two seasons,Stackhouse was winless as a junior, witha runner-up finish in the Stanford tour-nament she won as a freshman her onlyfinish better than eighth. She played wellin just one round in both the Pac-12tournament and NCAA Regional, butfound her game in time to lead Stanfordto a national title.

Prior to enrolling at Stanford in 2012,Stackhouse put together an outstandingjunior career while winning a host oftournaments in the state against adultcompetitors. She won the GeorgiaWomen’s Amateur Championship andGSGA Women’s Match Play twice each

and the Georgia Women’s Open the onlytime she played it.

Stackhouse made the first of her twoappearances in the U.S. Women’s Openprior to her senior year in high school,and was a member of the winning U.S.Curtis Cup team last year.


Mariah Stackhouse

Web.com Tour [ Continued from page 24 ]

where he has played since 2003. Parelmade a run at a top 25 finish on themoney list and a spot on the PGA Tourin both 2012 and ‘13, but has struggledsince and was 116th on the money listthis year. Monday qualifiers on theChampions Tour may begin appearing onParel’s well-traveled schedule.

Savannah’s Mark Silvers, a former BigBreak winner, has full time status for thefirst time on the Web.com Tour this year,but after making just four of nine cutswith no finishes better than 49th, was133 on the money list.

Alpharetta’s Roberto Castro was 21ston the FedExCup points list in 2013 andearned more than $2 million, but afterfinishing outside the top 125 last year,has only limited status on the PGA Tour.The former Georgia Tech standout hasplayed primarily on that tour this season,but without much chance of getting intomore than a handful of events the rest ofthe year, may have to look to theWeb.com Tour for playing opportunities.Castro played well on that tour in 2012and ‘13, but was 136th on the money listafter making just two starts this year.

Former Roswell resident Justin Bollihas enjoyed a successful professionalcareer for someone who had to make theGeorgia golf team as a walk-on. But afterplaying full time on either the Web.comor PGA Tour since 2004, Bolli is strug-gling to gain access to Web.com eventsthis year. He was a distant 139th on the

money list after playing in five of thefirst nine tournaments this year, just oneafter dropping well down the priority listafter the first re-shuffle that rewardsplayers who are among the leadingmoney winners.

Bolli has four wins in his six full sea-sons on the Web.com Tour, finishingbetween 8th and 11th on the money listeach year he won to earn his four PGATour seasons. But he has not played wellsince enjoying his best PGA Tourshowing in 2013, with a missed cut lastmonth in Greenville, where he has set-tled with his family, the latest in a stringof disappointing showings over the lasttwo seasons.

Fellow ex-Georgia Bulldog BrydenMacpherson made just two of his firstnine cuts in his first full year on theWeb.com Tour and was 151st, withDuluth’s Brent Witcher 152nd afterbeginning his third Web.com seasonwith the same limited status that pro-duced just a total of 19 combined startsin 2012 and ‘14. Witcher finished T23 inhis first start of 2015 in Louisiana to geta second appearance in the next event,but missed the cut and is again on theoutside looking in.

Former Web.com player Jay McLuenof Forsyth, a two-time Georgia Openchampion, made the cut in Greenville ona sponsor’s exemption, but his only accessto the tour is through Monday qualifiers.With only one more tournament on theremaining schedule in the Southeast,Monday qualifying will be a difficultproposition for the state’s players com-peting primarily on regional mini-tours.

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eorgia and Georgia Techhave been the state’s domi-nant golf teams for decades,but the two teams were

joined in the 2014 NCAAChampionship by newcomer KennesawState and Georgia State, both of whomscored runner-up finishes in regionals lastyear,

Both the Bulldogs and Yellow Jacketsreturned to their accustomed spots in theNCAA Championship, but they were theonly schools representing the state in thenational championship, as KennesawState and Georgia State both came upshort at regionals, along with GeorgiaSouthern and Augusta State.

Georgia Tech and Georgia both wontheir regionals last year and qualified forthis year’s championship by placing thirdand fourth respectively in the San DiegoRegional. Oklahoma won by 20 shots,with Arizona State second and Virginiafifth. The top five teams from each of thesix regionals qualified for nationals.

The Yellow Jackets were third at 5-over 869, with the Bulldogs fourth at6-over 870. Tech was outside the top fiveafter shooting 299 the first day, but cameback with scores of 287 and 283 toadvance to nationals for the 23rd timeout of 25 years they have competed atregionals.

Tech was in danger of finishing outsidethe top five until a late surge the finalday moved the team up in the standings,with the Jackets finishing seven shots

ahead of the team thatplaced sixth. Leading theway for Tech were seniorsOllie Schniederjans ofPowder Springs andAnders Albertson ofWoodstock.

Schniederjans shot 75-69-70 to tie for seventhat 2-under 214. Afteralso opening with a 75,Albertson shot 72-70the next two days andtied for 14th at 217.Freshman ChrisPetefish also tied for14th at 217, openingwith scores of 72 and70. Fellow freshmanJames Clark ofColumbus closed withscores of 72 and 73after the team had tocount his opening 77.

Georgia qualifiedfor the NCAAChampionship for the17th time in the 19 years ChrisHaack has been the team’s head coach.Georgia has won two national champi-onships and finished second twice underHaack.

Things were not looking good for theBulldogs after they shot 307 in the firstround and were 12th in the 13-teamfield, as three of the team’s five playersfailed to break 80. But Georgia recoveredto shoot 278 the second day, the secondbest score of the tournament, to move all

the way up to fifth place. The Bulldogsinched up the final day to finish fourthwith a 3-under 285.

Junior Lee McCoy of Clarkesville shot73-70-69 to place fourth at 4-under 212.Senior Mookie DeMoss of Duluth tiedfor seventh at 214 with scores of 73-69-72. Freshman Zach Healy of PeachtreeCorners rebounded from an opening 80with scores of 67 and 73 to tie for 23rd at220. Augusta sophomore Greyson Siggshot 73-71 the final two rounds, with theteam playing so well the second day thatSigg’s 73 did not count. Valdosta juniorSepp Straka contributed a second round72.

Kennesaw State was tied for fourthafter two rounds in the Chapel HillRegional, but the Owls shot 293 thefinal day and fell to sixth place at 866,seven shots behind Clemson in fifth. TheOwls were under par each of the first twodays with scores of 287 and 286, and fin-ished at 2-over for the tournament.

Columbus senior Jimmy Beckwrapped up his outstanding career forKennesaw, tying for fourth with scores of71-70-69 for a 6-under 210 total.Fredrik Nilehn shot 68 the first day andclosed with a 72, but had a non-counting77 in between.

Seniors KelbyBurton and AustinVick, both fromEvans, contributedscores of 71 and 69respectively in thesecond round, buteach shot 76 the final day, with bothscores counting.Burton, who openedwith a 73, finishedwith a 220 total, with Vick shooting221 for 54 holes. No 2player TeremoanaBeaucousin did notshoot lower than 75 inany of the threerounds.

Augusta State wasninth in the regional at871 with scores of 292-286-293. RobinPetersson was low forthe Jaguars, tying for23rd at 217. Mercersenior Trey Rule com-peted in the regional as

an individual, but finished well backwith a 224 total.

Georgia State was 12th out of 13teams in the Lubbock Regional, fallingback the final day with a score of 300.The Panthers shot 287 and 284 the firsttwo days and were seven shots out of fifthplace after 36 holes. Senior DamonStephenson shot a second round 68 andfinished 22nd at 213, with junior J.J.Grey opening with scores of 67 and 71before a final round 77. NathanMallonee, a sophomore from Lexington,contributed scores of 71 and 74 the finaltwo days.

Georgia Southern was 10th in aregional in Indiana, with St. Simonssenior Scott Wolfes closing out his college career with a tie for 11th. Wolfesshot a 78 that counted the first day, andcame back with scores of 67 and 71 tofinish the tournament at even par 216.No other Georgia Southern golfer placedin the top 40, with a pair of 73s the first day by Kim Koivu and ArcherPrice the Eagles’ only other scores below 75. Matt Mierzejewski, a senior from Cumming, struggled allthree days, with a final round 79 his only counting score.

G

Tech, Georgia earn spots in NCAA Championship

Anders Albertson

GEO

RGIA

TECH


Ollie Schniederjans

USG

A

Other state teams fall short in regional events

Lasseter a winnerat Legacy on LanierNick Lasseter of Cumming won a GeorgiaPGA Junior Tour event at Legacy on Lanierlast month, shooting 2-under 70 in thesecond round for a 147 total to finish fourahead of Connor McKinnon of JohnsCreek.

Lasseter won the 14-15 division byseven shots over Davis Smith of Dalton,with McKinnon taking first in the 16-18division at 151, two ahead of RichiePopkin of Kathleen. Marcus Reynolds ofMilledgeville shot 164 to finish two infront of Ryan Davidson of FloweryBranch in the 11-13 age group.

The girls winner was Louise Yu ofDuluth, who posted scores of 73-78--151.

In the most recent GPGA Junior Tourevent played at Cateechee, Eli Scott ofHartwell was the boys winner with scoresof 71-79—150. Jake Harvard ofBlackshear was the boys 16-18 winner andoverall runner-up at 152, followed byChris Stowe of Carnesville at 157. RyanHogan of Gainesville was 2nd to Scott inthe 14-15 age group at 159.

Peyton Balent of Cumming shot 77-75—152 to win the 12-13 division, withAnna Grace McCurley of Canton firstamong the girls.

Upcoming Georgia PGA Junior eventsinclude Stone Mountain (June 30-July 1)and the UGA course (July 7-8).

Ralston claims 2Southeastern titles The Southeastern Junior Golf Tour playedthree events last month in Georgia, begin-ning with a tournament at ChattahoocheeGC in Gainesville

Gainesville’s Spencer Ralston won onhis home course, shooting a 7-under 65 inthe second round for a 9-under 135 total,

finishing six shots ahead of GainesvilleHigh School teammate Nathan Williamsin the 16-18 age group. Logan Perkins ofLocust Grove was 3rd at 143.

Will Kahlstorf of Athens won the 14-15division and was 2nd overall with scores of71-68—139. Four Georgia juniors tied for2nd in the age group at 147. AndrewHughes of Dawsonville won the 12-13 agegroup in a playoff over Will Stakel ofDuluth after both players shot 151.

Alejandra Ayala of Alpharetta closedwith a 69 for a 150 total to win the girlsdivision by four shots over AlisonCrenshaw of Suwanee. Emily Haigwoodof Roswell shot 158 to win the 12-14 divi-sion by 12 strokes.

Alex Shead of Appling shot 69-69—138 at the UGA course to win a SJGT eventby one over Jacob Bayer of Lawrencevilleand Nicolas Cassidy of Johns Creek, the14-15 age group winner.

Bayer was 2nd in 16-18 with AustinFulton of Villa Rica 3rd at 140.Cassidy shot69-70—139 to finish eight ahead ofSuwanee’s Preston Topper in the 14-15division. Tanner Brown of Moultrie was1st in 12-13 at 145, four shots in front ofWill Spivey of Douglas.

Megan Sabol of Augusta shot 77-72—149 to win the girls division by seven overKarson Stone of Thomasville.

Ralston scored a second victory in lessthan three weeks, shooting 18-under 126over 36 holes at Orchard Hills with scoresof 62-64. Steffen Smith of Alpharetta shot70-66—136 to place 2nd in boys 16-18, 10behind Ralston. Chandler Eaton ofAlpharetta and Bill Sharpe II of Albanytied for 3rd at 139.

Cassidy was the 14-15 winner and took2nd overall with scores of 66-68—134.Bradley Plaziak of Alpharetta was 2nd inthe age group at 137, with DanielFienemann of Peachtree City 3rd at 138.Luke Dasher of Macon shot 146 to winthe 12-13 age group by four.

Ivy Shepherd of Peachtree City wonthe girls division by 13 shots with scores of68-69—137. Ayanna Habeel of Decaturshot 156 to take the 12-14 age group.

In the most recent SJGT event, played atthe Georgia Club, Austin Mancilla ofLawrenceville shot 69-67—136 and won aplayoff over Eamon Owen of Madison(68-68) in boys 16-19. Jake Lawson ofAtlanta was 3rd at 139.

Grant Sutliff of Suwanee was the 14-15winner with scores of 72-70—142, oneahead of Dustin De Mersseman ofAthens. Sam Barrett of Thomasville wasthe 12-13 winner at 149, with LindseyCordell of Rome and Spivey 2nd at 151.

Ashley Brown of Alpharetta was thegirls winner in a playoff over HeatherKipness of Alpharetta, with both playersposting 155 totals. Mary Hunt Murray ofAugusta was the 12-14 winner.

Idle Hour in Macon will host the PeachBlossom Junior June 15-16.

Chong, Fienemann Hurricane winners The Hurricane Junior Golf Tour made twostops in the state last month, playing atBartram Trail in Evans and Canongate I.

Andrew Chong of Grovetown was theBartram Trail boys winner with scores of70-72—142. Alex Wells of Evans was 2ndat 143. Will Chambless of Culloden shot153 to win the 13-14 age group by oneover Jason Quinlan of Cumming andOwen Whitehead of Augusta.

Woo Wade of Dunwoody shot 158 towin girls 11-14 by 11 over Charli York ofJohns Creek. Christyn Carr of Johns Creekwas 2nd in girls 15-18 at 157.

Daniel Fienemann shot 5-over 221 towin a 54-hole event at Canongate I, withConnor Coffee of Peachtree City 2nd at224 and Luka Karaulic of Decatur 3rd at225. Gavin Noble of Ringgold won the 13-14 age group by eight shots, finishing at2-under 214 with scores of 74-69-71. JakePeacock of Alpharetta shot 227 to takefirst in the 11-12 age group by one overBrice Murphy of Johns Creek.

Christine McDonnell of Suwanee shot234 to win girls 15-18 by two over LizzieReedy of Marietta. Michelle Cao ofDuluth was the 11-14 winner at 240, sevenahead of Liza Eubanks of Peachtree City.

Noble also won his age group in

Knoxville by five shots with a 150 total,with Avondale’s Dougan Annan the 15-18division winner by two with a score of 153.Jackson Toole of Vidalia was the 13-14winner in Bluffton, S.C., with a score of144.Ty Hutson of Metter was 2nd in the agegroup at 152.

Perkins captures AJGA tournamentLogan Perkins of Locust Grove won anAmerican Junior Golf Association Pre-season tournament at Chateau Elan,shooting 2-under 140 on the Chateaucourse to finish one ahead of the runner-up.

Perkins had scores of 71 and 69, cardingfour birdies in the second round. WillKahlstorf was 4th at 145, with RyanRobichaud of Peachtree City tying for 5that 146 and Peachtree City’s Hunter HesterT9 at 148.

Skylar Thompson of Buford was 3rdamong the girls at 147, three shots behindthe winner. Kate Owens of Suwanee tiedfor 6th at 152.

Pre-season tournaments give juniorsaccess to AJGA tournaments with the pos-sibility of getting into Open and JuniorAll-star events with top finishes.

Jay Mobley of Waynesboro andBenjamin Shipp of Duluth tied for 4th inan AJGA open event at the AuburnUniversity course with scores of 1-under143. JonErik Alford of Roswell tied for11th at 146.

In the girls division, Sabrina Long ofAlpharetta tied for 4th at 148, with Milton’sPayton Schanen tying for 6th at 149.Alissa Yang of Norcross tied for 10th at153.

Incoming UGA freshmen Bailey Tardyof Norcross and Rinko Mitsunaga ofRoswell turned in strong effects in recentnational junior events.

Mitsunaga won the Kathy WhitworthInvitational in Ft. Worth, Tex., shooting 146and taking a playoff. Mitsunaga played thetournament with borrowed clubs after herclubs were lost in transit.

Tardy shot 3-under 213 at Grayhawk GCin Scottsdale, Ariz., tying for 2nd in theThunderbird International, one shotbehind Californian Mika Liu, who teamedwith Mitsunaga to win the recent USGAWomen’s Four-Ball Championship.


Louis Yu Nick Lasseter

Golf FORE Juniors

Reeves, Whiteheadwin Pro-AssistantThe Capital City Club duo of Eric Reevesand Brent Whitehead teamed up to winthe Georgia PGA Club Car Pro-AssistantChampionship at Athens Country Club,shooting 13-under 95 in the 27-hole, bestball event.

Reeves and Whitehead won by twoshots to take home $1,500. Tying forsecond at 11-under 97 was Mark Averyand Craig Stevens of Brookstone G&CCand Stephen Keppler and MichaelBerning of Marietta CC.

Head pros were able to team up withmultiple assistants, with Reeves andKeppler also part of teams that tied forfourth with scores of 98. Reeves teamedwith Dakota Mincey and Keppler pairedwith Eric Croux to tie for fourth with theteams of Mark Mongell and J.P. Griffin ofCherokee Town & CC and Danny Elkinsand Chris Nicol of Georgia Golf Center.

Finemore scoresupset over StevensJoe Finemore scored a major upset in theearly stages of the Georgia PGA MatchPlay Championship, knocking off fourth-seeded Craig Stevens 1-up in the secondround. Stevens is a three-time GeorgiaPGA Player of the Year and has won theMatch Play Championship twice, reachingthe finals in 2012 and 2013 and the semifi-nals last year.

Finemore, the head pro at Big Canoe,plays Country Club of the South instructorDavid Potts, the 2010 Match Play cham-pion, in the third round.

Also advancing to the third round weretop seed Sonny Skinner, No. 3 Kyle Owenof Dunwoody CC, No. 5 Matthew Evans,No. 7 Brian Dixon of Fox Creek, thedefending champion, and No. 8 ClarkSpratlin. Evans, the head pro at RivermontG&CC, needed 19 holes to get past BrianCorn of Peachtree GC, and Spratlin, theDirector of Golf at Currahee Club, won 1-upagainst Country Club of the South’s ShawnKoch in a battle of former champions.

Skinner plays No. 16 Todd Ormsby ofHighland CC in the third round andSpratlin takes on No. 9 Greg Lee ofChicopee Woods, last year’s runner-up, inwhat should be one of the best matches ofthe tournament. Evans plays No. 12Michael Parrott of Brookfield CC andOwen will face No. 19 Bill Murchison of

Towne Lake Hills, who defeated No. 14Seth McCain of Jennings Mill 3&2.

Other second round winners includedNo. 18 Danny Elkins, who got past No. 15Jeff Frasier of Chicopee Woods 3&2, andPatrick Richardson of Wilmington Island,who reached the finals of the 8-playercoastal Georgia portion of the bracket.Richardson won 1-up against Chris Leakeof The Landings, who upset No. 6 HankSmith of Frederica Club in the first round.Richardson plays Mark Anderson ofBrunswick CC in the third round.

Two other second round matches hadyet to be played at the end of May.

North Chapter Championship: WestPines head pro Chris Cartwright won the Georgia PGA North ChapterChampionship at Achasta GC, shooting 5-under 139 for 36 holes to edge JamesMason by one stroke. Brandon Cissomof Dalton G&CC was third at 141, withMarietta Golf Center instructor Ted Fortfourth at 142. Brent Whitehead and ChrisNicol tied for fifth at 143, with ClarkSpratlin, Greg Lee and Eric Reeves sev-enth at 144.

Senior Division: In a Senior Divisionevent last month at Summit Chase, CraigStevens shot 70-70—140 to win by twoover a trio of amateurs. Tying for second at142 were Mel Mendenhall (75-67), JackKearney (74-68) and Dave Nichols (73-69).

Amateur Tim Brewer was fifth at 144,with amateur John Foster and Collins HillGC head pro Scott Hare sixth at 145. ProSonny Skinner closed with a 68 to tie foreighth at 146 with amateur Rusty Strawn.Robby Cole of Bent Tree was 10th at 148.

Jack Hall takes GSGA Mid-Am Savannah’s Jack Hall, one of the state’stop senior amateurs, added the GSGAMid-Amateur Championship to his list ofstatewide tournament victories, winningthe event recently at Marietta CC.

Hall shot 70-67-68 for a 5-under 205total, finishing one ahead of Kennesaw’sChristian Raynor, who posted scores of68-69-69. Bobby Brent of Columbus andChad Branton of Cartersville tied for thirdat 210, with Billy Mitchell of Roswell andStan Gann of Bonaire fifth at 211.

Senior Match Play: Frank Remmes ofLilburn defeated Chris Hall of Mableton2&1 in the finals of the GSGA Senior MatchPlay Championship at Forest Heights inStatesboro. Remmes defeated LarryVaughan of Greensboro 1-up in the semi-finals while Hall got past Jack Hall (norelation), 4&2.

Don Marsh of Johns Creek won theSuper Senior final 1-up over FrankCostanzo of Savannah after defeatingAtlanta’s Dick Van Leuvan 2-up in thesemifinals.

Witcher second at Chattahoochee Duluth’s Brent Witcher, a Web.com Tourplayer, finished second in aSwingThought.com (formerly Hooters)Tour event last month at ChattahoocheeGC in Gainesville.

Witcher shot four rounds in the 60s and

posted a 17-under 271 total, five behindCanada’s Adam Svensson, who followedan opening 66 with three straight 67s.Svensson also won a recentSwingThought.com event in Tallahassee.

Recent UGA golfer T.J. Mitchell ofAlbany tied for seventh at 275 with fellowAlbany native Josh Broadaway, aWeb.com Tour veteran. Mitchell shot afinal round 65 and Broadaway closed witha 66. Tying for 10th at 276 were BlakePalmer of Dawsonville and Savannah’sTim O’Neal.

Chris Wolfe of Warner Robins and recentAlabama golfer Trey Mullinax, now livingon St. Simons Island, tied for second in aSwingThought.com event in Ocala, Fla.,one shot behind the winner. Recent UGAgolfer Joey Garber and Bobby Wyatt, anAlabama teammate of Mullinax and also aSt. Simons resident, tied for second inTallahassee behind Svensson.

Garber also tied for second at SavannahLakes in McCormick, S.C., a long-time host of the Hooters Tour, and is seventh on the SwingThought.com’s money list.Jay McLuen, a two-time Georgia Openchampion, tied for seventh at SavannahLakes.

Former Kennesaw State golfer JeffKarlsson placed second in the mostrecent SwingThought.com event inFayetteville, N.C., with Wolfe finishingthird, O’Neal fourth and Chip Deason ofEvans fifth.

Augusta’s Harbinwins eGolf eventDykes Harbin of Augusta, a formermember of the golf team at SouthCarolina, won a tournament in High Point,N.C., recently on the eGolf Tour. Harbinbirdied the last two holes in the finalround for a 68 to win by one shot with an11-under 205 total. He earned $14,500 forthe victory.

Harbin also finished sixth in anothereGolf Tour event in North Carolina, withCory Whitsett, one of several recentAlabama golfers living on St. SimonsIsland, tying for second. Recent GeorgiaTech golfer Bo Andrews was seventh and2015 Kennesaw State graduate JimmyBeck of Columbus tied for eighth in hisprofessional debut.

In an earlier eGolf Tour event at ForestOaks in Greensboro, N.C., Alpharetta’sFranco Castro tied for sixth, with former Georgia Tech golfer Kyle Scott ofDecatur 12th.

36 G O L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U N E 2 0 1 5

Brent Whitehead & Eric Reeves

Chip Shots

Jack Hall

GEO

RGIA

PGA

GSG

A


Across1 Tried to challenge Spieth at the Masters 2015 but could not catch him (2 words)5 Bottom of the club8 Hit the ball with the hosel of the club9 Davis Love ____10 Henrik Stenson is one11 Trump National Golf Club, Colt ___, New Jersey12 Jordan Spieth, in college15 Morning tee time16 Trims the green17 Youngest player to be ranked No. 1 in professional golf 18 Move too much laterally during the swing23 ___ roll (playing well) (2 words)24 “Big” name in Callaway clubs

26 It's the point that determines which pro golfers go onto the next round27 It's come to mean a calm attitude, also a type of Buddhism29 Top PA golf course that will hostthe US Open in 201631 Adam Scott, Peter Thomson andGreg Norman, for example32 Shank a shot, e.g.34 Curving to the right or left, as aputt, due to the slant of the green orthe wind36 ____-down: shot with a low trajectory, used to combat high winds38 Bismarck's state39 Resume, in a way41 Lays out a new course, for example42 All-time great women's golfer, first name

Down1 Australian golfer in the top 10 of the PGA rankings (2 words)2 Position of the feet at address3 Signs, as a contract4 Chris Como is Tiger's ____ coach6 Pebble Beach vista7 US golfer who won the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2014 and 20159 They are the clubs of choice for approach shots10 AKA stroke13 Top course at Mamaroneck, NY,Winged _____14 Fall off17 US golfer, winner of the RBCHeritage in 201419 Rory McIlroy's ex20 Jerks or pulls21 Very risky type of golf shot

22 “That's just the way ___” (2 words)25 Holds the flag stick for anotherplayer28 Hit a short, high shot, designed toland softly30 Course that hosted the 2014 SeniorOpen, Oklahoma’s ___ Tree National33 Initials of the US PGA tour golferwho is one of the longest drivers35 Overnight stay place36 Car company that sponsored anLPGA Tour Classic in March 201537___ -starter40 Pro golfer Kevin

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38 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O MJ U N E 2 0 1 5

Top Ga. amateurs to playin Southeastern, DogwoodThe annual Southeastern Amateur andDogwood Invitational tournaments areon the June/early July calendar this year,with many of the best amateurs fromGeorgia competing in both eventsagainst fields that include top collegeplayers from outside the state.

The Southeastern Amateur will beplayed June 17-20 at Country Club ofColumbus, with the Dogwood set forJuly 1-4 at Druid Hills Golf Club.

Grant Hirschman, who started as afreshman at Oklahoma, is the defendingchampion in the Southeastern Am, withEatonton’s Trey Rule, the 2014Dogwood champion, recently com-pleting his college career at Mercer.

Hirschman won in a playoff last year inColumbus against recent ArmstrongAtlantic golfer Shad Tuten of Elberton,with both players back in the field forthis month’s tournament.

Also in the Southeastern Am field areGeorgia Tech golfer James Clark andUGA’s Parker Derby, both Columbusresidents. Clark’s Georgia Tech team-mates in the field include MichaelHines of Woodstock, Jacob Joiner ofLeesburg, Michael Pisciotta and DrewCzuchry, both of Alpharetta, and VinceWhaley, with UGA’s Zach Healy ofPeachtree Corners also competing.

Other current and recent collegegolfers in the field from Georgia includeEmmanuel Kountakis, HenryMabbett, Justin Cho, Jared O’Kelley,Emerson Newsome, Joe Lewis andDavis Parker, with several ofHirschman’s Oklahoma teammatesamong a strong group of out-of-stateplayers.

Joining Rule in the field for theDogwood, which will be played July 1-4,are Clark, Hines, Joiner, Chris Petefish

and Whaley from Georgia Tech, Healyand Valdosta’s Sepp Straka fromGeorgia, Davin White, JJ Grey andDamon Stephenson of Georgia State,and Scott Wolfes and Mabbett ofGeorgia Southern. Rule, Kountakis andrecent graduate James Beale will repre-sent Mercer.

Billy Kennerly (Clemson)and KyleMueller (Michigan) are Georgians whocompeted in the recent NCAAChampionship, and will play in theDogwood along with several standoutsfrom smaller colleges, including NAIAchampion Sean Elliott of Dalton State,D-III standout Anthony Maccaglia ofOglethorpe and 2014 Georgia Amateurchampion Robert Mize of ColumbusState.

Three of the top members of the state’s2015 high school class who will be col-lege freshmen this Fall are also in thefield, with David Mackey heading toAthens, Steven Fisk to GeorgiaSouthern and Ryan Stachler to SouthCarolina.

Two players from NCAA championLSU will compete along with otherplayers from top college programs, withthe tournament scheduled to conclude onJuly 4th.

Georgia Amateur [ Continued from page 14 ]

although tees may be adjusted fromday to day depending on the wind condi-tions, always a major factor along theGeorgia coast.

Seaside, which hosts the annual PGATour McGladrey Classic along with theSEC Championship, features mostly gen-erous fairways and is not especially longby modern standards. But the oceanbreezes, abundance of marshes, hazardsand sand dunes in play and somedemanding greens complexes will testthe state’s top amateurs.

The course is capable of yielding rela-tively low scores, but with only two par5s, neither of which is easily reachable intwo, players have to earn their birdieswith precise approach shots and a deftputting touch. A quality short game isalso required, as the greenside bunkersare deep and many of the putting surfacesare bordered by run-offs to chippingareas that provide several options.

The greens are generally on the largeside with plenty of slope, and Williamssays the typically quick putting surfaces“will be as fast as they need to be,”although he admits he will be “verycareful” about green speeds and holelocations if the wind kicks up.

Trey Rule

MERCER

http://georgiapga.com/


http://www.maggievalleyclub.com/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp


http://www.gulfshores.com/golf/

Documents

June 2015 FORE Georgia Magazine