in the same direction. Although it willnot be possible to play both directions atthe same time, the third option is to play18 holes in the same day by using ashotgun start.

In addition to the changes to thecourse, an expansive practice facility willbe constructed, in part for use by theGeorgia State golf team, which currentlydoes not have a practice facility withinproximity to its campus. The team cur-rently plays out of Berkeley HillsCountry Club in Duluth and Eagle’sLanding Country Club in Stockbridge.

The plans for Bobby Jones Golf Coursego far beyond just the re-construction ofthe golf course and the addition of a prac-tice area. One of the driving forces

behind theproject was the creation of a Georgia GolfHouse on the property, with the buildingalso serving as a home for the GeorgiaGolf Hall of Fame.

The reconstructed Bobby Jones GolfCourse is also projected as a “junior golfmecca,” with a wee links consisting ofsomewhere from five or six to as many asnine holes also scheduled to be part ofCupp’s re-design work. There are cur-rently no practice facilities for juniors (orgolfers in general) in the area near thecourse, which is located off NorthsideDrive north of the I-75/85 split.

Bobby Jones Golf Course opened in1932 and was named after the legendaryAtlanta amateur, but the compact layoutwith holes in close proximity to othershas become more of a safety concern.

Cupp points out that if he attempted arenovation that would preserve thecourse as an 18-hole layout, it would

By Mike Blum

ne of the most ambi-tious golf facilityrenovation projects inGeorgia’s history is

moving forward after the AtlantaCity Council agreed to a land swapthat will transfer the historic BobbyJones Golf Course to the state, with abuilding on the property slated for useas a “Golf House” for Georgia’s mostprestigious golf organizations.

The state approved the deal abouttwo weeks after the Atlanta CityCouncil vote, but final details have tobe worked out in the deal, with thecity getting a parking deck and otherproperty near Underground Atlantathat would be turned over to a privatedeveloper with plans for majorimprovements to the area.

Once the deal receives final approvaland the funds are raised or committed,a complete reconstruction of the courseis scheduled to begin, with acclaimedAtlanta-based golf course architectBob Cupp in charge of the project.Plans are to convert Bobby Jones froman 18-hole course to a unique,reversible nine-hole course, withCupp’s re-design resulting in 18 dis-tinct holes that can be played atchampionship length.

The unique design of the course cre-ates three different playing options.The course can be played in one direc-tion one day and the opposite way thenext day. Because each hole has a largedouble green and multiple tees, thegolfer can play from a different tee to adifferent pin on his or her second loop

O

[ See Bobby Jones, page 6 ]

Like Us on Facebook

Follow Uson Twitter

@FOREGeorgia

GEORGIAPGA.COM FOREGEORGIA.COM JULY 2016

««

Big changes coming for Bobby Jones GC Renovated course, practice area, Golf House

A rendering of the new Bobby Jones Golf Course Clubhouse and Golf House

2 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

2 0 1 6 J U LY 3F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

Schniederjans scores win. . . . . . . . . 8FedExCup update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Georgia Open preview . . . . . . . . . . 12Skinner repeats in Atlanta Open. . 14Georgia Women's Open preview. . 16

Paolozzi in top 10 at nationals . . . 18GPGA Match Play update . . . . . . . 20Berkeley Hills preview . . . . . . . . . . 22Georgia Amateur preview . . . . . . . 24Dogwood, Southeastern Am wrap-ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Barbasol Championship . . . . . . . . 29

information we need to make theproper corrections.Generally speaking, the ball will

start in the direction the club faceis aimed at impact. The ball alsowill curve away from the directionof the club path. The closer theclub face and club path are indirection, the straighter (straight

right, straight left or straight straight) theball will fly. The more the ball curves, thebigger the difference in the direction ofthe club face and the club path. Armedwith that information, we now should beable to make smart decisions on what weneed to correct in our golf swings to hitbetter shots.

For instance, let’s say we are a righthanded player and we hit a shot that startsslightly to the left of our target and slicesor curves to the right. In that scenario, theshot tells us that the club face was aimedslightly left or closed to the target and theclub path was even more left of that. Mostof us would do one of two things,strengthen our grips or aim farther left,neither which would correct the root ofthe problem.

The root of the problem in this case isthat the club path, or the direction thatthe club was moving, was too far to theleft of the club face. That produced thecurve to the right. Knowing that and thefact that the hands control the club faceand the arms/shoulders control the clubpath, we can go right to the source andcorrect what exactly caused our arms andshoulders to produce the way left swing

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

path, correcting the root of the problem.The ball will tell you what to do if you let

it if you watch it. You can continue makingcompensation after compensation, get-ting lucky every now and then havingstreaks of good play. Or you can “Keep youeye on the ball”, get great information, fixthe root of your problem and play goodgolf all the time. Your choice.

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

FOREgeorgia.com / foregeorgia@comcast.netSend all press releases to: info@foregeorgia.com

PUBL ISHER

Golf Media, Inc. / John BarrettEDITOR Mike Blum

WEBS ITE/FACEBOOK/SOCIAL MEDIA

Jason McCullough / Carly Aronin / Rebecca Rast /Olivia Rawlings

JUNIOR/COLLEGE GOLF NEWS COORDINATOR

Samantha StoneMARKET ING & ADVERT IS ING

National Sales: Ed Bowen/Bowen Group,edbowen.foregeorgia@gmail.com

Local & Corporate Sale: John Barrett/Rick Holt,foregeorgia@comcast.net • Brandy Jones,

brandy.foregeorgia@gmail.comCorporate/Professional Relations:

Scott Mahr, PGAART DIRECTOR Lori Ors

CREAT IVE SERV ICES Dwayne WalkerCONTR IBUTORS

Bobby Hix • Steve DinbergRob Matre • Al Kooistra

GEORGIA SECT ION, PGA OF AMERICA OFF ICERS

PresidentBrian Albertson, PGA / bamulligan@bellsouth.net

Vice PresidentJohn Godwin, PGA / jgodwinpga@earthlink.net

SecretaryBrandon Stooksbury, PGA / bjstooks@pga.com

Honorary PresidentMark Mongell, PGA / mmongell@cherokeetcc.org

CHAPTER PRES IDENTS

Central Chapter PresidentCary Brown, PGA / cary@valdosta-country-club.com

East Chapter PresidentBrandon Youmans, PGA /

brandonyoumans@pga.comNorth Chapter President

Jordon Arnold, PGA / jordonarnold@hotmail.com

AT-LARGE DIRECTORS

Brian Conley, PGA / pgaugadawg@aol.comJeff Dunovant, PGA / jdunovant@pga.comMatthew Evans, PGA / mevans@pga.com

Shawn Koch, PGA / prokoch@pga.comMark Lammi, PGA / mal9599@msn.com

Todd Ormsby, PGA / taormsby1020@gmail.comRashad Wilson, PGA / rashadwilson40@gmail.com

SENIOR DIV IS ION

PresidentScott Hare, PGA / shhare@pga.com

ASS ISTANTS’ D IV IS IONPresident

Will Bartram, PGA / will@hawksridge.com

SECT ION STAFF

Executive Director Mike PaullAssistant Executive Director/

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

Foundation Program Manager Maria BengtssonSection 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

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Fore

cast

FEATURES:

By Bobby HixPGA Senior InstructorArnold Blum Golf LearningCenter - Idle Hour Club

If you have been playingthis game of golf for anytime at all, you have prob-ably been told to “Keep youreye on the ball”. That tip usually came afteryou just topped, chunked or plain outmissed a shot. The fact is that keepingyour eye on the ball may not prevent youfrom making any of the shots listed. Butwe do want you to keep your eye on theball. But instead of trying to keep your eyeon the ball as you hit it, we want you tokeep your eye on the ball after you hit it.

One of the first questions you shouldalways be asked when taking a golf lessonis “What is the ball doing”? Every day wesee players on the range hitting balls. Takea swing, feels bad off the club, know rightaway, never look at the ball flight, rakeanother one over and repeat, never notingthe flight of the ball. While practicing, wewant a player watching every shot,keeping his or her eyes on the ball, payingattention to that flight because that’swhat’s going to give them the informationto get better.

For the most part, the golf ball willnever lie. The ball reacts to (other thanwhere you hit it on the club face) wherethe club face is aimed and the direction ofthe club path at impact. So keeping oureye on the ball, regardless of where itgoes, will go a long way to giving us the

PRESENTED BY

For wrap-ups of July tournaments,

including the Georgia Amateur and

Georgia Women'sOpen, go to

www.foregeorgia.com

Instruction Fore You

DEPARTMENTS:

Golf FORE Juniors. . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Chip shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Keeping Your EyeOn The Ball

Like Us on Facebook

Follow Uson Twitter

@FOREGeorgia

2 0 1 6 J U LY 5F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

6 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

By Mike Blum

Perhaps the most legendary name in thehistory of golf is that of Atlanta nativeRobert Tyre Jones, Jr., golf’s most storiedamateur player ever and one of thegame’s all-time greats.

Bobby Jones, as he is known in theannals of golf, captured the game’s fourmost prestigious events in 1930 – theU.S. Open and Amateur and the BritishOpen and Amateur. He retired after thatamazing feat, and soon thereafterhelped create Augusta National GolfClub and the Masters Tournament.

Atlanta honored Jones by naming itsfirst public golf course after the locallegend, with Bobby Jones Golf Courseopening in 1933. The course has survivedfor more than 80 years despite frequentbattles with overflowing water fromcreeks that wind through and around theproperty, with many alterations to thelayout – some minor, others more signif-icant – made over the years.

If things go as planned, the BobbyJones Golf Course will undergo its mostextensive renovation ever, as a land swapbetween city and state governments willtransfer ownership of the course to thestate and facilitate major changes to thelayout of the aging course.

The person who will be responsible forthe complete renovation of the course,as well as the addition of a first class prac-tice facility that will be used by theGeorgia State golf team and a shortcourse constructed primarily for use byjuniors, is long-time Atlanta resident andrenowned golf course architect BobCupp.

A veteran of more than 45 years in thegolf course design business, Cupp beganhis career working with Jack Nicklausand created his own design firm morethan 30 years ago. He is responsible forsome of the most acclaimed golf coursedesigns in the U.S., a number of them inGeorgia, and was selected to the GeorgiaGolf Hall of Fame in 2014.

Cupp was faced with something of adilemma when he began to contemplatehow to make the changes to BobbyJones Golf Course that would bring itmore into line with the high standardsset by the golfing great who gave thecourse its name.

The course was constructed in a con-fined setting, with its total acreage much

smaller than theaverage golfcourse. The coursehas been reducedfrom its originalyardage of 6,455yards to under5,900 yards in itscurrent configura-tion, and thenumber of holes inclose proximity toothers puts thosewho play the coursein peril of beingstruck by an errantshot from a player onan adjacent hole.

“It’s an inordi-nately dangerouscourse,” Cupp says,with his efforts tokeep Bobby Jones asa standard 18-hole layout unsuccessful.The only way the course could be madesafe for play was to reduce the yardageeven further to around 5,000 yards,slightly longer than what is known as an“executive” course.

Cupp turned to a famous course forinspiration on how to proceed, with thatcourse inextricably linked to the career ofBobby Jones and his Grand Slam effort of1930. The Old Course at St. Andrews wasdesigned to play in separate directions,and for a small number of days a year, isplayed in the reverse order of its originaldesign.

Cupp does not have the luxury of anexpansive piece of land that would allowfor a full-length 18-hole course, but hisdesign of the renovated Bobby Jones GolfCourse will result in it being a reversiblelayout that will measure as long as 7,500yards from the back tees to accommodatethe needs of the Georgia State golf team.

“Nine holes is the coming thing,” Cuppsaid of the emphasis on nine-hole facili-ties to better fit into the time crunch thatkeeps many prospective golfers off thecourse. “Based on the land, it was going tobe nine holes and we wanted to see ifthere was enough room for a practicefacility.

“I took a page out of the St. Andrewsbook on reversible holes. They have a lot-tery for those days when they play thecourse backwards, and people love it.”

By playing the course in both direc-

tions, Cupp says the new BobbyJones Golf Course will feature “a com-pletely separate 18 holes of golf. It will be18 different holes. It’s a fascinating con-cept.”

For safety reasons, a course can’t beplayed in opposite directions at the sametime, but Cupp says there are ways to giveplayers a complete 18-hole experiencethrough the use of shotgun starts withA.M. and P.M. starting times.

Playing a course in two directions is alsobeneficial from a maintenance standpoint,as the divots will be better dispersed withthe length of approach shots differentdepending on which way the hole isplayed.

Cupp says he intends to design thecourse in the style of classic golf coursearchitects Donald Ross and A.W.Tillinghast, while being cognizant of thepublic nature of the facility.

“We will keep as many trees as we can,”Cupp says of the moderately tree-linedlayout. “Some will come out for drainage.We want it to be a completely publiccourse. Because part of the course is in aflood plain, we will use lots of grass hol-lows and the bunkers will not be very big,like older courses.”

Drainage has been a problem with theBobby Jones Golf Course for many years,and Cupp says the drainage situationshould be “significantly better” after therenovations. “It will be playable after rain.”

Cupp believes the par-3 course, whichhe hopes to fit in as many as nine holes in

Cupp takes unique approach to re-design

the 40-to-85-yard range, “will bea great place for kids to learn.The kids will be able to play golflike we used to when we werekids. Their parents will dropthem off and they can stay allday, maybe going up to the bigrange and hit a bucket or two.”

In addition, Cupp saysthe par-3 course will also serveas a short game practice areafor Georgia State’s golfers.

The current BobbyJones Golf Course has itsadvocates, who appreciatethe entertaining nature of aninteresting, if somewhatquirky layout despite itsinherently hazardous nature.The variety of the holes isamong its strengths, withsome very tight tee shots

interspersed with some that are extremelyforgiving. The forgiving nature of many ofthe holes is part of the problem, asadjoining fairways provide room to strayoff the tee, which places players on otherholes in peril.

The creeks that wind through the courseprovide some of its character as well asdanger, with the sharply dogleg right fifthhole, at one time the 18th on the course,one of the more interesting par 4s in all ofAtlanta.

The par-70 layout is short on length,with the first (406) and second (425) holesthe only par 4s over 400 yards from theback tees and four par 4s in the 335 rangeor shorter. There are only two par 5s, one ofwhich is basically a long par 4 for playerswho hit it reasonably far (the 455-yard10th). Only one par 3 is longer than 165,and one of the four is among the shortest,least demanding holes you’ll encounter(No. 9).

For the most part, the greens complexesare on the gentle side, with the quality put-ting surfaces rolling at moderate speedswith little in the way of serious undulation.

Other than the fifth hole and the thread-the-needle tee shot from the elevated18th tee, there isn’t much that is particu-larly memorable about Bobby Jones GolfCourse (providing you don’t get conked on the head by an errant shot), but it has proven to be a playable, enjoyable destination for its loyal regulars, who willmiss it, even if it’s replaced by somethingbetter.

Bobby Jones to be reversible, 9-hole layout

The reversible 9-hole layout can

play in one direction one day...

have to be made even shorter than its cur-rent version, which measures under6,000 yards from the back tees.

The renovation of the Bobby JonesGolf Course was something MartyElgison, Attorney for the Jones family,had wanted to accomplish and wasworking on for several years. The GolfHouse idea was promoted by ChuckPalmer, then the President of the GeorgiaState Golf Association, and MarkMongell, then the President of theGeorgia PGA, who were representing thelong term strategic plans of their associa-tions. The three later collaborated tobring their vision to fruition.

Palmer, who is currently the Chairmanof the Georgia Golf Hall of FameCommittee as well as the Chairman ofthe Bobby Jones Golf CourseFoundation, and Mongell promoted theidea of a Georgia Golf House that wouldplace the GSGA, Georgia PGA andGeorgia Golf Course SuperintendentsAssociation all under the same roof,along with Atlanta Junior Golf, whichhas recently become part of the GSGA.

The states of Tennessee, Kentucky andIndiana have similar Golf Houses, as doesNew York’s Metropolitan GolfAssociation, with the one in Georgia alsodesigned to finally provide a permanenthome for the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.

The proposed changes to Bobby JonesGolf Course have the approval of the lategolfer’s family. Robert Tyre Jones IV,Bobby Jones’ grandson, expressed his“enthusiastic support” in a letter toAtlanta City Council members.

Elgison, a spokesman for the Jonesfamily, said the course is “obsolete” and“dangerous,” and “doesn’t really honortheir grandfather’s legacy. A new courseis something their grandfather would beproud of.”

Elgison, who leads the Bobby JonesGolf Course Foundation along withPalmer, came up with the initial ideaabout renovating the golf course.

Although there are some advocates forleaving the course as is, the general con-sensus is that a facility sporting the nameof one of golf’s all-time greats should bebetter than what currently exists.

Palmer, who first played Bobby JonesGolf Course in the early 1980s, describesthe layout as “a mess and dangerous,” andthe conditions as “disappointing.” Hesays Cupp’s plan to create a 9-hole coursewith a reversible layout and room for apractice area “made the most sense froma golf perspective.”

With a higher quality course that willbe more in line with Jones’ name, theinclusion of a Golf House on the sitemakes sense, with both the Georgia PGAand GSGA on board.

“This was a proposal we can partnerwith,” says Mongell, the Director of Golfat Cherokee Town & Country Club andthe most recent past President of theGeorgia PGA. “Our entire focus has beenon the growth of the game, and with thiswe’ll be able to reach players from allwalks of life and expandaccess to the game.”

Mongell believes withthe state’s various organ-izations housed in thesame spot, “We candeliver the game in aunified fashion. Thiswill be an all-encom-passing facility withamateurs, club profes-sionals, college teamsand juniors and will bevery positive for allaspects of the commu-nity.”

The Georgia PGAand GSGA will moveinto the facility whenthe new buildingthat will house themis completed and thecourse is close tobeing ready for play.Palmer and Mongellhope to have them situated by late nextyear, but they are still some hurdles toclear before that happens, among them aconsiderable amount of fund raising.

The non-profit Bobby Jones GolfCourse Foundation, headed up by Palmerand Elgison, is helping to raise money forthe project.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of theimprovements to Bobby Jones GolfCourse and the overall facility will be themen’s and women’s golf teams at GeorgiaState.

“We have no facility,” men’s head golfcoach Joe Inman says. “We have to payEagle’s Landing and Berkeley Hills tohave places to play. We have to gotwenty-something miles to play at eithercourse.”

Once the facility at Bobby Jones GolfCourse is completed, including the club-house and practice range, the GeorgiaState men’s and women’s teams will havea facility for their own use that is just afew miles from the college’s downtown

Atlanta campus. “We will have a facility with a club-

house and a locker room and access to ateaching bay,” Inman says.

Having their own facility (the rangewill also be available to the public) withinclose proximity to campus will make amajor difference in recruiting says Inman,who has been dealing with the challengesof recruiting golfers to a college located indowntown Atlanta. Inman has done anexcellent job of recruiting under the cir-cumstances, putting together a mix of

players

from Georgia alongwith some talented imports from Europe.

The women’s team has encounteredmore difficulties in recruitingplayers to a downtown campus,and has had to rely almostexclusively on internationalplayers to field a team.

The men’s team has enjoyedmore success in recent years thanthe women’s squad, with the menmaking NCAA appearances and win-ning conference championships in recentyears.

“I think we’ve done pretty good for nothaving a facility,” Inman says. “I’m proudof what we’ve accomplished with howmany obstacles we’ve had to overcome.”

Inman believes the partnershipbetween Bobby Jones Golf Course andthe Georgia State golf teams will func-tion smoothly, as the college golfers willuse the facility the most during theWinter when they are preparing for theSpring season. Inman says the school’s

players will utilize the practice facilitymuch more than they play the course,and expects the two college tournamentshosted by Georgia State at Berkeley Hills((men) and Eagle’s Landing (women) willremain at those two courses.

The idea of Bobby Jones Golf Coursebecoming a junior golf mecca also hasappeal to Inman, who foresees juniorcamps and clinics at the facility duringthe Summer, when the college playerswill be away from school.

“When they want it most, we will notbe there,” says Inman.

The Bitsy Grant TennisCenter, which adjoins thegolf course, is also part ofthe land swap and will alsobe improved with fundsraised for the project.American GolfCorporation, which oper-ates the four City of Atlantagolf courses, will continueto manage Bobby JonesGolf Course until the recon-struction project begins.

2 0 1 6 J U LY 7F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

Bobby Jones [ Continued from cover ]

Joe Inman

...and play in the opposite direction the next day

GEO

RGIA

STATE

By Mike Blum

hen recent GeorgiaTech standout OllieSchniederjans retur-ned to the Atlanta area

to compete in a U.S. Open sectionalqualifier, he was feeling pretty goodabout his play at that point of his rookieseason on the Web.com Tour.

Three weeks later, after his first profes-sional victory in a Web.com event inWichita, Schniederjans was feeling con-siderably better about his game andimmediate future after locking up a spoton the 2016-17 PGA Tour.

Schniederjans won the tournament inWichita in a playoff, the second time thisseason he had gone to extra holes aftertying for first place. Earlier this year inColombia, Schniederjans hit two balls ina hazard on the par-5 playoff hole andlost. This time he birdied the secondextra hole to take a three-way playoffover two players who both played theirfinal five holes in 5-under to force theplayoff.

With his victory, Schniederjans movedup from 14th to third on the money list,and is guaranteed a top 25 finish thatwill earn his PGA Tour card for nextseason.

“It’s just a lifetime dream come true,”Schniederjans said after his victory. “Tobe able to go out there and be a memberof the PGA Tour, it’s an incrediblefeeling. I put so much work in to getthere.”

It took Schniederjans less than a yearto earn his spot on next season’s PGATour, turning pro after an outstandingperformance last year as an amateur inthe British Open. He only played in fourPGA Tour events as a pro before the endof the 2014-15 season, but almost earnedenough money to play his way into theWeb.com Finals, which would havegiven him a chance to earn his PGA Tourcard.

Schniederjans lost out on that chanceby the slimmest of margins, but that mayhave been a good thing for him in thelong run.

“I can’t believe how much I’ve learnedthis year,” he said following his win inWichita. “I never would have thought Ihad that much to get better at and thismuch to learn. I needed this year on theWeb.com Tour, honestly. I don’t think Iwas ready for the PGA Tour.”

As the former world’s No. 1-rankedamateur and a first team college All-American, Schniederjans receivedsponsor exemptions into four PGA Tourevents last season and the maximum ofseven for the 2015-16 season.

Schniederjans closed out his amateurcareer by achieving the rare feat ofmaking the cut in both the U.S. andBritish Opens, tying for 12th at St.Andrews in an outstanding amateurfinale. He made an impressive profes-sional debut, tying for 22nd in theCanadian Open the next week and for15th the week after that in the PGATour event in the Washington, D.C.,area.

Needing to make one more cut inthe two PGA Tour tournaments lefton the schedule, Schniederjans wason the verge of advancing to theweekend in the regular seasonfinale in Greensboro. Hebogeyed his final hole in thesecond round, but was stillamong the top 70 untilRoberto Castro, a fellowGeorgia Tech graduatewho also grew up insuburban Atlanta,

birdied his 18th hole that day to changethe cut line.

That required Schniederjans to enterthe qualifying process for the Web.comTour, and he barely made it to the finalstage, closing with a 69 to move up 15spots and advance on the number. He hada much easier time in the finals, placingin the top 10. After missing the cut inhis first two Web.com starts this year,shot another 69 the final day to earn aspot in a playoff in an event in Cartagena.

That playoff didn’t end well forSchniederjans, but the next one did.After he and his two fellow playoff par-ticipants parred the long, par-4 18th,they played the hole again, andSchniederjans holed an 18-foot birdieputt to claim his first professional title.

“I felt like it was a 20 percent chanceof making it,” Schniederjans said. “I justwanted to pure the heck out of it and seewhat happens. It went in beautifully. Itwas incredible.”

Schniederjans took control of the tour-nament when he shot a course record 61on the par-70 Crestview CC course totake a 2-stroke lead to the final round.

“It’s probably the best round I’ve everhad,” Schniederjans said of the 61. “I’venever really played a round where I didn’tmake any mistakes. Today, I didn’t reallymake a mistake.”

Although Schniederjans’ birdie totalthe final day dropped from nine the daybefore to three, he made it through asecond straight round without a bogey.

A number of players challengedSchniederjans in the final round, but henever lost at least a share of the lead.Both J.J. Spaun, also a Web.com rookieand the leading money winner on lastyear’s Canadian Tour, and CollinMorikawa, the Pac-12 Freshman of theYear at California this past season, playedtheir final five holes in 5-under to force aplayoff at 17-under 263.

“It was a tight race all day,”Schniederjans said. “I kept hanging inthere and did all the right things men-tally.”

Schniederjans took home the winner’scheck of $112,500 with his birdie on thesecond playoff hole, raising his total forthe season to more than $245,000. Theonly players ahead of him are Augustaresident Wesley Bryan ($296,000) andRichy Werenski ($263,500),

Schniederjans’ teammate at GeorgiaTech.

At the outset of the season,Schniederjans said his goal this year “wasto win twice. I thought it was a realisticgoal.”

If he can achieve that, he will have achance to finish the season No. 1 on themoney list, which would make him fullyexempt for the 2016-17 PGA Tourseason and earn him a spot in next year’sPlayers Championship.

Schniederjans will leave the Web.comTour with positive memories, particu-larly about the event in Wichita, one ofjust three surviving tournament’s fromthe tour’s first year in 1990 when it wassponsored by the Ben Hogan Company,the first of the tour’s five title sponsors.

The first start in a professional tourna-ment for Schniederjans came in Wichitain 2014, shortly after his breakthroughjunior season at Georgia Tech. He tied forfifth in the tournament, shortly beforemaking the cut in a European Tour startin the Scottish Open.

Schniederjans got into both the U.S.and British Opens last year off his statusas the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur, andmade a run at qualifying for this year’sU.S. Open. He tied for sixth in the sec-tional qualifier at Ansley Golf Club’sSettindown Creek, shooting 73 in theafternoon for a 3-under 141 total, fourshots higher than the player who got thethird and final qualifying spot.

With his thoughts on the Web.comTour and his hopes for a top-25 finish onthe money list, Schniederjans said he was“not terribly disappointed” to miss outon qualifying for the U.S. Open. Heplayed that week’s Web.com event inNashville, finishing well back in thepack, but came back the following weekwith his win in Wichita.

Following his qualifying effort atSettindown Creek, Schniederjans said hisfirst season on the Web.com Tour hadconsisted of “a lot of good golf,”including consecutive finishes of 13th,seventh and sixth immediately after hisplayoff loss in Colombia.

Schniederjans described his playoff lossas “a missed opportunity,” but added, “itwas a huge week either way.” He earned$75,600 for his runner-up finish,vaulting him into the top 10 on themoney list, and he remained near thatspot until his second playoff experiencemoved him up to third.

As he was preparing to leave Atlanta

W

8 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

[ See Schniederjans, page 23 ]

Schniederjans a winner on Web.com TourVictory clinches PGA Tour card for 2016-17

USG

A

Ollie Schniederjans

2 0 1 6 J U LY 9F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

By Mike Blum

ith less than two monthsbefore the start of the2016 FedExCupPlayoffs, PGA Tour

players are jockeying for positions in theregular season standings, with those nearthe top hoping to remain there and earnspots in the season-ending TourChampionship at East Lake.

Atlanta-area golf fans are guaranteed atleast three of the post-U.S. Open “Big 4”at East Lake, with Jason Day, DustinJohnson and Jordan Spieth holdingdown three of the top four spots in theFedExCup standings after Johnson’s vic-tory at Oakmont.

Johnson moved up to No. 3 in theWorld Golf Rankings ahead of RoryMcIlroy, who was just 33rd on thepoints list after a mostly disappointing2016 showing in the U.S. With a limitedlate-season schedule, McIlroy is notassured to make it East Lake barringstrong showings in the season’s final twomajors or a big push in the three Playoffsevents preceding the TourChampionship, which will be playedSept. 22-25.

With the Ryder Cup scheduled for theweek following the Tour Championship,the top European players on the PGATour may not be completely motivated tomake it to East Lake, especially thosewho will take a break from playing in theU.S. and/or Europe to make what islikely to be a hectic week-long stay inRio de Janeiro for the Olympics.

With McIlroy no lock to make it toEast Lake, the only likely EuropeanRyder Cupper who is currently in astrong position to qualify for the TourChampionship is Sergio Garcia, whowas 12th in the FedExCup standingsafter a win in the Byron Nelson and atop-10 finish at Oakmont.

The top-ranked European player onthe points list at No. 5 is unheralded ScotRussell Knox, who barely registers inthe European Ryder Cup standings.Knox owes his FedExCup status to theFall portion of the 2015-16 schedule,when he won the WGC event in Chinaand lost a playoff in Mexico the followingweek.

The playoff winner in Mexico wasNorthern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell,who is also well down the Ryder Cup

standings and will likely need a captain’spick to make the team. McDowell was22nd in the FedExCup after a top 10 inthe Players and a top-20 in the U.S.Open. Henrik Stenson won the 2013 Tour

Championship and FedExCup, but didnot make it to East Lake in 2014 andmay not make it this year. Stenson hadtop-3 finishes in consecutive starts at BayHill and in Houston, but has been invis-ible since in the U.S. and was 46th on thepoints list.

Also well outside the top-30 is Masterschampion Danny Willett, who did notbecome a PGA Tour member until hiscome-from-behind victory in Augusta.Willett was 51st after playing a limitedU.S. schedule this year. Justin Rose,who has qualified for the TourChampionship every year since 2010,was 43rd in the FedExCup standings andin line for an appearance at East Lake, aswell as an almost certain Ryder Cupberth.

The two leaders in the FedExCupstandings will have a week off after theTour Championship, as both areAustralians. With wins at Bay Hill, theWGC Match Play and the Players, Daywas No. 1 in the standings followed bycountryman Adam Scott, who scoredback-to-back wins in Florida, the latterin the WGC event that has disassociateditself from Donald Trump and his courseat Doral.

Johnson was also third in the standings

after an exceptional 2015-16 season thatincludes only two finishes below 18th in14 starts with nine top 10s. Spieth is notenjoying nearly as successful a season asin 2015, but is fourth with a pair of winsand will be back at East Lake to defendboth his Tour Championship victory andFedExCup title.

The remainder of the top 10 features adiverse group of Americans, only two ofwhom are currently in position to makethe Ryder Cup team. The two among theRyder Cup points leaders are 2012 Tour

Championship winner and FedExCupchampion Brandt Snedeker andPatrick Reed, one of the bright spotsfrom the 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup loss. Reedis ranked highest in the FedExCup stand-ings among players yet to win in2015-16 at No. 7, just behind Snedeker,who scored his victory in San Diego.

Reed played on Augusta State’snational championship teams in 2010and ’11, with Kevin Kisner part ofGeorgia’s 2005 championship squad.Kisner, who won the RSM Classic at SeaIsland GC to close out the Fall portion ofthe 2015-16 schedule, got off to a faststart in 2016, but has slowed of late andwas in ninth place. Kevin Na started the 2015-16

schedule with finishes of second, secondand third in the first three tournamentsof the Fall, with a seventh place showingin the U.S. Open his sixth top of theseason. He was 11th, just behind KevinChappell, who was runner-up to Kisner

at St. Simons and enjoyed a recent stretchof four top 10s in six starts, including arunner-up finish to Day in the Players.

Along with Garcia (12), the rest of thetop 20 includes some familiar names(Jason Dufner at 15, Phil Mickelsonat 19 and Bubba Watson at 20) in addi-tion to some of golf’s rising stars (JasonThomas at 9, Daniel Berger at 14,Hideki Matsuyama at 16 and BrooksKoepka at 17). William McGirt, a first-time winner at the Memorial, was 13thand rookie Smylie Kaufman, who wonlast Fall in Las Vegas, was 18th.

Georgians Matt Kuchar (21), HarrisEnglish (28) and Charles Howell (29)were inside the top 30, with Howelllooking to stay there to earn a return tripto his hometown event in Augusta,which he has missed six of the last sevenyears. After a slow start, Kuchar had top10s in five of six starts prior to the U.S.Open, with English second recently atColonial behind Spieth. Howell hasplayed consistently the entire season withfive top 10s and six other top 20s.

Also in the top 30 are South AfricansBranden Grace (24) and CharlSchwartzel (25) along with RickieFowler (26), who has six top 10s on theseason along with missed cuts at theMasters, Players and U.S. Open. 2011Tour Championship winner/FedExCupchampion Jay Haas moved up from 36to 27 after a strong showing atCongressional.

McIlroy tops the list of players justoutside the top 30 going into the WGCevent at Firestone. Atlanta resident andformer Georgia Tech standout RobertoCastro qualified for the TourChampionship in 2014 and has a chanceto do again this year at No. 41.Acworth’s Jason Bohn got off to a sim-ilar start to Na last Fall, but missedalmost two months after suffering a heartattack and has fallen to 54th since hisreturn. Augusta’s Vaughn Taylor madea big splash with his surprise comebackwin at Pebble Beach, but hasn’t beenheard from since and was 66th.

Among the more prominent namesthat need to move up on in the standingsto make it into the top 30 are 2015British Open champion Zach Johnson(64) and 2014 Tour Championshipwinner/FedExCup champion Billy

[ See FedExCup, page 23 ]

W

10 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

3 of golf’s ‘Big 4’ headed for East Lake McIlroy no lock for Tour Championship

STEVEDINBERG

Jordan Spieth

STEVEDINBERG

Jason Day

GOLF’SBIGGESTFINISH

TICKETS AT PGATOUR.COM/TTCSEPT. 23 - 27 • EAST LAKE GOLF CLUB

The 10th FedExCup season all comes down to the back nine at East Lake Golf Club on Sunday. Expect a more dramatic fi nish than ever before, when the front and back nines are fl ipped for this year’s PGA TOUR season fi nale.

Play

er a

ppea

ranc

e su

bject

to e

ligibi

lity

2 0 1 6 J U LY 11F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

By Mike Blum

ince Stephen Keppler, at thetime the top player among thestate’s club professionals, wonback-to-back Georgia Open

titles in 1994 and ’95, the tournamenthas been dominated by tour players.

For 17 of the next 19 years, current orrecent tour players won the event, withthat streak finally ending last year.Davin White, who completed his collegecareer at Georgia State a few months ear-lier, became the first amateur sinceFranklin Langham in 1989 to win theGeorgia Open, taking last year’s title atPinetree Country Club in Kennesaw.

Although he has since turned profes-sional, White is eligible to defend histitle when the 2016 Georgia Open isplayed Aug. 4-7 at Ford Plantation out-side Savannah. The course is located inRichmond Hill, about 20 miles south ofSavannah near the Ogeechee River.

Langham is one of just two players inthe tournament’s 60-plus-year history towin the tournament as both an amateurand professional, duplicating the featfirst achieved by 1973 Masters championTommy Aaron in 1957 and 1960.Langham’s wins came in 1989 while hewas a member of the U. of Georgia golfteam, and in ’92 when he was a youngtour pro on his way up to what is now theWeb.com Tour, where he spent nine sea-sons, as well as eight years on the PGA

Tour. White turned pro earlier this year,

and has played primarily in OpenGolf Atlanta tournaments, a series ofone-day pro events in the metro areawith modest purses. Apart from thestate’s top club pros, the field typi-cally does not take shape until afterthe qualifying events have been com-pleted, with most of the mini-tourplayers and a number of the state’smost accomplished amateurs havingto compete in one of five qualifiers.

The qualifiers are scheduled forJuly 18 (Berkeley Hills and CoosaCC), July 21 (Orchard Hills), July28 (Savannah Quarters) and July 29(Doublegate). A second chancequalifier will be played August 1 atFord Plantation. Deadlines to register areJuly 15 for the five qualifiers in July andJuly 29 for the second chance qualifier.Information: www.georgiapga.com.

Among the players who have enteredone of the five qualifiers are formerKennesaw State teammates Jimmy Beckand Kelby Burton, who are bothplaying professionally. Beck, a formerGeorgia Amateur champion, was secondat Pinetree as an amateur in 2014, withBurton tying for third, also as amateur.

The only tour players exempt into thefield are past champions (Jay McLuen,Jonathan Fricke and Samuel Del Val)and players who finished in the top 10 inthe Georgia Open last year (Eddie Lee,Matt Nagy, Trey Rule, Jin Chung,John L. Smith and Bradley Smith.

McLuen won at Barnsley Gardens in2011 and Pinetree in 2014, both byseven strokes, and has been a major factorin the tournament for the past decade,placing second (in a playoff), fourth andthird from 2006-08 and recording top-10 finishes in 2012 and ’13, when Frickescored back-to-back wins at the Legendsat Chateau Elan.

Fricke is competing on the Web.comTour this year, with that tour playing itsthird from the last tournament of theregular season that week in Kansas City.It is unlikely that any of the state’sWeb.com players who have a chance toqualify for the Finals Series will competein the Georgia Open.

McLuen is not playing on theWeb.com Tour this year, and there is noconflict with the Swing Thought Tour,which has absorbed both the old Hooters

and eGolf Tours and is the primary tourfor many of the state’s mini-tour players.

Del Val, who won the last time theGeorgia Open was played in Savannah,may have a conflict along with 10 or soother Georgians playing on the CanadianTour. Del Val, who won at SavannahHarbor in 2010, is one of the top playerson the LatinoAmerica Tour, which hastaken a break and will resume this Fall.He was 14th on the money list afterseven consecutive finishes of 16th orbetter, including five straight top 10s.

The Canadian Tour is playing thatweek in Calgary, with other Georgians onthat tour including Wade Binfield,Seth Reeves, Chris Wolfe, DavidSkinns, Drew Weaver, CharlieHarrison and Scott Wolfes. One playernot competing in Canada is Savannah’sTim O’Neal, who was second behind DelVal at Savannah Harbor in 2010. O’Nealis seventh on the Latino America moneylist after a recent victory in theDominican Republic, his third on thetour.

O’Neal, who has played six years onthe Web.com Tour, the last time in 2014after placing third on the LatinoAmericaTour in 2013, also won the GeorgiaAmateur in 1997. Another former tourplayer and Georgia Amateur championwho could add a Georgia Open title tohis resume is Web.com Tour veteranPaul Claxton, who is currently servingas the head pro at Hawk’s Point inVidalia.

Claxton played 20 consecutive years oneither the PGA or Web.com Tours, fouron the PGA Tour, the last time in 2014.

He turns 50 early in 2018, and isworking for the first time as a club pro-fessional, although he has his eye on theChampions Tour.

Since Keppler captured back-to-backtitles at Lake Oconee courses in the mid-1990s, only two Georgia PGA membershave won the tournament since – TimWeinhart at the Legends in 2004 andJeff Hull at Champions Retreat. In bothcases they had to withstand challengesfrom players who were on their way tothe PGA Tour.

Weinhart edged out former GeorgiaPGA member Kris Blanks by a shot in’04, with Hull also winning by one threeyears later over Luke List, who hadrecently turned pro and is playing hissecond season on the PGA Tour this year.

Since Hull’s win in ’07, the bestshowing by a Georgia PGA member wasa tie for fifth by Craig Stevens in 2009at Barnsley Gardens, four shots behindRoberto Castro, who is in his fourthseason on the PGA Tour this year. Chris Nicol of Georgia Golf Center

was a distant fifth behind McLuen atPinetree two years ago, and was secondamong the club pros last year at Pinetree,tying for 16th. Bradley Smith, at thetime an instructor at Eagle’s Landing,tied for ninth last year and has sincereturned to playing professionally.

Two consistent contenders in theGeorgia Open in recent years are playingpros Eddie Lee and Matt Nagy, whowere second and third respectively last

[ See Georgia Open, page 15 ]

S

12 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

Georgia Open returning to Savannah area

Ford Plantation's par-3 fourth hole

Jay McLuen

Ford Plantation hosting event in early August

GEO

RGIA

PGA

2 0 1 6 J U LY 13F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

By Mike Blum

onny Skinner played the par-518th hole at St. Ives CountryClub four times during theweather-delayed final round of

the Yamaha Atlanta Open. He drove it into a fairway bunker

twice. He hit his second shot into agreenside bunker once. The one time heavoided the sand, he sliced his secondshot from a downhill line off a tree shortand right of the green.

No matter whether he layed up withhis second shot from the fairway bunkeror went for the green in two, Skinnerwound up with a birdie putt in the 8-to-10-foot range every time. He made birdietwice in four attempts, once to extend aplayoff and the second time to win itagainst a pair of college players whoreached the 18th in two for two-puttbirdies in regulation to join Skinner in athree-way playoff.

Skinner, Jason Mendel and AdamMorris all had opportunities to win thetournament in regulation, with the threefinishing with scores of 7-under 137 onthe excellent Tom Fazio layout thatproved to be a worthy tournament host.

The experienced Skinner, who playedfour years on the PGA Tour in the 1990sand a dozen years on the Web.com Tour,has played in 30 Champions Tour events

since turning 50 in 2010. He put hisyears as a tour player to good use, man-aging to get himself into birdie positionon the 18th hole every time he played itthe final day despite the occasional way-ward shot on the hole.

The victory was the second straight forSkinner in one of the Georgia PGA’s pre-

mier events, as hebecame the firstback-to-back winnerin the YamahaAtlanta Open sinceMatt Russell wontitles in 1996-97. Hehas also won theGeorgia PGAChampionship twice,the Match PlayChampionship andeach of the Section’stwo biggest seniorevents, as well asearning Player of theYear honors twice,most recently in 2014.

Skinner is the headprofessional at SpringHill CC in Tifton andhas been part of theGeorgia PGA Sectionsince he left his careeras a full time tour

player in 2006. Prior to Skinner’s victory at St. Ives, 19

different players had won the AtlantaOpen title the last 19 years, but Skinnerended that streak largely due to someexceptional play late in the afternoonduring the partial second round.Lightning in the area delayed the tourna-ment for some four hours the second day,with Skinner’s group not teeing off untilalmost 6 p.m.

Skinner’s group managed to get in 13holes before darkness halted play and hebirdied six of them, including six of theeight par 4s he played that day. Skinnerdrove the ball well and hit a succession ofsuperb approach shots, holing a pair ofputts in the 12-foot range for birdies,two more of around eight feet and thelast two in the fading daylight from onlythree feet.

“I really played well yesterday,” Skinnersaid after his playoff victory. “I hit it closeand made a couple of 12-footers.

“I was really pleased with my putting.I made two of three putts in the playoff

and luckily that was enough. Winningthis tournament means tons for me.”

Skinner shot 2-under 70 the firstround and began play the next day in atie for sixth, five behind Mendel, a risingredshirt junior at South Alabama.Mendel was part of a state high schoolchampionship team at Norcross, but hadlittle experience at St. Ives despite beinga member at the Standard Club, one ofseveral prominent country clubs withinclose proximity of the Atlanta Open host.

Mendel carded seven birdies and nobogeys the first day for his 65 to take a 2-stroke lead over Gus Wagoner, anassistant at Ansley Golf Club’sSettindown Creek, who won the 2013Georgia PGA event at Berkeley Hills asan amateur. He described the 65 as “mybest competitive round. I hit the ballreally well and made some putts. I hit 16greens and made no mistakes.”

After waiting out the long weatherdelay, Mendel began his second roundwith seven straight solid pars beforeholing a pair of birdie putts of somelength at holes 8 and 9. But he lippedout a short par putt at the 10th andended his day with another three-puttbogey at the 11th, winding up with anextremely difficult first putt from longrange on the demanding par-3.

Mendel was one shot behind Skinnerwhen play resumed the next morning,but pulled into a tie for the lead withthree straight pars, as Skinner missed ashort par putt of his own at the 15th, oneof two long, over-water par 3s on theback nine at St. Ives. Mendel alsobogeyed the 15th, but came right backwith a birdie at the lengthy par-4 16thbefore another short miss at 17 cost hima bogey and a share of the lead.

Needing birdie to get into the playoff,Mendel reached the par-5 18th in twoand rolled his eagle attempt from theback of the green within a few feet for a72 and a spot in the playoff.

Mendel had a chance to win on the firstplayoff hole, playing the slope with hissecond shot to the 18th to about 15 feetand narrowly missing his eagle attempt.He drew an awkward lie between twobunkers left of the 18th green on thesecond extra hole, but stayed alive whenSkinner missed his birdie try.

After a slightly errant drive to theright on the third playoff hole, Mendelwas forced to lay up and his third shot

checked up some 15 short of the pin,with his birdie attempt failing to reachthe hole.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed not win-ning the playoff,” Mendel said. “Butthere were a lot of positives this week. Imissed two two-footers, but I came backand made birdies on the next hole or theone after.”

Morris, a rising sophomore at DaltonState, shot 68 the first day to get into thefinal pairing of the second round withMendel and Wagoner. After an eagle atthe par-5 seventh, his 16th hole of theday, Morris was 6-under, but ended hisround with consecutive bogeys at 17 and18. He was only one shot off the leadwhen play was halted in the secondround, playing his 11 holes in 3-under.

After five straight pars to start thecontinuation of his second round, Morrislost his share of the lead when he left histhird shot in a greenside bunker at the17th and made bogey. He followed witha spectacular second shot that settledabout six feet behind the pin on the 18th,but he missed the ticklish downhillattempt for eagle which would havegiven him a dramatic victory.

Morris, who plays out of Marietta CC,shot 69 to make it a three-way playoff,but missed his short birdie putt on thefirst extra hole after flying his secondshot on the 18th to the back of the green.

Skinner, about 35 years older than histwo playoff opponents, said he was“proud to hang in there and hang withthe young guys. I’m still able to be incontention with them.”

[ See Skinner, page 15 ]

S

14 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

Skinner repeats as Atlanta Open championWins on third playoff hole over 2 collegians

Sonny Skinner

Jason Mendel

GEO

RGIA

PGA

GEO

RGIA

PGA

year. Lee, a Cumming resident, has fin-ished third, fifth, fifth and second thelast four years, while Nagy, a formerstandout at Kennesaw State from BuenaVista, has placed second, 10th, third andthird since 2012. Both players have comewithin one shot of a playoff – Nagy in2012 at the Legends and Lee in 2015.Nagy finished three behind White inthird place at Pinetree last year.

Del Val, who played his college golf atBerry and still resides in the state, has a

best finish of fourth in the tournamentsince winning in 2010 at SavannahHarbor, with three Savannah golfersposting top-5 finishes that year. O’ Nealwas second with senior amateur standoutDoug Hanzel and current Web.commember Mark Silvers tying for fourth.

This year’s field will compete on anoutstanding Pete Dye layout that will behosting its first major statewide event.Ford Plantation, which was built in the1980s and extensively renovated by Dyein 2014, is the former winter home offamed industrialist Henry Ford.

The course can play as long as 7,400

yards, but will likely play a few hundredyards shorter for the tournament. Lakesborder seven of the nine holes on theparkland-style front nine, with the backnine constructed amid low countrymarshes, with lakes also in play on sev-eral holes. In addition to the abundanceof hazards in play, many of the holes arelined by long waste bunkers familiar tothose who have played Dye’s HarbourTown layout on Hilton Head Island orTPC Sawgrass near Jacksonville.

The greens complexes vary from well-protected to bunker-less, with a few ofthe putting surfaces, which will likely be

quick and firm for the tournament, raisedup enough to make for some touchy shortgame shots to front pins.

The fairways are on the generous side,but many are bordered by hazards, withmost of the water in play along the edges.Three of the par 3s require carries overwater, but none of the three has seriouslength, with the par 5s on the friendlyside unless the back tee is used on the600-yard third. More than half thegreens on the par 4s and 5s are guardedby water to one side or the other, makingfor some moderately perilous approachshots.

Georgia Open [ Continued from page 12 ]

2 0 1 6 J U LY 15F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

Skinner [ Continued from page 14 ]

Skinner shot 67 in the second round,missing his birdie attempt at the 18ththat would have given him the winwithout a playoff. He took home $4,000for his victory.

In addition to the challenge from thetwo collegians as well as Wagoner, whotied for fourth at 138, Skinner had tohold off a big final round comeback fromamateur Bob Royak, who has also joinedthe senior ranks.

Royak won the Atlanta Open at nearby

Standard Club in 2007, and was playingon his home course at St. Ives. He was 3-over on his first nine in the openinground including a 4-putt double bogeyon the fifth, but shot 3-under coming infor a 72. Trailing Mendel by seven goingto the final round, Royak carded eightbirdies in a 66, concluding his roundshortly before darkness ended it. Hecame back out the next morning in casehe made it into a playoff, but came upone shot short.

Also missing the playoff by a shot wasWagoner, who was looking to join hisfather Phil Wagoner, the head pro atRiver Pines, as an Atlanta Open cham-

pion. Wagoner shot 67 the first day witheight birdies in an 11-hole stretch, butbogeyed two of his last three holes aftergetting to 7-under.

Wagoner closed within a shot ofMendel’s lead after two birdies on hisfirst six holes in the second round, buthit his tee shot OB right on the reachablepar-5 seventh and took double bogey. Hecame back with three birdies in his sevenholes the next morning, carding a 71 fora 138 total. Tim Weinhart, the Director of

Instruction at sister courses HeritageGolf Links and Woodmont, was sixth at139 after scores of 68-71. Weinhart made

a move late in the day of the delayedsecond round with three birdies on hislast six holes and also saved bogey afterhitting his tee shot in the water on thepar-3 11th. But a double bogey the nextmorning at the 16th ended his hopes of asecond Atlanta Open title.

Currahee Director of Golf ClarkSpratlin was seventh at 140 with scoresof 68-72, with recent Georgia Collegegolfer David Sullivan of Woodstockeighth at 141 (70-71).

The tournament was sponsored byYamaha Golf Car Company and pre-sented by Bushnell, Bolle, Chase 54 andCamelbak.

By Mike Blum

uring its 21 years of compe-tition, the Georgia Women’sOpen has featured a numberof winners in their teens or

early 20s who used their victories asspringboards to successful stints as col-lege golfers or as part of a path to a futurein professional golf.

That applies to the tournament’s firstwinner – Caroline Peek Blaylock in1995 – as well as last year’s champion –Ashlan Ramsey, a rookie on the LPGATour this season, and a host of winners inbetween.

This year’s event will be played July18-19 at Brookfield CC, the fourthstraight year the Roswell club has hostedthe Georgia Women’s Open.

Blaylock, a Cedartown native, had justfinished her college career at Furmanwhen she won at Flat Creek in ‘95, thenrepeated as a pro the next year at WhiteOak. Blaylock joined the LPGA Tour in1997 and played on at least a part-timebasis until 2003, adding a third GeorgiaWomen’s Open title in 2000.

Roswell’s Krissie Register won theGeorgia Women’s Open as an amateur in1997 and ’99, the latter shortly aftercompleting her college career at Arizona,which won the NCAA Women’sChampionship in ’96. Register alsoplaced second in the GWO in 1998 and2000, the latter as a pro, and played sev-eral years on the Futures (now Symetra)Tour.

Register was edged out in ’98 byincoming Georgia freshman SummerSirmons of Cuthbert, who helped leadthe Lady Bulldogs to an NCAAChampionship in 2001. After com-peting briefly as a professional, Sirmonshas been a long time instructor in theAtlanta area.

Duluth’s Courtney Swaim Trimblewon prior to her senior season at Auburnin 2001 over college rival and futureCurtis Cup teammate Angela Jerman,and enjoyed success in a two-year stretchon the Futures Tour before moving intothe college coaching field. After workingas an assistant at her alma mater for fouryears, Trimble was head coach for threeyears at Central Florida before takingthat position at Louisville, where she hasbeen head coach since 2012.

Fayetteville’s Diana Ramage was acollege teammate of Swaim’s at Auburnand won the Georgia Women’s Open in2005 and ’07 as a pro. She was a rookieon the LPGA Tour in 2006, but injurieshalted her professional career. Prior toturning pro and winning the GWOtwice, Ramage finished fourth or betterin the tournament three times, includinga third place showing behind teammateSwaim in 2001.

Cobb County native MargaretShirley also played with Ramage atAuburn, and won the tournament in2006 and ’08, the latter time shortlyafter her college career ended. She playedprofessionally briefly, winning twice on aFlorida mini-tour before followingTrimble into college coaching. She servedas an assistant at Georgia and Auburnbefore joining the staff at Atlanta JuniorGolf, where she is Executive Director.

Shirley added a third GWO victory in2013, the first year the event was held atBrookfield, and has been a major pres-ence in the event since she finishedfourth in 2003 and third in 2004 prior toher college career at Auburn, placingamong the top 10 a total of 12 times.

While Shirley contended in the tour-nament while still playing junior golf,Riverdale’s Mariah Stackhouse won in2009 and was a close third the next year,well before enrolling at Stanford in theFall of 2012. Emilie Burger, at the timea member of the golf team at Georgiawhen Shirley was an assistant coach,edged out Shirley and Stackhouse in2010. Burger has regained her amateur

status after playing as aprofessional for a short time.

The 2011 Georgia Women’s Openended in a playoff between two tourplayers, both of whom have played on theLPGA Tour. Valdosta’s Dori Carter,who played in college at Mississippi, wonthat year as an LPGA Tour rookie, takinga playoff over Jonesboro’s Lacey Agnew,who joined the LPGA Tour the followingyear.

Carter has been an LPGA Tourmember every year since 2011, withAgnew, who played her college golf atFlorida State, a successful Symetra Tourplayer since 2013.

After playing at White Oak from1996-2003, the tournament was playedfor the first time at Summer Grove in2004 before returning to White Oakfrom 2005-07. Summer Grove hostedfrom 2008-11, with the tournamentplayed once at Callaway Gardens in2012.

Duluth’s Kendall Wright, who hadseveral close calls in the tournament as anamateur, won as a pro at CallawayGardens in 2012, but has struggled toestablish herself as a tour player,. She alsomanaged a close third place finish in theGeorgia Women’s Open in 2014. Wrightwill be among a small number of formerchampions who will compete in thisyear’s field.

The tournament has been played atBrookfield CC since 2014, with the clubalso serving as host of an LPGA eventannually from 1977 to 1984.

The three years Brookfield has beenthe site of the Georgia Women’s Open,three of the state’s most prominent

female players have won the tournament. Shirley captured her third GWO title

in 2013, but has slipped back a bit thelast two years, tying for sixth and ninth.She shot 6-under 138 to win by five shotsover Roswell amateur JessicaHaigwood and Johns Creek proCarmen Bandea.

Haigwood, who will be a senior on theAugusta golf team this fall, placed fourthin the tournament in 2012 at CallawayGardens prior to beginning her collegecareer, and has been a runner-up in theGeorgia Women’s Open each year thetournament has been played atBrookfield. Haigwood played highschool golf at Brookfield while she wasattending Roswell HS. Bandea has been a contender in the

GWO since her early teens, placing 11thin 2004 and fifth the next year beforeturning pro prior to the ’06 tournament,when she finished seventh. Bandea lost aplayoff to Ramage in ’07 and placedfourth or better five years in a row from2010 to ’14, tying for second withHaigwood in 2013 and tying fourth thenext year behind Karen Paolozzi, one ofthe country’s top female club profes-sionals.

Paolozzi joined the Georgia PGASection earlier in 2014, and has finishedfirst and tied for second in her only twoappearances in the GWO. Paolozzi, anassistant at Druid Hills GC, has twiceplaced second in the LPGA Teaching andClub Professional Championship, wonthe 2015 Georgia PGA PNC qualifierand 2015 Assistants Championship, bothagainst the Section’s top male players,and recently competed in the nationalclub professional championship againstthe country’s top men’s club pros, tyingfor seventh.

In 2014, Paolozzi shot 4-under 140 tofinish one ahead of Haigwood, two infront of Wright and three ahead ofBandea, and improved her total by oneshot last year.

Unfortunately for Paolozzi and fellowrunners-up Haigwood and pro JessicaWelch of Lavonia, Ramsey won by sevenshots with a tournament record total of12-under 132, posting scores of 65 and67.

Ramsey is playing her rookie season onthe LPGA Tour after a strong showing in

[ See Women’s Open, page 30 ]

D

16 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

Ramsey aims for repeat in Ga. Women’s Open Club pro Paolozzi among primary challengers

Margaret Shirley

GEO

RGIA

PGA

Ashlan Ramsey

GEO

RGIA

PGA

2 0 1 6 J U LY 17F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

By Mike Blum

eorgia PGA member KarenPaolozzi, an assistant pro-fessional at Druid Hills GolfClub, became the first

women to ever finish in the top 10 of thePGA’s national club professional champi-onship, tying for eighth in the recentPGA Professional Championship atTurning Stone Resort in New York.

Despite finishing in the top 20,Paolozzi will not be among the 20 clubprofessionals who will compete in thismonth’s PGA Championship. Paolozziwon last year’s Georgia PGA ProfessionalChampionship against an otherwise all-male field, playing from shorter tees, andalso played from shorter tees in thenational championship.

To qualify for the PGA Championship,Paolozzi would have had to play from thesame tees as her male competitors in bothevents, and chose not to play those tees.Although she was ineligible to qualifyfor the PGA Championship, Paolozzi did

receive her share of the purse, earning$16,500 for her tie for seventh.

Paolozzi shot par or better in all fourrounds, posting scores of 71-70-72-70for a 5-under 283 total. Her final threerounds were played on the Turning StoneResort course that hosted a PGA Tourevent for several years, and she ended uponly six strokes behind the tournamentwinner.

“I came into this week just wanting tomake the cut,” Paolozzi told reportersafter her top-10 finish. “I had no expec-tations of finishing this high. This wasjust thrilling,”

Paolozzi competed in the PGAProfessional Championship two yearsago, tying for 49th, the highest finish bya female in the championship at the time.The previous best finish was by SuzyWhaley, the only other women to makethe cut in the event. Paolozzi was one oftwo females competing this year againsta field of 310 male contestants.

“This was incredibly satisfying,”Paolozzi said. “If you had told me before

the week that I was going to finish in thetop ten, I probably would have doubtedyou.”

As she did two years ago in thenational club pro championship event,Paolozzi received plenty of airtime in theGolf Channel broadcasts of the tourna-ment, and played well under the nationalspotlight.

Paolozzi was among the tournamentleaders early in her opening round withthree birdies on her first six holes, but atriple bogey on the par-4 16th, her sev-enth hole of the day, halted her fast start.She wound up with a 1-under 71.

Much of Paolozzi’s second round wasincluded in the Golf Channel broadcast,and she carded four birdies for a 2-under70 to remain near the top of the leaderboard. She again had four birdies in herthird round, but had the same number ofbogeys for a 72 to stay in the top 10heading to the final round.

After beginning the fourth round with11 consecutive pars, Paolozzi birdiedthree of her last seven holes for a tie forseventh and a 5-under total for the 72-hole event.

“It feels good to finish with a couple ofbirdies,” she said after the final round. “Iknow I left several shots out there as allof us do. But I’m extremely happy withfinishing strong and finishing in that topten. I’m really, really excited about that.”

Paolozzi has gotten accustomed toplaying in national events the last fewyears, competing in a variety of PGA andLPGA events involving the country’s topclub professionals of both genders, aswell as the best players in women’s golf.

Since 2014, Paolozzi has competed inthe national club professional champi-onship twice, the national assistants’

championship once, the Women’s PGAChampionship, one of the majors on theLPGA Tour, and the LPGA Teaching andClub Professional Championship, twiceeach. She has finished as runner-up in herlast two appearances in the LPGA T & CPevent each of the last two years, and nearlymade the cut this year in a Symetra Tourevent played at Atlanta National, her firstappearance on that tour since playing on itfor two years shortly after a successful col-lege career at Indiana.

Paolozzi was a first team all-Big 10selection at Indiana and lost in a playoffduring her stay on what was then knownas the Futures Tour before transitioningto a career as a club professional. She firstqualified for the PGA club professionalchampionship while working in Ohio,and has been part of the staff at DruidHills since early 2014. She won theGeorgia Women’s Open that year andtied for second in 2015, and will beamong the favorites in this month’s tour-nament at Brookfield CC.

A total of eight Georgia PGA mem-bers competed in the recent PGAProfessional Championship, withFrederica GC head pro Hank Smith alsomaking the cut. After opening with a 75on the primary host course at TurningStone Resort, Smith made the 36-holecut (low 90 and ties) on the number witha 72 the next day, notching birdies on allfour par 5s to offset two bogeys and onedouble bogey.

Smith followed with another 72 in thethird round to make the 54-hole cut (low70 and ties), but went without a birdiefor the second time in four days in thefinal round and shot 79 to finish back inthe pack. Tim Weinhart, the Director of

Instruction at Heritage Golf Links, shot72-74 the first two days to also make the36-hole cut, but followed with a 76 inthe third round and missed the 54-holecut by three strokes. Weinhart had qual-ified for the club professionalchampionship for 15 consecutive yearsbefore missing out last year, and hasmade five appearances in the PGAChampionship, including the last timethe PGA Professional Championship wasplayed at Turning Stone Resort.

Weinhart carded nine birdies the firsttwo days, but managed just one in thethird round.

Making his first ever appearance in the

G

18 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

Paolozzi seventh in national club pro event

Karen Paolozzi

MONTA

NAPRITC

HARD/TH

EPG

AOFAMERIC

A

[ See Paolozzi, page 30 ]

2 0 1 6 J U LY 19F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

fter two rounds of theGeorgia PGA Match PlayChampionship, only twoplayers seeded higher than

14th had been eliminated, with 14 of the16 remaining players seeded no lowerthan 18th.

The two highest seeded players whofailed to advance were 2015 runner-upand No. 4 seed Matthew Evans ofRivermont and two-time champion andNo. 9 seed Craig Stevens of Brookstone,a finalist in 2012 and ’13 and a semifi-nalist in 2014.

Evans lost on the 19th hole in thesecond round to No. 36 Gary Cressendof Augusta CC, while Stevens also waseliminated in extra holes in the secondround by No. 41 Matthew Sanders ofOak Mountain, who needed 27 holes toreach the third round. Sanders defeatedanother former champion, No. 24 Greg

Lee of Chicopee Woods, on the 19th holein the opening round. Lee was a finalistin 2014 and reached the quarterfinals lastyear.

The first four rounds of the tourna-ment are played at courses selected by thetwo players, with the semifinals and finalscheduled for Aug. 15 at Peachtree GolfClub, which is hosting the final tworounds for the third straight year.

Cressend was to play No. 13 SethMcCain of Jennings Mill in the thirdround. McCain, a semifinalist in 2014,needed 20 holes to get past JustinMartin of the First Tee of Atlanta in thefirst round before scoring a 4&2 victoryover Cory Cooper of Capital City Club.Cooper eliminated former championShawn Koch of Country Club of theSouth, seeded 20th, 5&3 in the openinground.

Sanders was to play No. 8 Kyle Owenof Dunwoody CC in the third round.

Owen won his first two matches byscores of 7&5 and 4&3 to reach thethird round for the fourth year in arow.

The Owen-Sanders winner willplay either Tim Weinhart ofHeritage Golf Links or KarenPaolozzi of Druid Hills GC in thethird round. Weinhart, a three-timetournament champion and 8-timeGeorgia PGA Player of the Year, isthe top-seeded player this year andwon his first two matches 5&4 and4&3, the latter in the second roundagainst No. 33 Michael Parrott ofBrookfield CC, a former tournamentrunner-up.

Paolozzi, last year’s Georgia PGA PNCchampion, is the No. 17 seed. She wonher first two matches 2&1 and 3&1,defeating Chris Shircliff of the StandardClub in the second round. Shircliffknocked out No. 16 Gary Miller of theOaks 3&2 in the first round. This isPaolozzi’s first appearance in the tourna-ment. Weinhart, a semifinalist last year,has been a major factor in the event since2000, taking back-to-back titles in 2011and ’12.

The Cressend-McCain winner willplay either No. 5 Bill Murchison ofTowne Lake Hills or No. 12 ChrisCartwright of West Pines. Murchison,who advanced to the quarterfinals lastyear, won 6&5 in the first round and 3&2over No. 28 Danny Elkins in the secondround. Cartwright won his first twomatches by identical scores asMurchison, getting past Craig Forneyof the River Club in the second round.Forney went 19 holes in the first roundto defeat No. 21 Eric Reeves of CapitalCity Club.

The top seven seeds in the bottom halfof the bracket all reached the thirdround, with No. 15 Charlie King ofGriffin City GC losing to No. 18Patrick Richardson of WilmingtonIsland Club 4&3 in the second round.Richardson needed 20 holes to defeatOswald Drawdy of Accelerized Golf inthe first round.

Richardson will play No. 2 SonnySkinner of Spring Hill in the thirdround. Skinner, a former champion and asemifinalist last year, won his secondround match on a concession.

The Richardson-Skinner winner willplay either No. 7 Mark Anderson ofBrunswick CC or No. 10 Todd Ormsbyof Highland CC in the third round.Anderson, the tournament’s defendingchampion, advanced with wins by scoresof 3&2 and 5&4, eliminating No. 26Cary Brown of Valdosta CC in thesecond round. Ormsby won his twomatches by the same scores as Ormsby. Brian Dixon of Fox Creek, the No. 11

seed and 2014 champion, reached thethird round for the 11th straight year,taking his first two matches by scores of3&2. Dixon lost his third round matcheight years in a row before breaking thatstreak en route to his title in 2014, andmade it to the quarterfinals last year.Dixon defeated No. 22 TommyBrannen of Augusta CC in the secondround, with Brannen getting past 2013champion Donn Perno of Peachtree GC,the winner of the recent Georgia PGAevent at Rivermont, in the opening round.

Dixon was to play No. 6 JoeFinemore of Big Canoe, the most deci-sive winner of the first two rounds.Finemore captured his first two matchesby scores of 6&5 and 4&3, defeating No.38 Ted Fort of Marietta Golf Center inthe second round. Fort ousted No. 28Jordan Arnold of Achasta 2-up in thefirst round.

Former champion David Potts ofCountry Club of the South had a toughmatch in the first round, edging BrianCorn of Peachtree GC 1-up, beforerolling past Richard Hatcher of AnsleyGC’s Settindown Creek 6&5 in thesecond round. Potts, seeded 14th and a

A

20 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

Kyle Owen

Few upsets at outset of GPGA Match Play Cressend, Sanders oust seeds in early rounds

[ See Match Play, page 23 ]

GEO

RGIA

PGA

2 0 1 6 J U LY 21F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

By Mike Blum

he last three years, theChampionship at BerkeleyHills has been won by anamateur. The 2016 Georgia

PGA tournament will be played July 11-12, and for the third straight year will bewithout its defending champion. Davin White, who won last year’s

tournament shortly after completing hiscollege career at Georgia State, has sinceturned professional and is ineligible tocompete in the event, with the field lim-ited to club professionals and amateurs. Gus Wagoner, the first amateur to

win the tournament at Berkeley HillsCountry Club in Duluth in 2013, is eli-gible for this year’s event, having joinedthe staff at Ansley Golf Club’sSettindown Creek as an assistant.

This will be seventh Championship atBerkeley Hills, with club professionalswinning the first three. Chris Nicol ofGeorgia Golf Center won the inauguralevent in 2010, shooting 8-under 136 toedge Sonny Skinner by one stroke. Bill Murchison of Towne Lake Hills

won a tightly contested tournament thenext year in a playoff over Jeff Hull, withthe winning score again 136. TimWeinhart, Kyle Owen and David Pottstied for third at 137, with Skinner sixthat 139. Stephen Keppler of Marietta CC

added the Championship at BerkeleyHills to his long list of Georgia PGAtitles, winning in 2012 with an 11-under133 score after placing in the top 10 theprevious two years. Craig Stevens wassecond at 135, with Skinner and amateurNathan Rhatigan, a Berkeley Hillsmember, tying for third at 137.

Wagoner, a member of the GeorgiaState golf team at the time, shot 136 toscore a 3-stroke victory in 2013 overWeinhart and Shawn Koch.

One of the most surprising results in aGeorgia PGA tournament occurred atBerkeley Hills in 2014. Tyler Mitchelledged out fellow amateur Matt Luckett,like Rhatigan a Berkeley Hills member,breaking away from a large pack of con-tenders on the back nine to finish at 138,one ahead of Luckett and two in front ofOwen and Travis Nance, who sharedlow pro honors.

Mitchell, a Chatsworth native who hadrecently completed his senior season as amember of the Dalton State golf team,

carded five birdies on the first six holeson the back nine to take control of thetournament.

White scored the first of his two victo-ries in Georgia PGA events last Summerat Berkeley Hills, finishing with a tour-nament record 132 total, one better thanNathan Mallonee, a teammate ofWhite’s at Georgia State, which plays itsannual invitational tournament atBerkeley Hills.

Mallonee shot 65 the first day to leadWhite by two, but was passed by his

former teammate after making 14straight pars in the final round followingbirdies on the first two holes. Malloneeclosed his round with birdies on 17 and18, but it wasn’t enough to catch White,who carded six birdies during Mallonee’slong par streak. White matchedMallonee’s opening 65, highlighted byan eagle on the par-5 seventh.

Weinhart was third overall and lowpro at 134, the fourth time in the tour-nament’s six years he has placed fourth orbetter. Weinhart will be among the

Georgia PGA members who will look toend the three-year run of success in thetournament by amateurs.

This year’s tournament has a new pre-senting sponsor – Golf GameBook.Berkeley Hills CC is one of two Atlantaarea clubs to host Georgia PGA eventsannually along with Rivermont CC.The 6,700-yard course lacks seriouslength, but is relatively tight off the teeand features some of the more chal-lenging putting surfaces in the metroarea.

T

22 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

GPGA Berkeley event to have new champion

When Stewart Cink and MikkoRantanen were teammates on theGeorgia Tech golf team between 1992and 1994, they enjoyed tremendoussuccess, winning the Atlantic CoastConference title twice and finishingsecond and fifth in the NCAA nationalchampionship in back-to-back seasons.

Over 20 years later they are team-mates again, this time in the golfbusiness world at Golf GameBook,developer of the industry’s leading livescoring app.

“We are thrilled to haveStewart on our GolfGameBook team,” saidRantanen, CEO ofGameBook, Inc. “Stewarthas been active on SocialMedia since the beginning, so whenwe decided to move forward with theGolf GameBook concept, he was anatural to bring on board.”

After leaving Georgia Tech in 1995,both players pursued profes-sional golf careers. Rantanenof Finland played on theChallenge Tour in Europe forfour seasons before turning toa golf career off the course.Cink enjoyed immediate suc-cess, earning Player of theYear honors on the Nike Tour1996, and has since carved outa successful PGA Tour careerthat includes six victories, theOpen Championship triumphin 2009 and nearly $34 mil-lion in earnings.

Cink, remains very active onSocial Media, and currently hasover 1.1 million followers onTwitter.

“While competing on the PGATour I have seen a major increase inthe social aspects of our sport,”said Cink, who lives in the Atlantaarea. “Golfers on and off the courseare constantly sharing their expe-riences through social media. Ibelieve Golf GameBook’s Social

Community and Multi-GroupLive Scoring platform is theperfect vehicle for golfersworldwide to do just that.”

Golf GameBook was firstreleased in 2010 as one of golf’sfirst proprietary hand-held live

scoring devices. As golf scoring began toenter the digital age, and mobile appsbecame more prevalent, Golf GameBook

evolved into an app as well, integratingGPS and social interaction elementsthrough the years.

The 3rd generation of Golf GameBookwas introduced in April to rave reviews.It expands the Social Community aspectsof the free iPhone app, making it easierfor golfers to share their experience withothers before, during and after theirrounds.

Golf GameBook, available for free onthe App Store, offers the most fun,

effective and social way to keepscore in golf, allowing you toconnect with other golfers andshare live results, comments,photos and videos – no matterwhere you are, on and off the golfcourse. The easy-to-use digitalscorecard has now grown into afully equipped social media plat-form for golfers. It’s like having aclubhouse in your pocket.

“Making golf more funthrough new social elements and

Former Tech teammates Cink, Rantanenteam up again through Golf GameBook

[ See Golf GameBook, page 23 ]

Golf GameBook [ Continued from page 22 ]

different game formats as well as ful-filling golfers’ dreams has always been –and still is – the core of what we do,” saidKalle Väinölä, who co-founded GolfGameBook 10 years ago with MikkoManerus. “This new version of GolfGameBook is the next logical step indelivering that promise.”

Keeping score on Golf GameBook issimple. Golfers enter their gross score oneach hole and the app does the rest. Itsupports 25 different game formats, andprovides scoring and live leaderboards foreach of the formats being used by thegroup or tournament.

Golf GameBook’s constantly growingdatabase already covers approximately 95percent of all the golf courses in theworld. The majority of these come withGPS coordinates, which allows you to

check the distance, plan your next shotand measure your most impressivedrives.

Golfers can also make comments aswell as post photos and videosthroughout the round, elevating “trashtalk” to a new level. Even friends whoaren’t at the course can follow along,sharing their comments as well.

Once the round is over, the informa-tion becomes part of each golfer’spersonal golf history, as it is automati-cally archived into their Golf GameBookprofile. The statistics and other storedinformation can also be used for gameimprovement purposes.

With the addition of the brand newGameBook Social Feed, the app now alsoallows sharing off-course content such asphotos and videos as well as web links tointeresting golf topics to spark conversa-tion.

For more information, visitwww.GolfGameBook.com.

2 0 1 6 J U LY 23F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

for that week’s Web.com event inNashville, Schniederjans felt he was “in agood spot” to earn his playing privilegeson the PGA Tour for next season, with

his goal “to finish as high as I can” on themoney list and maybe “get the numberone spot.”

Several weeks later, he was a lot closerto the No. 1 spot on the money list, withhis first start as an official PGA Tourmember only a little more than threemonths away.

Schniederjans [ Continued from page 8 ]

FedExCup [ Continued from page 10 ]

Horschel (68), along with Georgianatives and ex-Georgia Bulldogs ChrisKirk (63), Russell Henley (85) andBrian Harman (86).

The top 125 players at the end of theregular season qualify for the Playoffs,which begin Aug. 25 at Bethpage Black.Among the players in danger of not qual-

ifying for the Playoffs are 2011 PGAchampion Keegan Bradley (126), JimFuryk (130 after being sidelined untilMay due to injury), Stewart Cink (150in the midst of the cancer diagnosis of hiswife Lisa), Ernie Els (151) HunterMahan (171), and Geoff Ogilvy (191).

After finishing 27th and 46th in theFedExCup standings the last two years,Atlanta resident and ex-Georgia BulldogBrendon Todd was 204th on the pointslist, missing his last 15 cuts in a row.

Match Play [ Continued from page 20 ]

quarterfinalist last year, was to play No.3 James Mason of the Orchard in thethird round. Mason won 4&3 and 3&2,the latter over No. 30 Scott Allen ofPointe South in the second round.

In third round results, Owen defeatedSanders 1-up and McCain won by the

same score against Cressend. Owen willplay the Paolozzi-Weinhert winner in thequarterfinals, with McCain facing eitherMurchison or Cartwright.

Skinner needed 20 holes to get pastRichardson and will play Ormsby in thequarterfinals. Ormsby defeated Anderson4&3. Mason won his third round match6&5 over Potts, and will play Dixon inthe quarterfinals. Dixon defeatedFinemore 2&1.

By Mike Blum

hen the Georgia StateGolf Association heldthe Georgia Amateur forthe first time 100 years

ago, the tournament champion was 14-year-old Bobby Jones.

The 2016 Georgia Amateur will con-clude at the course where the initial stateamateur championship was held a cen-tury earlier – Capital City Club in theAtlanta neighborhood of Brookhaven.The tournament is also reverting to thesame match play format to determine itschampion, but with a twist in the strokeplay qualifying rounds.

The stroke play portion of the 2016Georgia Amateur will be played atCapital City Club’s Crabapple course inthe suburbs of north Fulton County, withthe top 32 finishers out of the field of144 advancing to match play, which willbe contested at Crabapple’s sister coursein Brookhaven.

Stroke play qualifying is set for July12-13 (Tuesday-Wednesday) with threedays of match play beginning July 15(Friday) and concluding July 17(Sunday). The first two days of matchplay will consist of two rounds each, withthe quarterfinals and semifinals playedon July 16 (Saturday).

No player as young as Jones has wonthe Georgia Amateur the 90-plus timesit has been played since 1916 (there werebreaks for World Wars I and II), but thetournament’s champions have trended alot younger since Allen Doyle won thelast of his six state amateur champi-onships in 1990.

Since 1991, college age golfers havewon the Georgia Amateur 16 times, withplayers of Mid-Amateur age taking ninetitles. Seven of the mid-am victories camebetween 1993 and 2003, with DavidNoll (2003, 2011) and Bill Brown(2006) the only non-collegians to win theGeorgia Amateur over the past 13 years.

Most of the college winners over thelast 45 years have been current or formermembers of the Georgia golf team, withBrown part of a six-year stretch ofBulldogs to win the state’s top amateurevent.

Current PGA Tour members BrianHarman, Harris English and RussellHenley accounted for four of the sixGeorgia Amateur titles (Henley wonback-to-back in 2008-09), with Harmanand English both winning just prior tobeginning classes in Athens.

Since 2010, the Georgia Amateur titlehas gone to members of the Alabama golfteam with prominent golf fathers three

times (Lee Knox in2010 and ’12, and DruLove in 2015), twice tonon-Bulldog Georgiagolfers from Columbus(Kennesaw State’sJimmy Beck in 2013and Columbus State’sRobert Mize in 2014),with Noll collectinghis second title in2011.

From 1970 to 2009,past or currentGeorgia golf teammembers won theGeorgia Amateur 19times, with Bulldoggolfers denied threetimes by Doyle,whose six titles allcame between 1978and 1990.

Career amateursJim Gabrielson andDanny Yates wonthree Georgia

Amateurs each, all after reaching eligi-bility to compete as mid-amateurs.Gabrielson, who graduated in 1963,won three times in the 1970s, withYates’ three titles spread out over 20years, the first coming in 1977, fiveyears after he graduated. He also wonon 1989 and ’96.

Gabrielson and Yates were amongseven Bulldogs to win the GeorgiaAmateur between 1970 and 1980,with Bo Trotter, Lyn Lott and GriffMoody all winning shortly after com-pleting their college careers. PeterPersons and Louis Brown won back-to-back in 1984 and ’85, with NealHendee and Paul Claxton matchingthat feat in 1991 and ’92 after Doyle hadwon three of the previous four years.

Mid-amateur Carter Mize won con-secutive Georgia Amateurs in 1993 and’94 before college golfers who did notattend school in Athens emerged aschampions. Georgia Southern’s AdamThomas won in 1995, with Tim O’Neal(Jackson State) taking the title in ’97shortly before joining Claxton as a tourprofessional. Georgia State had its lonechampion in 2000 (Jack Croyle), withAugusta State scoring back-to-back vic-tories in 2001 and ’02 by Michael Webband Jonathan Shiflet, one of the lastmid-ams to win the tournament. David Denham began UGA’s run of

six straight champions in 2004, andreturns to the tournament this year afterplaying as a pro for a number of years.Denham was part of the Bulldogs’ 2005NCAA Championship team along withcurrent PGA Tour members Chris Kirk,Brendon Todd and Kevin Kisner.

There will be six former champions inthis year’s field, with Yates the veteran ofthe group and Noll still a serious chal-lenger to collect his third GeorgiaAmateur title. Love, Robert Mize andKnox are the most recent winnersplaying this year, with Denham havingto qualify to get into the tournament.

Most of the tournament favorites willcome from the list of players exempt intothe field. Noll, recent GSGA Mid-Amchamp John Engler, former PublicLinks champ Chris Waters, Bob Royakand former Mid-Am champ Jack Hallare among the veteran players who willlook to contend, along with Jeff Knox,Lee’s father and also former Mid-Amateur champion.

The list of college (and soon-to-becollege) golfers who could challenge forvictory this year is long, and with the lastfive matches played over three days, thisyear’s championship could be a survivalof the fittest.

Among the college contingent arerecent winners Love and Mize, alongwith a host of players, some having hadto qualify to get into the field. Amongthem are recent Dogwood Invitationalwinner Charles Huntzinger (PennState) and top-10 Dogwood finishersSpencer Ralston and LukeSchniederjans, who will look to repeatthe feat of Harman and English by win-ning just before entering college. Ralstonis following Harman and English toGeorgia, while Schniederjans is followinghis brother Ollie to Georgia Tech.

Atlanta Open runners-up JasonMendel (South Alabama) and AdamMorris (Dalton State) both qualified toget into the field, as did Georgia Tech’sMichael Hines and Tyler Joiner,Georgia’s Jack Larkin Jr., KennesawState’s Jake Fendt, Georgia State’sNathan Mallonee and Nick Budd, andGeorgia Southern’s Steven Fisk.

Ralston and Schniederjans are among atalented high school class of 2016 in thefield, including Ralston’s future Georgiateammate Will Chandler, BenjaminShipp (NC State), Chandler Eaton(Duke) and S.M. Lee, who has won boththe Georgia PGA and GSGA JuniorChampionships.

As many college contenders as thereare in the tournament, some of the state’smost prominent college players will beplaying elsewhere that week or takingthe week off. Among them are Georgia’sZach Healy and Greyson Sigg, Georgia

W

24 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

‘New’ format this year for Georgia Amateur

[ See Georgia Amateur, page 30 ]

David Noll

GSG

A

2016 champion to be decided in match playLee Knox

GSG

A

By Mike Blum

uluth’s Charles Hunt-zinger, a member of thePenn State golf team, cap-tured the recent Dogwood

Invitational at Druid Hills Golf Club,breaking a late tie for the lead with abirdie to edge out three players by onestroke each.

Huntzinger was the Big 10 Freshmanof the Year for the 2015-16 season andwas a second team all-conference selec-tion. He won a tournament this pastseason in an event hosted by Penn State,with the Dogwood victory the biggest ofhis young career.

After sharing the 36-hole lead at 133,Huntzinger shot 70 in the third round –his high score of the tournament – totrail Australia’s Anthony Quayle by oneheading to the final day.

After an early bogey, Huntzingerplayed his last 15 holes in the fourthround in 5-under for a 68, with back ninebirdies at the par-5 14th and par-4 16thmoving him into the lead, which he pre-served with pars on the final two holes.

Huntzinger finished with a 17-under271 total to finish one shot in front ofQuayle, Mexico’s Raul Pereda anddefending Dogwood champion DawsonArmstrong of Lipscomb in Tennessee.Armstrong made a late push with a finalround 65, matching the low score of theday, after playing his first three holes in2-over. He was 9-under after that witheight birdies on his final 12 holes,including four in a row from holes 14 to17.

LSU golfer Luis Gagne was fifth at273 after a final round 67, with SeanElliott, the top player on Dalton State’steam, tying for sixth at 275 aftershooting 67-68-67 the final threerounds. An 8 on the par-5 seventh holeled to an opening 73 for Elliott, the 2015NCAA Division II national champion.

Gainesville’s Spencer Ralston, whowill be a freshman member of the UGAgolf team this Fall, matched Armstrong’sfinal round 65 and tied for eighth at 276.Ralston had 25 birdies over four days,but three double bogeys in the secondand third rounds kept him from chal-lenging for a victory.

Tying for 10th at 277 was Dacula’sEmerson Newsome, who recently completed his college career atCincinnati, and incoming Georgia Techfreshman Luke Schniederjans ofPowder Springs. Both players shot 69 inthe final round.

Huntzinger shot 67 in the openinground to trail Florida Southern golfer

Jimmy Jones and LSU’s NathanJeansonne by three strokes. GeorgiaTech’s Jacob Joiner of Albany was thirdat 66, followed by Huntzinger andAlpharetta’s Zach Jaworski, who hascompleted his college career atVanderbilt, at 67,

A second round 66 moved Huntzingerinto a tie for the lead after 36 holes withQuayle, who also shot 66 that day. Peredawas one of three players tied for third at136, with Newsome shooting 66 to moveinto a tie for seventh at 137.

Quayle led Huntzinger by one after 54holes with a 202 total, with Pereda thirdat 204 and Jones fourth at 205.

Scores of other Georgia golfers whomade the 36-hole cut: J.J. Grey, Georgia State, T15, 279;

Steven Fisk, Stockbridge/GeorgiaSouthern, T19, 290; Joiner T28, 282;Jack Larkin, Atlanta/UGA, T28, 282;Jackson Heazel, Atlanta/Baylor, T28,282; James Clark, Columbus/GeorgiaTech, T37, 284; Jonathan Keppler,Marietta/Florida State, 44, 287; DavidMackey, Watkinsville/UGA, T48, 292;Jaworski 51, 298.

D

2 0 1 6 J U LY 25F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

Duluth's Huntzinger takes Dogwood title

ared Bettcher, a rising senioron the Troy State golf team, wonthe recent Southeastern Amateurat Country Club of Columbus,shooting four rounds in the 60s

for a 7-under 273 total and a 3-strokevictory over incoming North CarolinaState freshman Benjamin Shipp ofDuluth.

Bettcher, a three-year starter for theTrojans and an all-Sun Belt Conferenceselection all three years, opened with a 69and followed with three straight scores of68, taking the lead after 54 holes by oneshot. The Auburn, Ala., resident carded21 birdies for the tournament, including12 over the final two rounds.

Shipp shared the 36-hole lead at 136with Marietta’s Jonathan Keppler, whoredshirted his freshman year at FloridaState, but both players struggled in thethird round. Shipp, who shot 68 each ofthe first two days, fell back with a thirdround 74, while Keppler fell out of con-

tention with an 80. Shipp made a run at Bettcher early in

the final round, playing his first fourholes in 4-under, including an eagle onthe par-5 fourth hole, but was even parover the final 14 holes for a 66. Keppler,who had six birdies in an opening 67 andfollowed with a 69, came back the finalday with a score of even par 70 to tie for24th at 286. David Snyder, who recently com-

pleted his college career at Kentucky,tied Shipp for second at 276 after a finalround 67, and was one of just four playersto break par for 72 holes.

Mercer’s Stanton Schorr, a formerhigh school golfer from Columbus, waslow among the tournament’s local con-tingent, shooting 68 in the final round tofinish tied for fifth at even par 280. Steven Fisk of Stockbridge, who

recently completed his freshman seasonon the Georgia Southern golf team, shot68-70-70-73 to tie for 10th at 281.Tyler Joiner of Leesburg, a member of

the Georgia Tech golfteam, tied for 13th at282, with GeorgiaTech teammate JamesClark of Columbus17th at 283. BenCarr, a teammate ofSchorr at ColumbusHigh, closed with a68 to tie for 18th at284. Michael Hinesof Woodstock, one offour Georgia Techgolf team membersin the field, tied for22nd at 285, high-lighted by a thirdround 66. Nathan Mallonee of Lexington, a

rising senior on the Georgia State golfteam, shot 65 to take the first round lead,but was 16-over the final three days andfinished 18 shots behind Bettcher.

Bettcher got off to a fast start in thefinal round with an eagle on the par-5

J

firsthole and a birdie at the fourth, the onlyother par-5 on the tournament scorecard,to take a commanding lead. He was 1-over after that but protected his lead,finishing three ahead of Shipp andSnyder.

Charles Huntzinger

Bettcher wins Southeastern Am by 3 over ShippJared Bettcher

June was a busy month for Georgia’sjunior golfers, with state championshipsconducted by the Georgia PGA and GSGA,qualifiers for the USGA Junior and GirlsChampionships, several American Juniorevents including one of the country’s mostprestigious junior tournaments, and mul-tiple stops on the Southeastern andHurricane tours.

Eaton, Reedy take GPGA Jr. titlesAlpharetta’s Chandler Eaton andMarietta’s Lizzie Reedy scored decisive vic-tories in last month’s Georgia Junior PGAChampionship at Jennings Mill CountryClub outside Athens.

Eaton, a Duke signee, shot 67-70 for a 7-under 137 total, to finish three ahead ofBuford’s S.M. Lee, who carded scores of 72-68. Eaton had 11 birdies over 36 holes, six ofthem coming in the second round, whenhe also made four bogeys. He made fourstraight birdies the second day, beginningat the third hole, to pull away from the field. Robert Howard of Acworth was third at

69-73—142, followed by Alpharetta’sBrendan Patton and Dacula’s AlexMarkham at 144. Markham opened with a68 but struggled at the outset of thesecond round. Davis Smith of Johns Creekwas sixth at 146, with Ryan Hines ofWoodstock seventh at 147. Tying for eighthat 148 was Justin Kim of Rome and DavisBrainard of Dunwoody, with JakeMilanowski of Peachtree City and WillHernandez of Thomaston 10th at 149.

Reedy shot 76-72—148 to win the girlsdivision by six over Tiffany Kang andElizabeth McConnell, both of Suwanee.Louise Yu of Duluth placed fourth at 155followed by Najae Butler of Atlanta at 159. Noah Kuranga of Decatur shot 71-78—

149 to win a Georgia PGA Junior Tour eventlater in June, finishing one ahead ofNewnan’s Preston Wise (79-71). BradyThomas of Canton was third at 151. TateRackleff of Statesboro shot 154 to winboys 14-15 by one over Alex Colligan ofEvans, with Charles Kyle of Atlantashooting 75-75—150 to win boys 11-13. Emily Haigwood of Roswell won the

girls division by three over Anna Williamsof Social Circle with a 168 total. KatieScheck of Greensboro and Kady Foshaugof Roswell tied for first in the 11-14 agegroup at 178.

In an earlier G PGA Junior Tour event atLegacy on Lanier, Luke Schniederjans ofAlpharetta won by six shots with scores of

74-68—142, shooting 4-under 32 on theback nine in the final round. JonErikAlford of Roswell was second at 71-77—148.

Rackleff was the 14-15 age group winnerat 155, one ahead of Jay Beach of Augusta.Marcus Reynolds of Milledgeville easilywon the 11-13 division with scores of 76-71—147. Maggie Sullens of Cummingshot 181 to win the girls division.

Kim, Lightfritz GSGA championsRome’s Justin Kim and Suwanee’s LaurenLightfritz won the GSGA Junior and GirlsChampionships, with the boys playing atAthens Country Club and the girls com-peting on the Plantation course atReynolds Lake Oconee.

Kim posted scores of 68-70-72 for a 2-over 212 total, highlighted by a 31 on theback nine in the opening round. Alex Rossof Atlanta shot 73-68-72—213 to takesecond, making double bogey on the 18thhole the final day after coming to the holetied for the lead with Kim. Jordan Baker ofCumming birdied three of his last fourholes for a closing 70 and was third at 214.

Tying for fourth at 216 was WillKahlstorf of Watkinsville and LoganPerkins of Locust Grove, with Ryan Hinesand Suwanee’s Grant Sutliff tying for sixthat 217.

Lightfritz, a Mercer signee, shot 72-73-72for a 1-over 217 and a 1-stroke victory overLizzie Reedy. Lightfritz broke a tie on thefinal nine by shooting 3-under 33 to 2-under 34 for Reedy. Elisa Yang of Norcrossand Louise Yu tied for third at 221, withAbigail Bolt of Canton, Ivy Shepherd ofPeachtree City and Tiffany Kang fifth at222. U.S. Junior qualifying: Dacula’s Peter

Chung was medalist in a USGA JuniorChampionship qualifier at the UGA coursein Athens with a 3-under 139 total,shooting 70-69. Justin Kim tied for secondat 69-71—140 with Ben Carr of Columbus(66-74). Jake Forgay of Augusta got thefourth and final qualifying spot at 141 (70-71).

The U.S. Junior Amateur will be playedJuly 18-23 at the Honors Course outsideChattanooga. U.S. Girls qualifying: Three Georgians

qualified for the U.S. Girls Championship ina qualifier played at Cartersville CountryClub. Six spots were available from thequalifier, with the top three spots going togolfers from Florida and Alabama.

Diana Liu of Duluth was low among theGeorgia qualifiers with a 74, with Kang andAlpharetta’s Kelly Strickland getting thefinal two spots in a playoff after shooting75. Yang also shot 75 and is first alternate,with Julianna Collett of St. Simons secondalternate at 77.

Cassidy capturessecond AJGA titleNicolas Cassidy of Johns Creek, who ledthe Johns Creek Gladiators to a stateAAAAAA golf championship earlier thisSpring, scored his second AJGA victory of2016 with an impressive performance atWindStone GC in Ringgold.

Cassidy, who recently completed hisfreshman season in high school, broke thetournament scoring record with a 14-under199 total that included an opening 65 anda final round 62. He played his final fiveholes of the tournament in 5-under, scoringan eagle on the par-5 15th and holing hissecond shot from the fairway on the par-418th to cap a 4-stroke victory. Cassidy, whotrailed by one shot after a second round 72,captured his previous AJGA title at CoosaCC in Rome. Connery Meyer of Marietta was sixth at

210, with Ben Carr tying for ninth at 212

and Andy Mao, Cassidy’s teammate atJohns Creek, tying for 11th at 213 afteropening with a 66.

In the girls division, Caroline Craig ofSautee Nacoochee tied for seventh at 227,with Savannah Satterfield of ChatsworthT10 at 229. Thomas Hogan of St. Simons Island

challenged for a victory close to home,placing second in the Davis Love Junior atBrunswick CC. Hogan shot 68-66-69 for a 7-under 203 total, three strokes behind thewinner. JonErik Alford tied for sixth at 211, with

Alex Shead of Appling tying for eighth at212. Austin Fulton of Villa Rica was T14 at213 and Andrew Chong of Grovetown wasT17 at 214. Duluth’s Leiko Niwano waseighth in the girls division at 224. S.M. Lee tied for third in the Haas Family

Invitational in Greensboro, N.C., with aneven par total of 280, six shots behind thewinner. Chandler Eaton tied for 12th at283 with Gainesville’s Spencer Ralston, aUGA signee, 14th at 285.

In Ashland, Ky., Buford’s SkylarThompson finished fifth among the girls at226, with Robert Howard 12th in the boysdivision at 212.

Lee shot a final round 63 at Great Watersto finish fifth in the Rolex Tournament ofChampions, one of the AJGA’s major

Golf FORE Juniors

Chandler Eaton

LizzieReedy

CRED

IT

Justin Kim

Lauren Lightfritz

26 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

GEO

RGIA

PGA

GEO

RGIA

PGA

GSG

A

GSG

A

events. Lee closed out his round with a 7-under 29 on the back nine for a 2-over 286total. Jake Milanowski tied for 17th at 291,

with Eaton T24 at 292 and Cassidy T32 at296. Fulton shot 298, with Alford fallingback to a 302 total after opening with a 68.

Hogan, Bolt taketitles at AchastaGainesville’s Ryan Hogan and Canton’sAbigail Bolt were the boys and girlswinner s in a Southeastern Junior Tourevent at Achasta GC.

Hogan shot 70-69—139 to win by fourover Marietta’s Cameron Stokes.Cumming’s Stephen Foernslerwas the 14-15 division winner by two at 145 overBlake Parkman, also of Cumming.Michael Dotson of Cumming shot 74-68—142 to win the 12-13 age group by threeover Monroe’s Perry-Austin Kilburn.

Bolt won the girls division by 13 shotswith a 147 total (75-72). Payton Elkins ofValdosta shot 174 and won the 12-14 divi-sion by three. Candler Murphy of Bishop and Annika

Blanton of Lawrenceville were the winnersof a SJGT tournament at the Georgia Club.Murphy shot 71-73—144 to finish twoahead of Nolan Miller of Mildland andBraden Jones of Atlanta. RobertGhirardini of Atlanta was the 14-15 agegroup winner by five at 150.

Marietta’s Matthew Giesler shot 66-74—140 to win the 12-13 age group by twoover Atlanta’s Ben Kalinowski. Blanton’s152 total was six shots better than that ofrunners-up Alison Crenshaw of Suwaneeand Ayanna Habeel of Decatur. Caroline Craig shot 73-71—144 to win

the girls division by three at Idle Hour, withher sister Catie Craig second in the 12-14age group at 162, two behind Macon’sJosephine Coleman.

Atlanta’s Harry White shot 71-66—137to take second in the boys division, twobehind the winner. Jackson Toole of Lyonswas the 14-15 winner by two at 145, withGiesler winning a second straight tourna-ment in 12-13 with scores of 65-70—135.Andrew Garger of Sharpsburg was secondat 142 and Kilburn third at 143.

Merck, Yu win at Royal LakesTanner Merck of Gainesville scored ahometown win in a Hurricane Junior Tourevent at Royal Lakes with scores of 67-75—142, two shots ahead of Suwanee’s ParkerStone. Myles Jones of Suwanee shot 69-74—

143 to win boys 14-15 by two overBrandon Cho, also of Suwanee. MaxwellFord of Peachtree Corners was the 11-13winner at 143 with scores 73-70—143, withBruce Murphy of Johns Creek 2nd at 144. Louise Yu shot 76-69—145 to win the

girls division by 11 over Kelly Strickland,Amy Ng of Alpharetta and CameronDaniel of Sharpsburg.

In a 54-hole Hurricane Junior tourna-ment earlier last month at Chateau Elan’sWoodlands course, David Frank ofDunwoody shot a final round 69 for a 223total and won the boys division in a playoff.Nicholas Gibson of Duluth also won in aplayoff in the 14-15 age group at 228. WillSpivey of Douglas was third at 230. Sara Im of Duluth won the girls under-

13 division by 12 shots at 223.

2 0 1 6 J U LY 27F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

Nicolas Cassidy

AJG

A

Roman’s teams 1-2 in Pro-Assistant Cherokee Town & Country Club Director ofInstruction Kevin Roman enjoyed a prof-itable day in the Georgia PGA Club CarPro-Assistant Championship at theGeorgia Club, teaming with two differentassistant pros from the club to finish 1-2 inthe 27-hole tournament.

Roman and Cherokee assistant PeterJones shot 14-under 93 to finish oneahead of Roman and J.P. Griffin. Romanand Jones divided first place money of$1,500, while Roman and Griffin split$1,000. Roman also collected two otherchecks with other Cherokee assistants.

Tying for third at 95 was the Augusta CCteam of Tommy Brannnen and GaryCressend, and the Brookstone G&CC teamof Mark Avery and Craig Stevens.Crosswinds head pro James Walden andHenderson assistant Clint Colbert placedfifth at 96. Mason a Senior winner: James Mason

scored a 5-stroke victory in the GeorgiaPGA Senior Division Lee-Weir Memorialtournament at Canongate 1 GC. Masonshot a second round 67 for an 11-under133 total to break a first round tie withSonny Skinner after both players openedwith scores of 66.

Mason, who plays out of the Orchard,finished five shots of Skinner, CurraheeClub’s Clark Spratlin and LakeArrowhead’s Uel Kemp, who tied forsecond at 138. Spratln shot 70-68 andKemp carded a pair of 69s. Skinner, thehead pro at Spring Hill CC, shot 72 thesecond round. Rusty Strawn was lowamateur at 141, with Callaway GardensproWyatt Detmer sixth at 143.

The annual tournament is named in

honor of long-time Canongate pro EmoryLee and sales representative Billy Weir,one of the most well-respected individ-uals in Georgia golf history.

Inman, Keppler qualify for Sr. OpenGeorgia State head golf coach Joe Inmanand Marietta Country Club Director of GolfStephen Keppler were among threeGeorgians to qualify at White Columns forthe U.S, Senior Open. Milton amateurJames Kiely was the qualifying medalistwith a 67 after scoring birdies on three ofhis last six holes.

Inman, who won on both the PGA andSenior Tours during his years as a tour pro,will be one of the oldest players in thefield at the age of 68. The Marietta residentshot his age in the qualifier to placesecond. Keppler, like Inman a Georgia Hallof Fame member, shot 69 and won aplayoff over long-time Georgia PGA com-petitor Jeff Hull of Watkinsville, theassistant women’s head coach at Furman.

Keppler had 16 pars in his round,making an eagle on the par-5 13th holeand a birdie on the par- 5 ninth, his finalhole of the day. Hull had seven birdies inhis round, but made double bogey on thepar-5 sixth hole, his 15th.

Hull is first alternate and Augusta CChead pro Tommy Brannen is second alter-nate after shooting 70 and winning a4-man playoff. Also shooting 70 wasformer tour player Tim Conley ofBraselton and amateurs Bob Royak of

Alpharetta and Billy Mitchell of Marietta. Mitchell, who won the 2016 Georgia

Senior Open, had eight birdies in his 70,but made a 9 on the par-5 sixth hole, his15th, before closing out his round withthree straight birdies.

Juniors Yu, Yang take GSGA titlesJunior golfers Elisa Yang and Louise Yu,both from Gwinnett County, won a pair ofGSGA women’s events in June, with Yangtaking the Top 60 Classic after Yu scored avictory in the Match Play Championship.

Yang was the medalist and top seed inthe Match Play event at Sunset Hills inCarrollton after shooting a 67, but lost tothe fifth-seeded Yu 4&3 in the semifinals.Yu, who qualified with a 72, won 5&3 inthe finals over Anna Buchanan of Athens,a college golfer at Samford.

Buchanan shot 80 in the qualifyinground and was seeded 27th in the 32-player field. She won four matches againsthigher-seeded players by scores of either4&3 or 3&2 before losing to Yu in the finals.She defeated No. 10 Harmanprit Kaur ofLawrenceville, who will play at GeorgiaState, 3&2 in the semifinals after Kaur getpast nine-time tournament championLaura Coble of Augusta 1-up in the quar-terfinals.

Yu, from Duluth, won all of her matchesdecisively, taking her first three by scoresof 4&2, 8&7 and 5&4.

Yang, from Norcross, shot 75-72—147at Laurel Springs to take the Top 60 title by

one over Janet Mao of Johns Creek andKate Owen of Suwanee. Yang shot 1-under on the back nine the final day, whileMao, who plays at Northwestern, parredher last 12 holes and also shot 72. Owenled after an opening 69, but shot 79 thenext day. Lauren Lightfritz, a high school team-

mate of Owen and a Mercer signee, wasfourth at 149 and Yu finished fifth at 150.

Doherty capturesvictory in Judson Atlanta’s Amanda Doherty, an incomingfreshman at Florida State, won the annualJudson Collegiate Invitational on herhome course at Country Club of Roswell,taking a playoff over North Carolina State’sSarah Bae.

Doherty shot a final round 70 for a 54-hole total of even par 213. Bae closed witha 71, catching Doherty with three birdieson the back nine of the final round.Doherty took the lead with birdies at 6, 7,8 and 10 the final day, but fell back downthe stretch with three bogeys on her finalsix holes.

After saving par from a greensidebunker on the par-5 18th hole at CC ofRoswell to tie Bae, Doherty reached the18th green in two in the playoff and two-putted for a winning birdie. Summar Roachell of Arkansas was

third at 2-over 215 after closing with a 74.Roachell led Bae by one and Doherty bytwo going to the final round. Furman’sTaylor Totland, the tournament’sdefending champion, and Chattanooga’sMegan Woods tied for third at 217.

Roswell’s Jessica Haigwood, the 2014Judson champion, tied for sixth.Haigwood, who plays at Augusta andSuwanee’s Michaela Owen, who plays atAuburn, both shot 73 the final day tofinish at 221.

Stackhouse makes cut in pro debutRiverdale’s Mariah Stackhouse made herprofessional debut last month in a LPGATour event in Portland, making the cut andearning a check of almost $5,000.

Stackhouse shot even par 288 to tie for47th, shooting 4-under 68 in the secondround to make the cut and following witha 1-under 71 the next day. Stackhouse,who has completed her college career at

Louise Yu

28 G O L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

Chip Shots

[ See Chip Shots, page 30 ]

Pro-Assistant winners Kevin Roman (right), Peter Jones (left)

GEO

RGIA

PGA

GSG

A

K.J. Choi, Lucas Glover, ChadCampbell, Boo Weekley, AaronBaddeley and Hunter Mahan, alongwith some talented younger players whoare looking for their first PGA Tour vic-tory. That group includes Atlantaresident and former Georgia Techstandout Roberto Castro, at 47 one ofthe highest-ranked players in the latestFedexCup standings. Jon Curran, Jason Kokrak and

Brian Harman are among the playersyet to win on the PGA Tour who have aserious shot at a first victory. So doesWilcox, who placed second last yearbehind Piercy, and along with Castro,Bohn and Harman, is among a sizeablecontingent of golfers with Georgia tieslikely to tee it up at Grand National.

Wilcox, a Birmingham native, beganhis college career at UAB. But after a fewyears out of school after getting intotrouble early in his stint at UAB, Wilcoxtransferred to Division II Clayton Stateand was a three-time All-Americanbefore turning pro. He won a Web.comevent in Valdosta in his third season onthat tour in 2013, earning a spot on thePGA Tour the next year.

After a respectable rookie effort,Wilcox enjoyed a solid sophomoreseason, highlighted by his runner-upfinish in Opelika. Wilcox was among theleaders the entire tournament, openingwith a 66 and following with scores of 70and 65 before a final round 67. He fin-ished two shots clear of three players whotied for third.

Bohn, who attended the U. of Alabamabut did not play golf in college after win-ning a $1 million hole-in-onecompetition, is a long-time Acworth res-ident who suffered a heart attack earlierthis year during a PGA Tour event insouth Florida. He has not played particu-larly well since returning to action after a6-week absence, but is having a suc-cessful 2015-16 season after anoutstanding Fall showing.

Castro is looking to qualify for theTour Championship at East Lake for thesecond time in four years, and came closeto his first PGA Tour victory recentlywhen he lost in a playoff at QuailHollow.

After playing in the British Open lastyear, Harman will be playing at GrandNational for the first time, as will Bohn.Other Georgians in the field are veteran

Jonathan Byrd, who is splittinghis time this year between thePGA and Web.com Tours, alongwith Brendon Todd, HudsonSwafford, Luke List and HenrikNorlander.

Grand National plays to a par 71for the tournament at 7,300 yardshighlighted by some demanding par4s and a terrific group of par 3s. Thenines have been reversed for theBarbasol Championship and the par-5third hole (tournament 12) plays as apar 4 for the tour pros. With LakeSaugahatchee bordering 12 holes,water is a serious concern on at leasthalf the holes, and the greens com-plexes provide plenty of challenge withsome fast, sloping putting surfacesamong the strongest aspects of the out-standing layout.

Golf Channel will have live coverageall four days from 5-8 p.m. Thursday andFriday and 3-6 p.m. Saturday andSunday.

2 0 1 6 J U LY 29F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M

Grand National hosts second PGA Tour event By Mike Blum

olf fans in the Columbusarea have been without aPGA Tour event since theBuick-sponsored tourna-

ment at Callaway Gardens ended itsdecade-long run at the popular Georgiaresort.

The long wait ended last year whenthe PGA Tour added the BarbasolChampionship to its schedule at theRobert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Opelika,Ala., a short drive across theChattahoochee River from Columbus andwithin easy driving distance of LaGrangeand the southwest Atlanta suburbs.

With no available open slots on theschedule, tournament organizers had tosettle for a date opposite the BritishOpen, which will attract the game’s topplayers the week of July 14-17.

The first Barbasol Championshipwound up with a recognizable winner, asScott Piercy shot 19-under 265 on theLake course at Grand National, finishingthree ahead of Alabama native WillWilcox, who wound up being perhapsthe biggest story of the week.

The victory was the third in Piercy’sPGA Tour career, including the 2012Canadian Open, and he went on toqualify for the Tour Championship atEast Lake for just the second time, fin-ishing the 2014-15 season 22nd on theFedExCup points list.

After consecutive runner-up finishes toDustin Johnson in the U.S. Open andWorld Golf Championship event atFirestone, Piercy has risen to 25th in theWorld Rankings, and will be playing inScotland this year instead of Alabama.

The most prominent player to make anearly commitment to this year’s tourna-ment was Augusta native CharlesHowell, who won an individual NCAAChampionship at Grand National justprior to turning pro. Howell was on theverge of getting into the British Openwhen he announced he would probablymiss the rest of the regular season afterundergoing minor surgery.

The lone 2016 PGA Tour winner whois an early entrant to the tournament isBrian Stuard, who scored a surprise vic-tory in New Orleans.

Among the more recognizable namesscheduled to play in the second BarbasolChampionship are veterans Jason Bohn,

G

Jason Bohn

her title. Ramsey, who grew up in Augusta

and Milledgeville, is living inGreenville, S.C., but remains eligibleto compete in the tournament, whichis open to players from outsideGeorgia.

Other early entrants includePaolozzi, Haigwood and PeachtreeCity’s Cindy Schreyer, who playedon the LPGA Tour from 1989-2004,winning a tour event in Chicago in1993. Prior to turning pro, Schreyerwon the NCAA individual champi-onship in 1984 while playing atGeorgia and the U.S. Women’sPubic Links in ’86, and was amember of the U.S. Curtis Cup

team that year. The deadline for registration for the

tournament is July 15. In addition to achampionship flight for pros and lowhandicappers, there is a regular flight aswell as a senior flight. For information,visit the Georgia PGA’s web site aswww.georgiapga.com.

30 F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M J U LY 2 0 1 6

Women’s Open [ Continued from page 16 ]

the finals of qualifying late in 2015.Prior to turning pro, she was thecountry’s top-ranked female amateur andspent one season at Clemson, turning proafter competing on the 2014 U.S. CurtisCup team along with Stackhouse.

Through her first 13 starts as an LPGArookie, Ramsey had made just two cutsand was 155th on the money list, whichwould not be enough to retain her statusfor next year. An LPGA event in Toledois scheduled to end the day before theGeorgia Women’s Open begins, butRamsey has already signed up to defend

Paolozzi [ Continued from page 18 ]

event, Brunswick CC instructor MarkAnderson shot 75-74—149 to miss the36-hole cut by two strokes. Andersonwas 1-under for the day and 2-over forthe tournament with six holes to play inthe second round, but a double-bogey at

the par-4 13th damaged his chances ofadvancing to the third round.

Also missing the cut were veteranGeorgia PGA members Craig Stevensof Brookstone G & CC, Rodger Hoganof Chattahoochee GC, Todd Ormsby ofHighland CC in LaGrange and BrianPuterbaugh of the Hooch.

Among the 20 club professionals qual-ifying for the PGA Championship was

Johan Kok of theTennessee Section, whogrew up in Peachtree Citybefore playing in college atSouth Carolina and profes-sionally for several yearsoverseas. Kok tied for 13that 286, the third straightyear he has made it into thePGA Championship.

Georgia Amateur [ Continued from page 24 ]

Tech’s Jacob Joiner and James Clark,former UGA golfer Parker Derby (now

at College of Charleston), former NCAAD II champion Sean Elliott of DaltonState, and Michigan’s Kyle Mueller,who recently qualified for the U.S. Open.South Carolina’s Ryan Stachler, whoalso qualified for the U.S. Open, tried to

qualify for the Georgia Amateur but fellshort.

Elliott and Sigg tied for second last yearbehind Love, with Healy also among thefinal round contenders, placing fourth. Anumber of this year’s top contenders

played well last year at Sea Island GolfClub’s Seaside course, including Chandler(6th), Shipp (10th), Schniederjans andTennessee collegian Shea Sylvester(12th), Lee (16th), Noll (17th), and Fendt,Mallonee and Ralston (19th).

Chip Shots [ Continued from page 28 ]

Stanford, will have to rely on sponsorexemptions or Monday qualifiers to getinto events the rest of the season. Garber 13th in Reno: Making his first

start as a pro on the PGA Tour the sameweek as Stackhouse made her LPGA debutwas recent UGA golfer Joey Garber, whomade it into the field of the Reno-TahoeOpen in a Monday qualifier.

Garber tied for 13th in the tournamentto earn $60,000, finishing with 28 points inthe modified Stableford scoring format.After barely making the 36-hole cut,Garber shot 68-66 the final two days for 9

and 12 points respectively, missing a top-10 finish and a spot in the next PGA Tourevent by just one birdie.

Two-time Georgia Open champion JayMcLuen of Forsyth also competed in theReno-Tahoe Open and made the 36-holecut after scoring 13 points the first day tobe among the leaders after 18 holes. Butafter shooting 67 with eight birdies in theopening round, McLuen had minus-2points each of the next two days, and wasnot among the top 70 after 54 holes. Heearned just under $6,000.

Deason wins eventat ChattahoocheeChip Deason of Evans, who also played in

the Reno-Tahoe Open but failed to makethe cut, won a recent event on the SwingThought Tour Georgia Series, played atChattahoochee GC in Gainesville.

Deason shot 65-69 for a 10-under 134total, five ahead of Duluth’s Jin Chung,who was second at 139. Ted Moon ofLilburn and Luke James of Gainesville tiedfor third at 143. Deason earned $1400 forhis victory.

Recent Oglethorpe standout AnthonyMaccaglia won a Swing Thought NationalSeries event in North Carolina last month,taking a 3-way playoff after shooting 14-under 270 in Hertford, N.C., to take homethe winner’s check of $16,500. FormerUGA golfer T.J. Mitchell of Albany andformer Georgia Tech golfer J.T. Griffin tiedfor 12th at 276.

Alpharetta’s Billy Kennerly tied forsecond in an earlier Swing Thought eventlast month in New Bern. N.C., shooting 17-under 271 highlighted by a second round62 to finish one behind the winner after afinal round 66. Former Georgia Tech golferBo Andrews tied for fifth at 272 after a 61in the first round. Albany’s JoshBroadaway was ninth at 274 andMaccaglia 10th at 275.

Broadaway tied for fourth and Griffintied for seventh in the first of three SwingThought events last month in NorthCarolina.

The Swing Thought Tour plays NationalSeries events this month at Grand Island inAlbany (13-16) and Sapelo Hammock inDarien (20-23).

Jessica Haigwood

GEO

RGIA

PGA

Hank Smith

GEO

RGIA

PGA

To Subscribe to FORE GeorgiaCLICK HERE!

2 0 1 6 J U LY 31F O R E G E O R G I A . C O M