June 2016 FORE Georgia Magazine

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JUNE 2016

Georgia features outstanding resorts

By Mike Blum

Range from mountains to state’s coast

f you’re looking to take a golf trip sometime this Summer but aren’t looking to travel very far, Georgia offers a wide variety of resort courses throughout the state, ranging from the luxurious to the easily affordable.

Geographically, Georgia’s resorts range from northwest and northeast Georgia to metro Atlanta, to east central and west Georgia to the Georgia coast, with Georgia State Parks courses located all over the state, including a few a bit off the beaten path.

Barnsley Resort is located in the northwest Georgia community of Adairsville, just off I-75 between Atlanta and Chattanooga. The resort dates back to the 1840s and was restored during the 1990s to resemble a 19th century English village. The resort features a spa and a number of outdoor amenities, as well as a standout golf course designed by Jim Fazio that has hosted the Georgia Open three times since 2008.

The course is among the strongest in

y Gardens 18th hole at Barnsle

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the state, measuring almost 7,150 yards from the back tees and rated at 75.3/143. Fazio’s layout is a demanding test from the blue tees (6672, 72.9/138), and features one of the

strongest collections of par 3s in Georgia. The fairways are on the generous side, with Fazio leaving most of the approach angles open to superb putting surfaces that typically are on the speedy side and place challenges on your short

game due to their slightly elevated nature.

Brasstown Valley Resort is in the northeast corner of the state, just a few miles from the North Carolina border [ See Georgia Resorts, page 6 ]

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Instruction Fore You

Thinking the Correct Way

By Victor de Sola

PGA Senior Instructor, The Sea Island Golf Performance Center When you think about what the average golfer shoots, it’s somewhere between 95 and 110. There are several swing thoughts out there that claim to be the best avenue to improve one’s game. There are theories that want you moving off the ball quite a bit, others that want you to stay centered and even others that want you pivoting on your front side all the way to the top.

Not one of these is the best for everyone but all of these will help someone. There is one thing though, in my opinion, that has hurt the average golfer through the years.

This is the incorrect way to think about how you move when you swing, especially in transition.

Anytime you turn the Golf Channel on, or you pick up a golf publication, you are being told what the Tour Player is working on and what he is trying to do to get better.

The tour player’s job is to achieve a level of consistency that will give him or her the best chance to contend for a title or at the very least make the cut so they can make a check. It’s the name of the game.

Because they are the best players in the

world, what they do is highly scrutinized, highly analyzed and publicized.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to swing like Tiger Woods circa 2000 or Jack Nicklaus in his prime. Yes it would. The reality of it is that the average golfer will never be able to swing like they do. Ability and time to practice has something to do with it, but also flexibility.

So what should average golfers think about? Should they think about their core and big muscles like the shoulders and hips to be the leaders in the movement like the tour players do? In my opinion, quite the opposite. They should think about the arms and hands. The arms and hands should be relaxed and they should try to involve them in their motion as much as they can.

Why you ask. The answer is because most average players swing slow. The more they think about their core, the slower the motion becomes. Tour players don’t have that problem. Their arms and hands are already trained to let go and they are trying to slow their swing down just enough to find complete club face control through the hitting area.

If you buy into this, here are some drills to help you increase club head speed and free up your swing.

P R E S E N T E D BY

3021 Kalah Place, Marietta, GA 30067 770-933-04GA / 770-953-6638 fax FOREgeorgia.com / foregeorgia@comcast.net Send all press releases to: info@foregeorgia.com PUBLISHER

Golf Media, Inc. / John Barrett E D I T O R Mike Blum W E B S I T E / FA C E B O O K / S O C I A L M E D I A

Jason McCullough / Carly Aronin / Rebecca Rast / Olivia Rawlings JUNIOR / COLLEGE GOLF NEWS COORDINATOR

Samantha Stone MARKETING & ADVERTISING

u Hold a driver about 8 inches off the

ground and swish it thru swinging as fast as possible without losing balance. The arms have to be about a 1 on a scale from 1 to 10. v Hit shots with your feet together with no more than a 7 iron off a par 3 tee. See how fast you can swing your arms without losing balance. w Swing with a heavy club.

Remember, you have to blend your arm swing with what your body is doing. But if you think like a tour player and forget about your arms, you will slow the club down to the point that the game won’t be fun.

For wrap-ups on all June's big golf events in the state, go to www.foregeorgia.com.

Among the events we will be covering are U.S. Open qualifying at Settindown Creek and the Yamaha Atlanta Open.

Victor de Sola is a Senior Instructor at the Sea Island Golf Performance Center at Sea Island Golf Club. You can reach the facility at 912-638-5119.

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.com Corporate/Professional Relations: Scott Mahr, PGA A R T D I R E C T O R Lori Ors C R E AT I V E S E R V I C E S Dwayne Walker CONTRIBUTORS

Victory de Sola • Steve Dinberg Rob Matre • Al Kooistra GEORGIA SECTION, PGA OF AMERICA OFFICERS

President Brian Albertson, PGA / bamulligan@bellsouth.net Vice President John Godwin, PGA / jgodwinpga@earthlink.net Secretary Brandon Stooksbury, PGA / bjstooks@pga.com Honorary President Mark Mongell, PGA / mmongell@cherokeetcc.org CHAPTER PRESIDENTS

Central Chapter President Cary Brown, PGA / cary@valdosta-country-club.com East Chapter President Brandon Youmans, PGA / brandonyoumans@pga.com North Chapter President Jordon Arnold, PGA / jordonarnold@hotmail.com AT - L A R G E D I R E C T O R S

Brian Conley, PGA / pgaugadawg@aol.com Jeff Dunovant, PGA / jdunovant@pga.com Matthew Evans, PGA / mevans@pga.com Shawn Koch, PGA / prokoch@pga.com Mark Lammi, PGA / mal9599@msn.com Todd Ormsby, PGA / taormsby1020@gmail.com Rashad Wilson, PGA / rashadwilson40@gmail.com SENIOR DIVISION

President Scott Hare, PGA / shhare@pga.com A S S I S TA N T S ’ D I V I S I O N

President Will Bartram, PGA / will@hawksridge.com

Forecast

INSIDE THIS ISSUE FEATURES:

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

7 Ga. pros in nationals . . . . . . . . . . 10

Perno wins at Rivermont . . . . . . . . 12 Course feature: Chimneys . . . . . . . 14 Bulldogs in NCAAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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Lady 'Dogs win regionals . . . . . . . . 18

High school championships . . . . . 30

Jean Reynolds feature . . . . . . . . . . 22

DEPARTMENTS:

Symetra Tour in Atlanta . . . . . . . . 20

U.S. Open qualifying . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Castro 2nd in Charlotte . . . . . . . . . 26

Web.com Tour winners . . . . . . . . . 28

Golf FORE Juniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chip Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

S E C T I O N S TA F F

Executive Director Mike Paull Assistant Executive Director/ Junior Golf Director Scott Gordon Tournament Director Pat Day, PGA Operations Manager Eric Wagner Foundation Program Manager Maria Bengtsson Section Assistant Carrie Ann Byrne FOREGeorgia is produced by Golf Media, Inc. Copyright ©2014 with all rights reserved.

Reproduction or use, without permission, of editorial or graphic content is prohibited.

Georgia PGA website: www.georgiapga.com.

FORE Georgia website: www.foregeorgia.com

2016 JUNE

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14th hole at Savannah Harbor

Harbor Club’s scenic fifth hole

entertaining in all of the state. Legacy on Lanier measures a modest 6,580 yards from the tips and is under 6,200 from the blues, but its challenge is evident from its slope rating (141 and 137). Water is in play on a majority urse of holes, with sevco nt mo ke La 's e Mountain Third hole on Ston eral carries off the tee requiring solidly struck shots to avoid a watery grave. The excellent mix of holes includes a trio of hazardous par 5s, two [ Continued from the cover ] picturesque but perilous par 3s, a testy pair of short-ish par 4s beginning with and about two hours from Atlanta on US tee shots over the lake, and one of the 76 in Young Harris. Like Barnsley, state’s toughest par 4s (the 14th). There Brasstown Valley features a spa as well as are plenty of scoring opportunities if you offering an array of outdoor activities, play well, but even more chances to find including an excellent Denis Griffiths trouble, with more than half the holes layout. bordering the lake.

Although the resort is within the Blue Stone Mountain Park draws thousands Ridge Mountains, its golf course fea- of visitors each year, some who come for tures a valley setting after you get past the sights, some for the laser show and the elevated tee on the first hole. The some for its two contrasting golf courses. nearby mountains are visible from varThe original Stonemont course, ious spots on the course, which is among designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., is the most visually appealing in the state. one of the strongest daily fee courses in Griffiths’ design fits the natural feel of the state, playing to a par 70 at over the property, with bodies of water and 6,800 yards and rated at 73.7, 72.0 from environmentally sensitive areas the blue tees, which are just short of impacting about half the holes. 6,500 yards. With the exception of the Brasstown Valley is neither overly long short second, Stonemont sports one of nor difficult, but the presence of hazards the toughest groups of par 4s you’ll off the tee and some sizeable greenside encounter on a daily fee layout, with the bunkers provide sufficient challenge. course requiring both length and some Metro Atlanta includes two popular accuracy off the tee and a deft touch to resorts, Legacy on Lanier and Stone handle the testy putting surfaces.

Mountain GC. The newer Lakemont 18 is signifiLegacy on Lanier is the lone remaining cantly shorter at 6,350 yards, playing to course on Lake Lanier Islands, with Pine a par of 71, but is more or a resort-style Isle out of commission for years and layout with more water in play than on unlikely to re-open. Legacy on Lanier Stonemont, especially early in the round. remains, with the course undergoing There are some wonderful views of Stone several name changes and some renova- Mountain, but the lake is a serious factor tions, including the removal of one hole on most of the first six holes, including and the addition of a new, par-3 10th. a memorable par-5 opener and the par-4 Lake Lanier is a convenient weekend third, which features one of the tougher getaway for Atlanta residents, with its over-water approach shots. The back golf course one of the most scenic and nine is the more inviting of the two,

Georgia Resorts

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with length not much of a factor but accuracy more a concern. The 11th is one of the more intriguing short par 4s with water you’ll encounter, but there isn’t much trouble in play after that.

Halfway between Atlanta and Augusta off I-20 is one of state’s best collection of golf courses in a compact area. Most of those courses are part of the Reynolds Lake Oconee family, with Harbor Club the only remaining resort option, as Cuscowilla has gone private.

Harbor Club sports an outstanding Jay Morrish/Tom Weiskopf design, with the layout achieving the difficult task of meshing challenge with playability. The course is listed at just over 7,000 yards from the tips, with the diverse mix of holes covering the spectrum from long and demanding to short and potentially vulnerable. Among the best are a terrific trio of short-ish par 4s, a gorgeous par 4 with Lake Oconee in the background, a demanding finishing hole that requires both the tee shot and approach to carry a creek, and a splendid risk/reward par 5 without a drop of water.

Reynolds Lake Oconee has five courses available to its resort guests, with the Creek reserved for its members.

The two primary resort layouts are the Jack Nicklaus-designed Great Waters and Rees Jones’ Oconee. Reynolds Landing (formerly Port Armor) and Plantation, both designed by Bob Cupp and among the three original Lake Oconee courses along with Harbor Club, are also open to resort play, as is the 27hole National, designed by Tom Fazio.

With almost the entire back nine playing along Lake Oconee, Great Waters is one of the state’s most spectacular courses from a visual standout, with Nicklaus producing a layout that is very playable as well as eye-catching.

Measuring under 7,000 yards from the back tees and less than 6,500 from the next set, Great Waters is not overly lengthy, with mostly generous fairways and relatively gentle putting surfaces helping offset the number of hazards in play. The short par-4 11th, which plays along the lake with a finger of it protruding in front of an incredibly wide green, is one of the state’s most spectac-

ular holes.

Oconee rivals Great Waters for the beauty of its lakeside holes, while also featuring some attractive water features on inland holes. The course includes a number of risk/reward holes, some exceptional par 3s among them, and is popular with the club’s female members because of its friendly sets of forward tees.

Landing has long been considered one of the strongest courses on the lake, hosting the Georgia Open on several occasions.

With the lake a significant factor early in the round, Landing requires you to be ready to play as soon as you tee it up. Some of the most perilous holes are included in the early stages of the round, but there is not as much concern on the inland holes.

With the course mostly open off the tee and not especially long with an exception or two, Cupp’s layout presents much of its challenge with some testy greens complexes.

Callaway Gardens is a long time favorite destination for Georgians in Columbus and the metro Atlanta area, but since the PGA Tour left after 2002, the resort is not as prominent from a golf standpoint as in the past. The Mountain View course hosted the PGA Tour for more than a decade, but was beginning to become too short to deal with the improvements in equipment that significantly increased how far the tour players were hitting the ball.

The course remains a sufficient test for players who don’t average 300-plus yards off the tee, with relatively narrow, treelined fairways and well-bunkered greens of modest size offering plenty of challenge.

The much-shorter Lake View course has plenty of water and some appealing views and represents a distinctive complement to Dick Wilson’s traditional, almost hazardfree Mountain View design.

The Club at Savannah Harbor is also the former host of a tour event, serving as the site of the Champions Tour’s Legends of Golf from 2003-2013. The course is located on Hutchinson Island, just across the river from downtown Savannah and just beneath the Talmadge Memorial Bridge. The course features a marshland setting and some gorgeous views, with the outstanding Bob Cupp design one of the JUNE 2016

A view of the par-5 18th at Sapelo Hammock from behind the green

best for the state’s resort courses.

Cupp’s layout was a sufficient challenge for the Champions Tour members, but is a very playable course for the resort guests (a Westin Hotel is next door) and locals, with generous fairways, only a handful of hazards seriously in play and virtually no changes in elevation. Much of the danger is found on a terrific group of par 5s, all of which are lined by marshes and require both accuracy and length. Cupp has left most of the approach angles to the relatively gentle putting surfaces open, making it a playable course for almost everyone, although it has some length from the back two sets of tees.

Sea Island Golf Club includes world class accommodations and three of the state’s premier resort courses, with Seaside and Plantation hosting the PGA Tour RSM Classic and Retreat joining its sister courses as the site of top state, amateur and junior tournaments.

Both Seaside and Plantation consist of one nine from the original layout dating back to the 1920s as well as a newer nine, with Tom Fazio handling the renovation on Seaside and Rees Jones taking care of the re-design on Plantation.

Seaside, which is located amidst the marshes in proximity to the ocean, is a scenic beauty with its many natural elements, and the par-70 layout a real challenge when the ocean breezes pick up. The course is not overly demanding tee to green, but the greens complexes will test all elements of your short game, and its visual appeal can distract from the task at hand. Although it is mostly situated away from the ocean, the par-72 Plantation has more water in play than Seaside, most notably on some gorgeous but perilous par 3s and a wonderful set of par 5s.

Davis Love handled the renovation on Retreat, adding length and width to the course while making extensive changes to the greens complexes. Retreat is more of a tree-lined layout than its sister courses across the street, and provides an excellent complement to Seaside and Plantation, offering a comparable but different style of challenge.

The King and Prince Golf Resort is 2016 JUNE

a Joe Lee gem, offering a modest challenge from its tree-lined nature and Lee’s typically well-protected putting surfaces.

The course lacks for serious length but not much else, and features a splendid stretch of marsh holes connected to the island by bridges. Formerly known as the Hampton Club, the King and Prince Golf Resort has been restored in recent years and is again a treasure to play.

Sea Palms has also been recently renovated, and is the most affordable of the St. Simons’ courses. The 27-hole layout features a first rate traditional coastal design by George Cobb on the original 18,with a change to the ninth hole converting it from a par 72 to 71. The pines, palms and palmetto trees that line the fairways place a premium on accuracy off the tee, with a decent number of hazards in play, mainly along edges and a mostly gently group of greens complexes. The front nine is shorter and more inviting, but the back provides plenty of challenge capped by a demanding par-4 finishing hole with water in play.

Jekyll Island Golf Club has long offered one of the best values found in the state, offering 63 holes including the Great Dunes nine, which provides a unique peek at golf’s past, featuring some of the tiniest greens you will ever encounter and one of the quirkiest par 5s in existence. The three 18-hole courses – Pine Lakes, Indian Mound and Oleander – are straightforward, enjoyable coastal layouts, with Oleander the tightest and most challenging of the three, Pine Lakes the most modern and Indian Mound featuring the most challenging putting surfaces.

Dick Wilson’s Oleander is the oldest of the three and features its share of hazards in play, with the par-4 12th usually included in listings of the state’s toughest holes. Pine Lakes and Indian Mound are located side-by-side and share several attributes, with Lee handling the design on Indian Mound and teaming up with Wilson on the Pine Lakes layout, which was renovated a while back and is the most junior-friendly of the trio.

Sapelo Hammock is located on the Georgia coast between Savannah and the Golden Isles, and is one of the state’s

Sea Palms Golf Re sort

undiscovered gems, offering an entertaining marsh-side layout in a placid, rural setting.

Trees with Spanish moss overhangs put a premium on driving accuracy, with length not a major concern. The layout includes two outstanding all-carryover-marshes par 3s and a Prince Course 14th hole at King and trio of hazard-impacted par 5s, but is not an overly demanding layout if you the back nine, which earns particularly can keep it between the tree lines. The high marks for scenic appeal. course has become a regular on the miniHighland Walk features plenty of tour circuit, and has added elevation changes, with the terrain the accommodations for its stay and play main defense for the course. Georgiaguests. based architect Denis Griiffiths Georgia State Parks has eight renovated the original nine and created a courses statewide, most of which have new nine to the layout which has an on-site lodges or cottages. The courses excellent mix of holes, with plenty of include two in northeast Georgia uphill and downhill shots but not much (Arrowhead Pointe at Richard B. water in play.

Russell in Elberton and Highland Walk The Creek at Hard Labor is one of at Victoria Bryant in Royston), one just the most geographically accessible State east of metro Atlanta (Hard Labor Park courses, and is a mostly friendly Creek in Rutledge), one on the south- layout with two exceptions, one of which west Georgia/Alabama border (Meadow is a very dangerous opening hole. The Links at George Bagby in Ft. Gaines), layout is reasonably tight, but there are two in Central Georgia (Georgia plenty of holes of modest length that Veterans in Cordele and Wallace offer scoring opportunities.

Adams GC at Little Ocmulgee in The Lakes at Laura Walker is just McRae) and two in the southeastern part down the road from the Okefenokee State of the state (Brazell’s Creek at Park, and offers a scenic, natural layout Gordonia-Altamaha in Reidsville) and with ample, rolling fairways, a decent The Lakes at Laura S. Walker in number of hazards and some sizeable Waycross). greens with moderate amounts of unduThe State Park courses provide out- lation. standing values and quality golf Griffiths also added nine holes at experiences, with several of them among Brazell’s Creek, which serves as a comthe finest daily fee facilities in the entire plete contrast to the original nine, which state. Arrowhead Pointe is the best of has a more traditional tree-lined feel with the north Georgia trio, with almost the some wetlands areas impacting play. The entire back nine playing along Lake newer back nine is a links-style layout Russell, which serves as the border with no almost trees but plenty of between Georgia and South Carolina. It length, with its open nature making it is perhaps the strongest of the State Park more exposed to the wind. courses, with a demanding group of Wallace Adams was extensively greens complexes and a sufficient number of hazards in play, especially on [ See Georgia Resorts, page 33 ] FOREGEORGIA.COM

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19 different winners in event the last 19 years

Fazio-designed St. Ives to host Atlanta Open

By Mike Blum

the

he Yamaha Atlanta Open will be played this month at St. Ives Country Club in Johns Creek, and if the tournament’s recent history is any indication, a player who has never won the tournament will come away with the 2016 title.

Over the past 19 years, the tournament has had 19 different winners, with Atlantan Matt Russell winning backto-back in 1996 and ‘97. Russell, a former Berry College golf team member, won as an amateur in ’96 at the Golf Club of Georgia and repeated the next year at Cherokee Town & Country Club, that time as a professional.

Since Russell’s victory in 1997, a different player has won the tournament every year. Since 1980, only three golfers have won the Atlanta Open twice, with all three first winning as an amateur and later as a professional.

Jon Hough won after completing his college career at Auburn in 1987 and repeated the next year as a rookie tour pro, eventually making it to what is now the Web.com Tour before joining the club professional ranks. Hough has been the head pro at several metro Atlanta golf clubs, and currently serves in that capacity at Bridge Mill.

Moultrie’s Kevin Blanton was a collegiate golfer when he won the 1994 Atlanta Open at the Legends at Chateau Elan, and won again at the Legends in 2001 during his years as a mini-tour pro.

Blanton has remained in the state as a representative for Augusta-based golf car company E-Z-GO. Of the 19 most recent champions, about half of them remain competitive players in the Georgia PGA, with one of the amateur winners since Russell’s backto-back victories particularly pleased about the site of this year’s tournament.

Bob Royak, a member at St. Ives, won the Atlanta Open at the nearby Standard Club in 2007, and has three finishes of seventh or better since, including a tie for fifth last year at White Columns.

Georgia PGA members who have won the Atlanta Open since 1997 include James Mason (2000, White Columns), Phil Taylor (’02, GC of Georgia), Greg Lee (’03, Marietta CC). Shawn Koch (’06, Dunwoody CC), Tim Weinhart (’09, Heron Bay), Craig Stevens (’11,

(’12, Chattahoochee GC), Hank Smith (’14, Atlanta National) and defending champion Sonny Skinner (White Columns).

Weinhart, an 8-time Georgia PGA Player of the Year, is very familiar with St. Ives, which hosts an annual pro-am but has not been the site of many G e o r g i a PGA/GSGA events since it debuted in the late 1980s.

Weinhart, the Director of Instruction at Heritage Golf Links, worked for a number of years at River Pines and the Standard Club, both a short distance from St. Ives.

Skinner, Stevens and Mason are part of the Georgia PGA’s outstanding group of over-50 members, with all three remaining very competitive against their younger competitors. Mason won last year’s Georgia PGA Championship at Sea Island GC at the age of 64, and both Stevens and Skinner have earned Player of the Year honors since they turned 50, with Stevens going back-to-back in 2012 and ’13. Skinner, the head pro at Spring Hill in Tifton, claimed that honor in 2014.

Skinner shot 9-under 135 at White Columns to win by one over Bradley Smith, who has since left his job as an instructor at Eagle’s Landing to resume his playing career. Skinner, who played the PGA and Web.com Tours for 15 years before becoming a Georgia PGA member in 2006, was fourth or better in the Atlanta Open from 2006-08, did not have another top 10 in the tournament until 2014, when he tied for seventh.

Mason played the Champions Tour for more than a decade after winning the

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Sonny Skinne r

GEORGIA PGA

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Seth

Bob Royak

Atlanta Open in 2000 and losing a playoff to Blanton the next year, returning to the event in 2012 when he lost to McCain in a playoff.

Mason tied for seventh last year.

Stevens, an instructor at Brookstone G&CC, has 11 top-10 finishes in the tournament since 1995, including a tie for second in 2004 at Pinetree. But he hasn’t placed higher than seventh since then apart from his victory in 2011.

From 2000 to 2010, Weinhart had a win, three runner-up finishes and a third, losing in playoffs to Mason in 2000 and Taylor in 2002. He made three straight runs at victory from 2008 to 2010, placing third, first and second, the latter time by a shot to UGA head pro Matt Peterson in ’08 at Newnan CC. There is a lengthy list of players who could make it 20 different winners in 20 years, including six Georgia PGA members who placed in the top 10 last year.

Topping that group is Marietta CC Director of Golf Stephen Keppler, who has won the Section’s other three majors a total of eight times, but is still looking for his first Atlanta Open title. Keppler has a pair of runner-up finishes 20 years

GSGA

T

Frog),

McCain

apart, finishing two behind Blanton in ’94 and losing a playoff to college golfer Cory Griffin in the rain-shortened tournament in 2013 at Polo G&CC. Keppler also came close the year before that, finishing one shot out of a three-way playoff at Chattahoochee GC. Kyle Owen, Chris Nicol, Todd Ormsby and David Potts all have collected Georgia PGA victories, as well as contending in the Atlanta Open in recent years.

Owen, the head pro at Dunwoody CC, won at Chicopee Woods in 2014, and has a pair of top-4 finishes in the Atlanta Open, including a tie for third last year.

Nicol, an assistant at River Pines and a two-time Georgia PGA winner, has four finishes of seventh or better in the Atlanta Open since 2009, including a pair of ties for third and a tie for fifth last year.

Highland CC head pro Todd Ormsby won the 2013 Georgia PGA PNC and has placed fifth and 10th in the Atlanta Open the last two years. Potts, an instructor at CC of the South, won a pair of Georgia PGA events in 2012 when he recorded one of his three top-four finishes [ See Atlanta Open, page 28 ]

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Weinhart, Stevens back in club pro championship

By Mike Blum

S

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GEORGIA PGA

Tim Weinhart

Karen Paolozzi

Craig Stevens

MONTANA PRITCHARD/THE PGA OF AMERICA

even Georgia PGA members will represent the state in the Professional PGA Championship, the national championship for club professionals in the U.S., which will be played this month at the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y. Georgia’s seven qualifiers include two veterans with a combined 33 starts in the event, and the state’s top female club professional, who made a big splash in the tournament two years ago.

Craig Stevens and Tim Weinhart have made17 and 16 starts respectively in the event, which was previously known as the PGA Club Professional Championship (CPC) and until this year the PGA Professional National Championship (PNC).

Karen Paolozzi, who won the 2015 Georgia PGA PNC to qualify for this year’s national championship, played well in the PNC two years ago in Myrtle Beach, getting plenty of Golf Channel airtime. She became just the second woman to make the cut in the event and finished among the top 50, highlighted by a 4-under 32 on her final nine in the second round that enabled her to make the cut. She finished with a 298 total to break Suzy Whaley’s tournament record for women.

Joining Stevens, Weinhart and Paolozzi in the PGA Professional Championship field are recent tournament qualifiers Hank Smith, Brian Puterbaugh and Todd Ormsby, along

GEORGIA PGA

7 Georgians qualify for national PGA event

with 55-year-old “rookie” Mark Anderson. Smith and Puterbaugh both competed in the PNC last year, with Ormsby competing in 2014. Anderson has competed in the PGA Senior PNC twice, but qualified for the first time for the PGA PC for the first time after placing second in last year’s Georgia PGA qualifier.

The 2016 PGA PC will be played June 26-29 at Turning Stone Resort, which hosted a PGA Tour event from 20072010 and last was the site of the PGA PNC in 2006. Weinhart and Stevens both made the cut in the event that year, with Weinhart tying for 16th and getting one of 20 spots in the 2006 PGA Championship in a playoff, one of five times he has qualified for the major championship.

Stevens has made three career PGA Championship appearances, including the two most recent times Atlanta Athletic Club hosted the event (2001, 2011). He and Weinhart are two of four Georgia PGA members who have made multiple PGA Championship appearances over the past 20 years, joining Stephen Keppler (four) and Sonny Skinner (three).

Weinhart and Stevens both missed out on last year’s PGA PNC, with Weinhart failing to make it to nationals for the first time after 15 consecutive starts.

Weinhart was third in last year’s Georgia PGA PNC, shooting 2-under 142 at

Dunwoody CC after opening with a 68.

Stevens had to go extra holes to get one of two available spots in a 4-man playoff.

He took five holes to qualify, with Smith needing eight holes to get the final spot.

Weinhart and Stevens have been two of the state’s most consistently successful PGA competitors, winning a combined 12 Player of the Year awards (eight by Weinhart, four by Stevens) since 1999.

Weinhart has won all four of the Georgia PGA’s majors (Georgia Open, Atlanta Open, GPGA Championship and Match Play Championship) among his 13 individual GPGA titles, with Stevens scoring 12 GPGA victories and five state senior titles since turning 50 in 2011. Both have won the state’s PNC qualifier three times each.

This will be the second PGA PC appearance for Paolozzi, who qualified for the 2014 event while a member of the Northern Ohio PGA Section. She qualified for a second time by winning the Georgia PGA PNC last year at Dunwoody CC, opening with a 66 and shooting 6-under 138 to finish two ahead of Anderson.

Paolozzi, an assistant at Druid Hills GC, has enjoyed considerable success since moving to Georgia in early 2014.

She won the 2014 Georgia Women’s Open and was second last year, has been the runner-up in each of the last two

LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Championships, one of which was played at Chateau Elan, and won the Georgia PGA Assistants’ Championship last year in addition to her GPGA PNC victory. She played in one of the LPGA’s majors last year – Women’s PGA the Championship – and will compete in the event again this year.

Anderson, an instructor at Brunswick CC, has emerged as one of the Georgia PGA’s top players since he turned 50, scoring his second Georgia PGA title in 2015 (the Match Play Championship), 12 years after his only Section victory prior to turning 50. He finished second in last year’s Georgia PGA PNC with a 140 total, two shots behind Paolozzi.

Puterbaugh, an instructor at the Hooch, made his second PNC start last year in northern California, competing for the first time in 2008 at Reynolds Plantation. He shot 1-under 143 last year in the GPGA PNC to advance to nationals. He is one of three seniors from Georgia in the championship along with Stevens and Anderson.

Ormsby, the head pro at Highland CC in LaGrange, was fifth in the Georgia PGA PNC last year to qualify for nationals for a second time. He won the 2013 GPGA PNC at Champions Retreat to earn his first invitation and made the 36-hole cut, but did not make it past the 54-hole cut.

Smith, the head pro at Frederica GC on St. Simons Island, won the 2014 Georgia PGA Championship at Sea Island GC to earn his first start in the PGA PNC in 2015, and survived the 36hole cut only to miss the 54-hole cut.

Smith won two of the Georgia PGA’s four majors in 2014, also taking the Atlanta Open at Atlanta National.

Also in the field will be Tennessee club pro Johan Kok, who grew up in Peachtree City before playing collegiately at South Carolina and competing for several years internationally as a tour pro. Kok tied for 10th in last year’s PNC in California to earn a spot in the 2015 PGA Championship.

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11

Birdies first extra hole to cap late surge

Perno takes 4-way playoff at Rivermont

By Mike Blum

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Seth McCain

Donn Perno

GEORGIA PGA

eachtree Golf Club head professional Donn Perno put a quick end to a long day of golf, holing a birdie putt of some 35 feet on the first extra hole to win a 4-man playoff in the Georgia PGA Rivermont Championship.

The third-year tournament played all 36 holes in one day, and Perno’s lengthy birdie effort kept the playoff from continuing and possibly running out of daylight.

Perno almost won the tournament without a playoff, just missing a 10footer for eagle on his final hole of the second round – the par-5 second. To get in 36 holes in one day for the approximately 80-player field, the tournament utilized a shotgun start for both rounds, re-pairing after the morning round with the leaders paired together.

Hank Smith, James Mason and Ted Meier shared the opening round lead at 2-under 69, with Todd Ormsby, Seth McCain and Georgia State golf team member Hayden Poole one shot back at 70. Another college golfer – Florida State’s Jonathan Keppler – was part of a 4-way tie at 71 along with Georgia PGA members Tim Weinhart, Kyle Owen and Bill Murchison.

Perno was one of six players who shot 72 in the morning round, 2014 Rivermont winner Chris Nicol among them. Ormsby, the head pro at Highland

CC in LaGrange, and Mason, a Champions Tour member for more than a decade, were the fastest players out of the gate in the afternoon.

Ormsby got off to a torrid start with a birdie on the first hole and an eagle at the second. Mason matched Ormsby’s birdie on the first and took the lead when he birdied the fourth after Ormsby made bogey at the third. Both players bogeyed the fifth and Mason also bogeyed the sixth, dropping the two into a fourway tie with McCain and Poole, who birdied both par 5s on the opening nine.

Poole added birdies on the par-5 10th and drivable par-4 11th, and followed with four straight pars to retain the lead with just three holes to play.

But the Georgia State sophomore could not retain his advantage, three-putting 16 and 18 for bogeys with a bogey at the downhill par-3 17th caused by an errant tee shot into the vegetation left of the green.

That brought seven other players back into contention, with the shotgun start resulting in the eight main contenders finishing on five different holes.

Mason had a chance after getting back to 3-under with a birdie at the 16th, his third on the back nine, but he also bogeyed the 17th for a 71 and a 2-under 140 total. McCain, an assistant at Jennings Mill, birdied the par-5 10th and par-4 13th, which features a pronounced two-tier green, to get to 2under and parred in from there for a second straight 70 to tie Mason at 140.

Owen, the head pro at Dunwoody CC, was five shots behind Poole midway through the back nine, but birdies at 13, 16 and 18 gave him a 69 and 140 total after a par at the first hole, his 18th of the round.

Perno, playing in the group in front of Owen, was also well back as he neared the end of his round, but birdies at 16 and 18 gave him a chance with two holes to play.

He parred the first and ended his day with a terrific second shot to

James Mason

hit the par-5 second in two, two-putting for birdie and a 68 to make it a four-way playoff.

Mason and Owen both hit their second shots in the playoff on the par-4 18th closer to the hole than Perno, but both missed after Perno rolled in his lengthy putt that gave him his second victory in an individual Georgia PGA event.

Perno said he “felt pretty good” when he was told the playoff would begin on the 18th. “I birdied the 18th three times today. When they said we’re going to 18 for the playoff, I said I’m gonna birdie it again.”

His first birdie of the day at the 18th was one of just two for Perno in the morning round. He shot 72 with a double bogey on the 12th, which was again converted from a par 5 to a par 4 for the tournament. Perno had five birdies in an afternoon 68 and said, “I don’t think I missed a shot.”

Perno’s fifth birdie was a little more adventurous than he would have liked.

After giving himself an excellent opportunity for an eagle and a victory in regulation, Perno ran his 10-footer about five feet past the hole, making his comebacker to get into the playoff.

Prior to missing his 10-footer for eagle, Perno holed putts of 10 feet on 16 and eight feet on 18, but had no idea those birdies gave him a chance for victory.

“I thought maybe three, four or fiveunder would win. When I was 1-over (for the tournament) late in the round, I was just hoping to finish in the top 10.”

Perno said he thought he might get into a playoff if he holed the eagle putt on his final hole of the day, and was certainly relieved when he was told that 2-under was good enough for a playoff.

The only other individual victory for Perno in the Georgia PGA Section came in the 2013 Match Play Championship.

He also teamed with Peachtree assistant Brian Corn to win the 2010 ProAssistant Championship.

“I always thought I’d win more,” said Perno. “I’ve had a couple of chances.”

Perno did not play in the Rivermont Championship either of the first two years it was held, and said it had been about a decade since he played the course.

In his last round at Rivermont, Perno was one of two players to survive a 6-for2 playoff in a U.S. Open local qualifier.

The other successful qualifier was a high school golfer from Macon who has made a name for himself since then – Russell Henley.

The switch from a two-day tournament to a one-day, 36-hole event met with Perno’s approval.

“I’m fine playing 36 as long as we play in a cart. It’s better playing one day so you don’t miss a day of work.”

Perno took home $2,000 for his vic[ See Rivermont, page 27 ] JUNE 2016

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13

Winder-owned course worth the drive to find it

Chimneys enjoyable, affordable, well-conditioned

By Mike Blum

etro Atlanta has more than its share of quality daily fee golf courses, but as you move beyond the metro area into communities that are not exactly hotbeds of golf, you can find some hidden gems that are worth the drive to discover.

The Chimneys Golf Course is Winder is among that group.

Located just a mile off Georgia 316 on Highway 11 between Gwinnett County and Athens, the Chimneys is a municipally owned facility that has been around for almost 15 years, but does not have a very high profile in the competitive metro Atlanta market.

The course opened in late 2001/early 2002 as part of the Eagle Greens family of courses that was based in northeast Georgia before expanding into the fringes of the metro area, opening three courses just east of Gwinnett County.

Eagle Greens began selling off its golf course properties in the mid-2000s, and the Chimneys went through several individual owners before being acquired by the City of Winder three years ago.

Chris Scott, the club’s long-time general manager, has a long history with Eagle Greens, and has been at the Chimneys for 11 years. He says the last three years under city ownership have been among the best in the relatively brief history of the course, with the city able to provide resources previously unavailable.

“They’ve helped bring the course back up,” Scott says of the city of Winder’s involvement. “They’ve put some money back into it and are very supportive.

They love the golf course.”

The Chimneys is known to its regulars for the consistent quality of its conditioning and the significant disparity in difficulty between its two nines. The front nine ranges from 3364 yards (gold tees) to 3206 (blues) and 2977 (whites).

The back nine, which has only one par 3 and one par 5, measures more than 200 yards shorter from all three sets, with the Chimneys including shorter sets of tees for seniors and women that do not feature as wide a gap in yardage.

From the tips, the Chimneys is a modest 6500 yards, with only three par 4s topping 400 yards and six 365 yards or less, including a pair in the 270 to 275

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Hole #3

Hole #7

range that are part of the friendly back nine. The blues are 6200 and the whites a little under 5750, with the senior (5330) and forward (4920) tees both comfortable fits.

The Chimneys is rated at 71.4/127 (gold), 69.9/124 (blue) and 68.0/117 (white), with most of the challenge found on the opening nine. The tree-lined course is generally open off the tee with a mix of thick and thin tree lines, the latter allowing for recovery shots. The bunkering is modest and other than some carries over native areas, there are almost no hazards in play.

A unique feature of the Chimneys is the occasional presence of hand-laid rockwork on a number of holes, mainly on the front nine. The rocks were present on the site when the course was constructed, and instead of removing them from the property, the rocks were utilized to enhance the visual appeal. The rocks have been positioned around bunkers, bushes, trees and by themselves, and while they can come into play, are there more for decorative purpose.

With no development encroaching on the course and some splendid views of forested backdrops, the Chimneys is an appealing course visually despite the lack of water in play.

Phillip Ballard, who founded Eagle Greens, and Carey Pittman, the head superintendent for the company, teamed up to design the Chimneys, which got its name from some surviving chimneys from the original homestead located on the property, most prominently in view off the 12th fairway.

The more challenging front nine opens with a relatively tame par 4 that features rock formations surrounding a pair of fairway bunkers that pinch in from both sides. The Hole #4 rock formations are even more prominent on the scenic par-3 second, which has some length as well as a number of greenside bunkers bordered by the rocks.

The next four holes are par 4s of varying difficulty, several of which require either a well-struck or wellplaced tee shot to avoid serious problems.

Holes three and four begin with modest carries off the tee, with a thick tree line down the right side more of a concern on the third, and a large rolling green with no sand around it a factor on the fourth.

The bent grass greens at the Chimneys are quality surfaces but are not especially quick, with modest amounts of undulation on most of them.

Without question, the most demanding hole at the Chimneys is the fifth, the longest of the par 4s at 425 from the back tees and a healthy 390 from the whites. A carry of around 240 yards from the tips and over 200 from the whites is required to clear a native area, longer if you try to carry the hazard down the right side.

Moving up to the green tees (354) is a wise choice for players who can’t easily carry it 200-plus, and Scott said there are plans to cut the grass short of the hazard at fairway length so shorter hitters can safely lay up short of it. A front right bunker gets lots of play, but is the only

problem area on or around the green.

The sixth is open but plays a little longer than its yardage, which is comparable to the fifth. Trees with rock formations on either side of the fairway are potentially in play on the second shot to a green with no sand around it.

The front nine concludes with two par 5s of differing lengths around a short-ish par 3 with a large, rolling putting surface that produces its share of 3-putts. The par-5 seventh has some yardage (549 golds, 528 blues) but offers a generous amount of fairway, while the ninth is considerably shorter (473 golds, 412 whites) but has a native area across the width of the fairway that is within reach for longer hitters off the tee.

An offset white tee to the right creates a difficult angle through trees that add to the difficulty of the hole, which plays uphill beyond the hazard over a large front bunker protecting a kidney-shaped green.

If you make it through the front nine relatively unscathed, the likelihood of posting a pleasing score is considerable.

The back nine consists of seven par 4s, all but one or two of which are driver-short [ See Chimneys, page 32 ] JUNE 2016

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FOREGEORGIA.COM

15

Tech, Kennesaw, Augusta fall just short

Bulldogs capture NCAA Regional title

By Mike Blum

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UGA PHOTOS

he Georgia Bulldogs won their NCAA Regional at Ol’ Colony in Birmingham and will be the only team from the state in the NCAA Championship, which will be played May 27-June 1 in Eugene, Ore. The Bulldogs led after each round, shooting 4-under 284 the first day followed by back-to-back scores of 6-under 282. Georgia led South Carolina by three shots after 18 holes, by three after 36 and won by four. Alabama, Kentucky and Auburn finished 3-4-5 to give the SEC a sweep of the five berths in the NCAA Championship.

Georgia’s Greyson Sigg captured individual honors with scores of 68-7168 for a 9-under 207 total. The junior from Augusta matched the low scores of the tournament in both the first and third rounds.

Sigg’s opening 68 was matched by Peachtree Corners sophomore Zach Healy, who tied for sixth at 212 after scores of 71-73. Healy’s third round score did not count, as the other four Georgia golfers shot par or better.

Lee McCoy, a senior from Clarkesville, and Sepp Straka, a senior from Valdosta, both tied for 17th at 217.

McCoy posted scores of 75-70-72, with Straka contributing a first round 73 and a closing 70. His second round did not count, as the Bulldogs got a strong effort from Griffin freshman Tye Waller, the team’s No. 5 player, the last two rounds.

Waller matched McCoy’s second round 70 for the team’s low score of the day, and again tied McCoy in the final round with a 72.

It was Georgia’s fourth regional title since 2007, with the Bulldogs advancing to nationals for the 18th time in 20 attempts under coach Chris Haack.

Georgia won NCAA titles in 1999 and 2005.

Georgia Tech, Augusta and Kennesaw State all placed sixth or seventh in their respective regionals, with the top five teams advancing to nationals from each of the six regional sites.

Georgia State also failed to advance.

The Yellow Jackets tied for seventh in the Tucson Regional, four shots behind the team that finished fifth. Tech put itself in an early hole with an opening score of 297, following with totals of 288

and 282 to make a run at a top-5 showing.

Albany sophomore Jacob Joiner shot a final round 68 to tie for 17th at even par 216 along with teammates Chris Petefish and Vince Whaley, who also broke par in the third round. Petefish was low for the Jackets in the first round with a 70 and shot 71 the final day.

Tech had to count scores of 74 (Columbus sophomore James Clark), 75 (Petefish) and 78 (Joiner) the first day, but the team rebounded the next two rounds. Joiner (70), Whaley (71) and Clark (72) all shot par or better the second day, with a 75 by Petefish the high counting score.

Joiner’s 68 was low for Tech in the final round, followed by scores of 70 (Whaley), 71 (Petefish) and 73 (Clark), with Clark shooting 219 for 54 holes.

Acworth junior Michael Hines struggled throughout the tournament and did not post a counting score.

Georgia State was 11th of 14 teams in the regional at 891. Alex Herrmann tied for 26th at 219, and was the only Panther to finish in the top 50. Nick Budd, a freshman from Woodstock, was low for Georgia State the first day with a 74, Herrmann shot 69 the second round, the team’s lone sub-par score for the tournament, with Budd (72) and Lexington junior Nathan Mallonee (73) leading the way the final day.

In his final appearance for the

Greyson Sigg

Panthers, senior J.J. Grey shot 75-74-76, with his last round not counting.

Augusta placed sixth in the Oklahoma State Regional with a 912 total, two shots behind the fifth place team. The Jaguars shot 303-309-300, hanging around the fifth position the entire tournament. Jake Marriott tied for 10th at 223, with Broc Everett T22 at 228. Scores of 71 by Marriott and 74

by Everett the first day were the team’s only scores better than 75 on the demanding Karsten Creek layout.

Emmanuel Kountakis, a junior from Augusta, had non-counting scores the first two days, but was one of four Jaguars to shoot 75 in the final round.

Kennesaw State was tied for third after one round and tied for fourth after the second day, but dropped back to seventh in the Texas A&M Regional despite shooting 17-under for the tournament.

The Owls ended up five shots behind the fifth place team, posting under-par scores in all three rounds.

The Owls opened with a 283 total, led

by Cumming junior Chris Guglielmo, who shot 3-under 69. Teremoana Beaucousin was next with a 70 and Fredrik Nilehn and Morganton sophomore Wyatt Larkin both added rounds of even par 72.

Kennesaw shot 9-under 279, its low score of the tournament, in the second round, but fell one spot into a tie for fourth. Guglielmo, Beaucousin and Nilehn all carded scores of 69, with Cumming freshman Jake Fendt contributing a 72. Larkin’s 73 did not count.

Fendt came up big in the final round with a 67 and Nilehn closed with a 70 to tie for 18th in the tournament at 211.

Larkin added a 73, but after leading the team the first two days, Guglielmo and Beaucousin both shot 75 the final day.

Guglielmo finished tied for 25th at 213.

Both Georgia teams miss cut at nationals

By Mike Blum

eorgia’s men’s and women’s golf teams both failed to make the 54hole cut in the NCAA Championships played recently in Eugene, Ore. Georgia tied for 14th in the men’s championship, with the top 15 teams advancing to the final round of stroke play qualifying. Of the five teams that tied for 14th, Louisville and Oklahoma advanced while Georgia, Clemson and TCU were eliminated in a tiebreaker.

G

The tiebreaker was the combined total of the three non-counting scores from the first three rounds of the tournament, with Georgia finishing three strokes behind Oklahoma, which was second in the tiebreaker to get the last spot for the final day of qualifying.

The Bulldogs were tied for 19th after an opening score of 11-over 291, shot 284 the second day to tie for 15th going to the final round, and closed with a 292 to finish at 867.

Georgia’s top four players – seniors Lee McCoy and Sepp Straka, junior Grayson Sigg and sophomore Zach Healy – had all their scores count in each

round, as freshman Tye Waller posted three non-counting scores.

McCoy shot 69-70-70 for a 1-under 209 total and was eighth after 54 holes to earn a spot as an individual in the final round. Straka matched McCoy’s opening 69 and Sigg shot 70 the next day to tie McCoy for the team’s low score, but the next lowest scores for the Bulldogs at nationals were 72s by Straka and Healy in the second round, when the team posted its best score.

Georgia had to count scores of 76 (Sigg) and 77 (Healy) the first day, with [ See Georgia in NCAAs, page 18 ] JUNE 2016

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Georgia women capture NCAA Regional title he Georgia women’s team won an NCAA Regional hosted by Texas A&M, with the Lady Bulldogs qualifying for the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2009.

UGA freshman Bailey Tardy of Peachtree Corners shared medalist honors for the tournament with a score of 7under 209, with fellow freshman Jillian Hollis fourth at 211. Roswell’s Rinko Mitsunaga, the third freshman in Georgia’s lineup, shot a final round 68 and tied for 12th at 215.

Led by scores of 69 from Tardy and 70 from Hollis, Georgia opened with a 3under 285 total to tie for the lead after the opening round. Junior Harang Lee added a 72 and Mitsunaga contributed a 74.

Georgia shot 284 in the second round but fell to third, two behind Arizona and

UGA PHOTOS

By Mike Blum

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Georgia in NCAAs [ Continued from page 16]

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one in back of UCLA. Hollis led Georgia with a 67, with Tardy adding a second straight 69. Mitsunaga shot 73, with Lee and St. Simons junior Mary Ellen Shuman both carding scores of 75.

Led by Mitsunaga’s 68, the only sub70 score the final round, Georgia closed

by Sigg at 219 and Healy at 224. McCoy shot 72 in the final round to finish in a tie for sixth at 281. He was in position for a top-3 finish but went 3-over on the last two holes in his final round as a Bulldog.

The Georgia women shot 298-291298 for a 23-over 887 total, four behind 15th place Florida State. The Lady Bulldogs turned in a solid second round with four scores between 72 and 74, but had to count a 77 by freshman Bailey Tardy the first day and a 78 by fellow freshman Rinko Mitsunaga the final round.

Junior Harang Lee had the team’s low total (220) with scores of 73-7473. Tardy rebounded from her opening 77 with consecutive scores of 72, matching the team’s low round the second day and leading the Lady Bulldogs in the final round.

Fellow freshman Jillian Hollis matched Tardy’s 72 the second day and also finished with a 221 total. Mitsunaga shot 74-73 the first two days and ended up at 225. Junior Mary Ellen Shuman matched Tardy’s 77 the first day, but her final two scores did not count.

The state of Georgia was again represented in the match play portion of the tournament by Jonesboro’s Mariah Stackhouse, a senior on Stanford’s team.

Stanford won the national championship last year thanks to a clutch

runner-up Florida, which was tied for the lead with one round to play.

Hollis led Georgia, tying for 11th at 219, with Lee T16 at 221. Tardy of Peachtree Corners shot 1-under 71 in the opening round, but closed with scores of 77 and 75 and tied for 23rd at 223.

Mitsunaga closed with back-to-back scores of 75 and placed 39th at 228.

The Augusta women’s team, which does not belong to a conference, also competed in the Regionals, placing 13th out of 18 teams in Baton Rouge, La. The Lady Jaguars shot 311-301-301 for a 913 total, led by junior Eunice Yi of Evans, who tied for 22nd at 220.

Yi posted scores of 71 and 72 the final two rounds, with Roswell junior Jessica Haigwood contributing an opening 74 before suffering through a tough day in the second round. Junior Josefine Nyqvist contributed scores of 73-74 the first two days.

UGA PHOTOS

Sigg (73), Straka (74) and Healy (75) all faltering on the difficult back nine in the final round.

As a team, Georgia was even par on the front nine the final day and was well within the top-15 cut line and in position for a top-8 finish at the end of 72 holes, which would qualify the Bulldogs for match play.

However, Georgia’s top four players were a combined 12-over on the back nine, with McCoy trying to salvage the team’s hopes with a birdie on the final hole. That got Georgia into a somewhat contrived version of a scorecard playoff, and brought Waller’s three scores into play.

Like his teammates, Waller struggled on his final nine of the tournament. Waller was 1-under after six holes in the third round, but played the last 12 holes in 14-over (11-over 46 on the back) for an 83, when a 79 would have enabled the Bulldogs to survive the playoff.

Waller was a respectable 5-over after 13 holes, but took a triple bogey and two double bogeys on the final five holes.

Straka was second behind McCoy for 54 holes with a 215 total followed

Bailey Tardy

with a 289 to win by six over Arizona and by seven over UCLA. Tardy shot 71 to tie for medalist honors, with Hollis talking fourth individually after a 74.

Shuman, who played consistently in the tournament with scores of 75-75-76, adding the fourth counting score for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Lady Bulldogs were the lone Georgia team in the NCAA Women’s Championship, which was played May 25-30 in Eugene, Ore. Georgia finished a distant sixth in the SEC Women’s Golf Championship at Greystone CC in Birmingham, ending the 54-hole event 30 strokes behind Alabama’s winning total of 859.

The Lady Bulldogs posted scores of 296-296-297 for a 25-over 889 total.

They trailed by 10 shots after the first round and by 14 after 36, with Alabama pulling away in the final round with a 7under 281 to finish five shots in front of

Lee McCoy

performance by Stackhouse in the decisive match in the finals, and she almost lifted the Cardinal to a second straight title.

After placing second in stroke play qualifying, Stanford won its first two matches over South Carolina and Duke by scores of 3-2, with Stackhouse winning both her matches. She won 2-up against South Carolina to clinch that match and won 3&2 in the first match against Duke to lead her team to victory.

Stackhouse won her match in the finals against Washington on the 20th hole to give Stanford a chance, but Washington came away with a 3-2 victory to deny Stanford a repeat title.

After a poor first round in the stroke play portion of the tournament, Stackhouse shot 69-70-72 the next three days to lead the Cardinal, and went 3-0 in match play in her final rounds as a collegiate golfer.

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Edges tour’s top player with birdie on final hole

Wearn takes Symetra event at Atlanta National

By Mike Blum

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he Symetra Tour returned to Georgia for the first time since 2012, and had the misfortune of inheriting the rainy weather usually reserved for the Champions Tour event at TPC Sugarloaf.

Atlanta’s Champions Tour event enjoyed a rare precipitation-free week in April, but the Symetra tournament was impacted by May showers, although it started and ended on schedule even though players and spectators got wet at various times.

The damp and unseasonably cool conditions that prevailed for much of the tournament did not prevent an exciting finish, which involved the player who has dominated the tour this year.

Madelene Sagstrom, a 23-year-old Swede who is a professional rookie after earning SEC Player of the Year honors and first team All-America status at LSU in 2015, won two of the first six Symetra Tour events of 2016, finishing second, third and fifth in three of her other four starts.

Sagstrom nearly earned a third win on the season last week at Atlanta National, settling for the second runner-up finish of her young pro career win the inaugural Gosling’s Dark ‘n Stormy Classic. The victory would have earned Sagstrom an immediate promotion to the LPGA Tour, where she will play next year regardless of how she does on the Symetra Tour the rest of the season.

With her second runner-up finish and sixth top-5 in seven starts, Sagstrom became the first player to eclipse $100,000 in a season on the LPGA’s developmental tour, becoming the top single season money winner exactly onethird of the way through the 2016 season.

Sagstrom, who won previous Symetra Tour events in Ft. Myers, Fla., and Greenwood, S.C., trailed by one shot going to the final hole of the tournament and reached the par-5 ninth in two at Atlanta National, with the hole playing as the 18th for the tournament. She made her seventh birdie of the day on the hole to finish with a final round 70 and a 54hole total of 5-under 211 on the demanding Pete Dye layout, but that wasn’t quite enough.

Laura Wearn, a former Furman golfer

from Charlotte, held off Sagstrom with a two-putt birdie of her own on the tournament’s finishing hole, completing a wire-to-wire victory.

Wearn finished the tournament at 6-under 210, highlighted by an opening 65 that gave her a 2-shot lead over Sagstrom. Wearn fell into a tie for

Madelene Sagstom

the lead after a second round 73, but won a three-player duel from Sagstrom and Thailand’s Prima Thammaraks, who shared the 36-hole lead.

Thammaraks, who played her college golf at Iowa State, has competed in two LPGA events this year, but was making just her second Symetra start. She opened with back-to-back scores of 69, and jumped out to a quick 3-shot lead the final day when she parred the first two holes while a nervous Wearn started bogey-double bogey.

Sagstrom, who started the third round three shots back after scores of 67-74— 141, birdied the first hole, but fell three behind Thammaraks when she bogeyed the second.

Wearn rebounded with a birdie at the dangerous par-3 12th at Atlanta National, which played as No. 3 for the tournament. A bogey at the fifth and another at the seventh cost Thammaraks the lead, and when Wearn reached the converted par-5 ninth – No. 18 at Atlanta National – in two and made eagle, her 3-stroke deficit early in the round was suddenly a 3-shot lead.

Birdies at 10 and 11 increased Wearn’s lead to a seemingly comfortable five shots over both her playing partners, but

Laura Wearn

bogeys at 12 and 13 combined with a birdie by Sagstrom at the 12th quickly reduced Wearn’s lead to two, Sagstrom also birdied the short, par-3 sixth (tournament 15) to close within one, but her bogey on 16 was matched by a Wearn bogey on 17, leaving the lead at one going to 18.

Thammaraks also birdied the 15th to get within two of Wearn, but a bogey at 17 prevented her from cutting the deficit to one going to 18. She parred the final hole for a 75 to tie for third at 213 with LPGA Tour veteran Kristy McPherson, who birdied the last three holes of her final round for a 71.

Wearn’s final round 72 included an eagle, four birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey. She also eagled the 18th in the opening round, when she played Atlanta National’s par 5s in 5-under to shoot 7-under 65 for a 2-stroke lead Sagstrom was 1-over after 10 holes in the opening round when she holed her second shot on Atlanta National’s par-4 11th for eagle. She added four more birdies on the nine, including holes 16, 17 and 18 for a back nine 30 and a 67 to lead the morning wave before Wearn shot 65 in the afternoon.

Wearn fell into a tie after 36 holes after a second round 73 that began with nine straight pars and ended with pars on her last eight holes after a bogey on Atlanta National’s first hole (tournament 10).

Thammaraks moved into a tie for the lead with a second straight 69, which included her only bogey of the first 36 holes. She had five bogeys the final day against only two birdies.

The victory for Wearn came one year

after she underwent back surgery which sidelined her for almost all of what would have been her second season on the tour.

“To win just over a year after surgery is awesome,” Wearn said after her victory. “I definitely didn’t think I’d come back that quickly.

“It was a tough process and it was frustrating that I had to miss most of last year. Everyone told me that it takes a long time to come back, but you’ll get there eventually.”

Wearn said her victory “gives me confidence I can compete out here, and that every week is truly an opportunity to win. “ In her rookie season of 2014, Wearn made just five of 17 cuts and earned a little over $5,200. She missed her first three cuts of 2016 but made her last three prior to her win in at Atlanta National. She earned $15,000 from the $100,000 purse to move up from 72 to 17 on the money list. The top 10 at the end of the season earn spots on the 2017 LPGA Tour.

Five Georgians competed in the tournament, including Symetra Tour members Jean Reynolds, Lacey Fears and Melissa Siviter, and sponsor exemptions Karen Paolozzi and Margaret Shirley.

Reynolds was the only one to make the cut, finishing well back after a 2-under 70 had her among the top 10 after the first round. Reynolds, a Newnan native and veteran Symetra Tour member, barely made the cut after a second round 80 and followed with a 76 for a 226 total.

Reynolds was 27th on the money list after the tournament.

Fears, a former Mercer golf team member from Bonaire, opened with a 73 and was in good position to make the cut after shooting 1-over on her first nine the next day. But she shot 43 on her final nine for an 80 and missed the cut by three shots at 153.

Paolozzi, a Georgia PGA member and one of the country’s top female club professionals, struggled the first day with an 81, but bounced back with a 1-under 71 in the second round to miss the cut by two at 152. A poor day on the greens and [ See Symetra Tour, page 22 ] JUNE 2016

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21

Consistent play not enough for return to top

Reynolds shooting to get back to LPGA Tour

By Mike Blum

hen Jean Reynolds completed her second round in the recent Symetra Tour event played at Atlanta National, she was understandably unhappy after a score of 80, 10 shots higher than her score the day before.

Reynolds, a Newnan native and resident, was pretty certain she was going to miss the cut after being in the top 10 following an opening round of 70, not a pleasant occurrence for a tour professional.

As scores went up after she finished her round, Reynolds wound up making the cut on the number, but finished near the bottom in the final results after a 76, making just $355 for her tie for 59th.

The 31-year-old Reynolds has been playing on the Symetra Tour (formerly the Futures Tour) since 2008, competing on the LPGA Tour in 2009-10 and missing most of the 2011 season with a shoulder injury. She has been a remarkably consistent performer on the LPGA’s developmental tour, finishing between 27th and 43rd on the money list in four of her five full seasons, placing second in 2009 to earn a promotion to the LPGA Tour the next year.

One-third of the way through the 2016 season, Reynolds is in a familiar spot on the money list at No. 28, which would keep her exempt for 2017 but would not result in her return to the LPGA Tour.

Reynolds has placed 34th, 27th and 31st on the money list the last three years on the Symetra Tour and is in line to match those efforts this year.

With her thoughts lingering on her disappointing showing in the second round at Atlanta National, Reynolds offered a less-than-positive perspective on her recent career path.

When asked to comment on her consistent finishes on the money list the last three years, Reynolds said she is “not OK with that. That gets you nothing out here. It’s been three pretty frustrating years since I had surgery on my shoulder.”

Like the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour offers two paths to tour membership. The PGA Tour offers 25 spots to the top finishers on the Web.com money list

Jean Reynolds

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compared to 10 Symetra players who earn LPGA tour cards. Another 25 players earn PGA Tour berths through their play in the Web.com Finals, while the LPGA sets aside 20 exempt spots from its qualifying finals, with another 25 or so players earning limited status from their finish at Q-school.

Reynolds has been among those 25 each of the last two years, but her status has resulted in her making the total of just one start in an LPGA event, that coming in 2015.

During her two seasons on the LPGA Tour, Reynolds made a total of 23 starts, about the average for one season for the 50 players who qualify for the PGA Tour.

The LPGA plays considerably fewer tournaments, and most of the LPGA’s overseas events, which account for about one-third of the schedule, have limited fields.

Reynolds was considered a potential rising star after an outstanding year in 2009. She finished second on the Futures money list, collecting two wins, two runner-up finishes and two thirds, but her biggest accomplishment that year was a tie for 17th in the U.S. Open.

For 54 holes, Reynolds was a contender and received considerable airtime from NBC and praise from Johnny Miller, but fell back the final day with a 77. She came away with a check for almost $43,000, more than half her season earnings on the Futures Tour that season.

Reynolds looks back on that tournament with mixed emotions.

“That was so long ago. That was a dif-

ferent time. I’m a different person now. I was different player then, and a lot has happened since then.”

From a playing standpoint, the biggest difference is the shoulder injury, which Reynolds said began bothering her early in 2010. She made just four of 14 cuts that year on the LPGA Tour, barely making enough money to retain nonexempt status for 2011. She made just one cut in nine starts that year, recording a top 20 finish in her first tournament appearance, but did not make it to the weekend again in 2011 while trying to play through the shoulder injury.

Due to her surgery, Reynolds made just one Symetra Tour start in 2012, but rebounded with a solid season in 2013 and two more the next two years.

Despite her respectable results since the surgery, Reynolds said her shoulder “still bothers me some. I have to deal with it constantly, but that’s what you expect in sports.”

Reynolds believes she can get back to her level of play in 2009.

Symetra Tour [ Continued from page 20 ]

a 7 on the island green, par-3 17th doomed Paolozzi’s first round.

Shirley, the state’s top female amateur, shot 76-74—150 to make the cut on the number, but after the second round, she determined that she had taken an improper drop and was disqualified.

Shlrley is the Executive Director for Atlanta Junior Golf and has reached the

“I wouldn’t be out here if I didn’t. But the competition is so much better than it was then and it’s hard to graduate out here. It would be nice if we could add a few cards. “ Although admittedly frustrated by her inability to get back to the LPGA Tour, Reynolds says she has no plans to change her career path.

“I’ll keep doing this until I get tired of the competition. If I had another job, I’d be bored out of my mind.”

Reynolds has made six starts thus far in 2016, making the cut in all six. She finished outside the top 40 in four of them, with her best showing coming in consecutive weeks in Florida, when she placed sixth and 15th.

“I started good in Florida, but mostly I’ve been inconsistent, off and on.”

Reynolds will need a few big weeks the rest of the season if she hopes to move into the top 10 and avoid another visit to Q-school, where she has fallen just short of regaining her LPGA status the last few years.

Prior to turning pro in 2007, Reynolds was one of most decorated junior and amateur players in Georgia, but made the decision not to play golf in college, attending and graduating from the U. of Georgia as a non-athletic student.

As a junior, Reynolds twice won Georgia’s Girls Championship and was the GSGA’s Girls Player of the Year in 2000 and ’02. She qualified for four U.S. Girls Championships, reaching the quarterfinals in 2002. Reynolds won GSGA women’s events in 2003, ’05 and ’07, and captured the Georgia Women’s Golf Association Championship in ’06. She also shared in a USGA title as part of Georgia’s winning 3-player team in the 2005 State Team Championship. finals of the last three U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, winning the title in 2014.

Also competing in the tournament was Siviter, a former Georgia State golfer who has settled in the Atlanta area. She shot 162 for 36 holes.

Former UGA golfer and St. Simons resident Garrett Phillips, a Symetra Tour veteran, did not play at Atlanta National, and tour member Lacey Agnew of Jonesboro was unable to play due to recent shoulder surgery.

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Guglielmo, Joiner, Fox, White on to sectionals

Georgians advance in U.S. Open qualifying

By Mike Blum

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tied for fourth at 67, and North Carolina State signee Benjamin Shipp of Duluth and South Carolina golfer Ryan Stachler of Alpharetta got the final two spots at 68.

Georgia Tech golfer Vince Whaley shot 69 and is first alternate. Also shooting 69 was 2015 Georgia Open champion Davin White of Locust Grove, West Georgia golfer Barrett Waters of Dallas, Florida State golfer Jonathan Keppler of Marietta, UGA signee Spencer Ralston of Gainesville, Georgia College golfer Harrison Stewart of Roswell, and pro Jacob Tilton of Evans.

Bryan Fox, a recent teammate of Stewart at Roswell HS and Georgia College, was the medalist at Jennings Mill, the former site of a Web.com tournament. Fox shot 2-under 70 and was the only player to break par. Ten players shot

KENNESAW STATE

wo local qualifiers for the 2016 U.S. Open were held in Georgia recently, with 10 players with Georgia ties advancing to sectional qualifying.

Ten sectional qualifiers will be played June 6 to fill out the field for this year’s U.S. Open, which will be played June 16-19 at Oakmont CC outside Pittsburgh. One of the sectional qualifiers will be played at Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek in Roswell.

The two Georgia qualifiers were played at Planterra Ridge in Peachtree City and Jennings Mill outside Athens.

Sharing medalist honors at Planterra Ridge was Kennesaw State golfer Chris Guglielmo of Cumming, Georgia Tech golfer Jacob Joiner of Albany and tour player Mitch Krywulycz, who played on Augusta State’s national championship teams in 2010 and ’11.

Georgia Tech signee Luke Schniederjans of Powder Springs

73, requiring a playoff for six qualifying spots and two alternates.

Among the qualifiers was former Georgia Tech golfer James White of Acworth, a recent winner of a mini-tour event at Kinderlou Forest in Valdosta (also a former Web.com Tour site), UGA golfer Jaime Lopez Rivarola and Alpharetta junior golfer Ryoto Furuya.

The two alternates are Marietta pro Jonathan Cox and former Georgia Tech golfer Seth Reeves of Suwanee, like White a mini-tour pro.

Fox, who is playing with White and Reeves on the Swing Thought Tour, was 1-over par on his round after 12 holes before making birdie on the fourth hole at Jennings Mill, an eagle on the par-5 fifth and a birdie at the seventh before a closing bogey on the par-5 ninth.

Results of Georgians in qualifiers outside the state: At Limestone Springs in Oneonta, Ala., former Kennesaw State golfer Matt Nagy of Buena Vista tied for second with a 67. Evans mini-tour player Chip Deason shot 68 and won a 3-for-1 playoff for the final spot.

Barent Greyling of Evans tied for first in Jupiter, Fla., with a 71. Macon’s Travis Steed shot 69 at Amelia Island, Fla., to tie for fourth and survived a 3for-2 playoff. Savannah’s Drew Aimone shot 70 and is second alternate. Dalton Reese of Warrenton tied for fourth at Carolina CC in Spartanburg, S.C., and is

Chris Guglielmo

first alternate, with Georgia Tech golfer James Clark of Columbus also shooting 68 for second alternate. In Memphis, Roswell’s Shea Sylvester, who plays collegiately in Tennessee, shot 70 and won a 2-for-1 playoff to advance.

Former Alpharetta resident Derek Chang, who played at Augusta State, tied for second in Dallas with a 72, and ex-Georgia Tech golfer and Web.com Tour member Matt Weibring was comedalist in Amarillo with a 66. Bo Andrews, a recent Georgia Tech golfer, advanced from a 3-for-2 playoff in Butler, Pa. and Athens’ Kyle Mueller, who plays his college golf at Michigan, tied for second in Medina, Ohio.

In Cincinnati, Dacula’s Emerson Newsome, a member of the U. of Cincinnati golf team, and former Cherokee T&CC pro Dave Bahr both qualified after shooting 71 to tie for fourth. Veteran Savannah tour player Tim O’Neal shot 67 in Jacksonville and tied for second to advance to sectionals.

Augusta’s Lee Knox, a two-time Georgia Amateur champion, is first alternate after shooting 70 to get into a 7-for-1 playoff.

Augusta’s Chase Parker was medalist at Secession GC in Beaufort, S.C., with a 66. Bradley Smith of Marietta, who has returned to playing professionally after working as an instructor at Eagle’s Landing, tied for fifth in Knoxville with a 68 and is second alternate.

JUNE 2016

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Loses late lead, playoff at Quail Hollow

Castro comes close to first PGA Tour win

By Mike Blum

ince his outstanding PGA Tour season in 2013, Roberto Castro has been searching to relocate the game that landed him in the Tour Championship at East Lake in just his second season in golf’s major leagues.

Castro finished 21st in the FedExCup standings in 2013 and seemed headed for a prosperous PGA Tour career after a successful early stretch as a pro on minitours and the Web.com Tour.

A poor season in 2014 cost Castro his exempt PGA Tour status after he narrowly missed finishing in the top 25 of the Web.com Finals.

Things got even worse last year, but Castro managed to salvage his season with three straight top-10 finishes in the Web.com Finals to regain his PGA Tour status for 2015-16.

Castro will not have to worry about going back to the Web.com Finals for a third straight year, taking care of that concern with his runner-up finish in the recent Wells Fargo Classic at Quail Hollow in Charlotte.

The 30-year-old Atlanta resident, a 2007 Georgia Tech graduate, nearly scored his first PGA Tour victory that week, losing in a playoff to James Hahn after playing in the final group in both the third and fourth rounds.

Thanks to his runner-up finish, Castro earned $788,400, vaulted to 33rd in the FedExCup standings, assured his exempt status for 2017 and put himself in position to make a second appearance at East Lake this Fall.

Castro, whose best previous finish on the PGA Tour was solo second at Congressional in 2013, held the lead late on the back nine in the final round at Quail Hollow, but had to battle his way into a playoff with a clutch par on the demanding finishing hole after taking bogey on both 16 and 17.

“I feel like just a lot of positives,” Castro said when asked what he would take away from the narrow miss in his attempt to score his first PGA Tour victory.

“I hit two shots I didn’t like on 16 and 17, but that’s OK. It’s something I’ll work on. I made a lot of good putts on

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the back nine. I made a great putt to get in the playoff. I’ll be in this position again and tell myself I’ve made a six or eight-footer to get a chance to win a tournament and try to do it again.”

Castro is hoping to use the Charlotte tournament as a springboard to a strong finish to the 2016 season, much like he did three years ago.

“This is my time of year. I’ve always played my best golf from here in Charlotte through the Playoffs. So I felt

played that well again. A tie for eighth in Charlotte was his only top-10 finish in 2014, and after finishing outside the top 125 in the FedExCup standings, just missed regaining his exempt status in the Web.com Finals despite a tie for 10th in a Finals event, also in Charlotte.

The 2015 season was almost a total washout for Castro until he recorded three straight top 10s in the Web.com Finals, highlighted by a

Roberto Castro

like I was in a decent position for me heading into this stretch.”

Castro’s long run of success three years ago began in the first round of the Players Championship the week after Charlotte. He matched a course record 63 in the opening round, and recovered from a shaky second round to record a top-20 finish. He was second at Congressional six weeks later, and followed with a tie for sixth in the Canadian Open and a tie for 12th in the PGA Championship in just his second start in one of golf’s four majors.

That got Castro into the FedExCup Playoffs, and he placed 25th, ninth, 15th and ninth in the four tournaments, closing out his career best year with a 65 at East Lake and a top-10 finish in the Tour Championship.

It would be a while before Castro

tie for second in Columbus, O. In his third start of the 2015-16 season, Castro opened with a 62 in the second-tier event in Mississippi, but fell back with a poor third round and tied for fourth. Since then, Castro has had several more fast starts followed by halting finishes, including Pebble Beach, where he was among the leaders throughout the tournament before closing with a 74 to tie for eighth.

In Houston the week before the Masters, Castro shared the opening round at 65, but was 2-over the final 54 holes and finished tied for 27th.

Castro took a slightly different path to the top of the leader board at Quail Hollow, shooting the low score of the second round (66) propelled by a 223yard hole-out for eagle on the treacherous 18th to get into the final group Saturday. He remained in second

place after 54 holes and was paired with tournament leader and former champion Rickie Fowler in the final round.

After weekend scores of 75, 74 and 76 the three previous times he contended this season, Castro played a solid final two rounds in Charlotte, posting backto-back scores of 1-under 71 to get into a playoff.

With Fowler fading to a 74, Castro held the lead for most of the final round, notching four birdies and a lone bogey over the first 15 holes. Castro missed the green on both 16 and 17, playing away from the water guarding the opposite side of both putting surfaces, with a missed par putt from inside four feet on the 16th particularly costly.

Hahn took the lead going to the final hole, but bogeyed the 18th while Castro managed par after hitting his second shot – again from 223 yards – to the fringe and holing a six-footer for par to force the playoff at 9-under 279, one shot ahead of Justin Rose and two in front of Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson, who both shot 66 the final round.

Castro pulled his tee shot on the first playoff hole – the 18th – into the creek just off the left edge of the fairway, but managed to save bogey thanks to a choked-down 5-wood from a nasty sidehill lie, a deft chip that almost hit the hole and another clutch putt. Hahn made a solid par to win the playoff, leaving Castro with a $778,400 consolation prize, but no invitation to the Players Championship or the 2016 PGA Championship and 2017 Masters, at least not yet.

Castro will likely earn a spot in this year’s PGA Championship, and will be looking to qualify for the U.S. Open for the fourth time in five years. A second Masters start next year depends on how well he plays the rest of 2016.

Since he moved to Alpharetta as a youngster, Castro has been a prominent name in the Georgia golf scene. He was one of the country’s top junior golfers, winning an AJGA tournament in the state and reaching the third round of the 2002 U.S. Junior Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club before losing to the eventual champion.

JUNE 2016

Castro was a first team All-American and the Byron Nelson Award recipient as the nation’s top senior golfer during his college career at Georgia Tech. Although he was one of the top players in the history of the school’s golf program with 20 top-10 finishes, his only victory was a tie for first place in Puerto Rico as a freshman. Castro won numerous academic honors at Georgia Tech, graduating in 2007 with the highest honor in Industrial Engineering.

During his early years as a pro, Castro won five times on the former eGolf Tour between 2007 and 2010, two of them coming in Savannah, and was the Georgia Open champion in 2009 at

Rivermont

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2016 JUNE

parred his last two holes to come up one shot short.

Tying for ninth at 142 was Cartersville CC head pro Bill Hassell and amateur Billy Mitchell, who won the recent Georgia Senior Open. Mitchell shot 69 in the afternoon, closing strong with a birdie at the first and an eagle at the second, his 16th and 17th holes of the round.

Ormsby and Nicol tied for 11th at 143 along with Cherokee T&CC assistant J.P. Griffin. Ormsby was among the contenders until back-to-back double bogeys at holes 12 and 13 and a bogey at 14, more than offsetting three birdies on the back nine. Nicol, an assistant at Georgia Golf Center, had 16 pars in a final round 71, with his lone birdie coming at the ninth.

Weinhart, the Director of Instruction at Heritage Golf Links, and Keppler, the son of Marietta CC head pro Stephen Keppler, both shot 73 in the afternoon to tie for 14th at 144. Weinhart managed just two birdies in his final round, while Keppler’s afternoon round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-4 11th after driving the green.

GEORGIA PGA

tory in the tournament, which was again sponsored by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.

Poole, who played his high school golf at nearby Johns Creek HS, was one of four golfers to tie for fifth at 141, one shot out of the playoff. Poole played sparingly as a sophomore for Georgia State this season, and was not in the lineup when the Panthers competed in the NCAA Regionals the week after the Rivermont event. He shot 70 the first day, playing the front nine in 4-under 32, and did not have a 5 on his scorecard the second day before his nervous finish.

Among the players also tying for fifth was amateur Kane Whitehurst, like Poole a star athlete at a north Fulton high school, but in a different sport.

Whitehurst was a member of the 2010 state championship football team at Chattahoochee and went to Arkansas on a scholarship before transferring to South Carolina, where he played as a wide receiver. Whitehurst closed with a 67 that included three straight birdies on holes 1, 2 and 3, before finishing his round with two straight pars.

Amateur Donny Phillips and Fox Creek instructor Brian Dixon also shot 67 in the afternoon round to tie for fifth at 141. Phillips had seven birdies in the afternoon round, including three on his last five holes, but a double bogey at the par-4 ninth, his fifth hole of the day, proved costly. He shared low amateur honors with Poole and Whitehurst.

Dixon, a two-time Georgia PGA Match Play champion, gave himself a chance to get into the playoff when he birdied the 18th and eagled the second, but like playing partner Phillips, also

Barnsley Gardens. He played his way onto the Web.com Tour in 2010, finishing second in Wichita in August in just his third start of the year.

Castro played a full schedule in 2011, recorded 13 top-25 finishes in 25 starts and finished the year 23rd on the money list to earn a spot on the 2012 PGA Tour.

He placed 77th in the FedExCup standings as a rookie, breaking out in 2013 with a highly successful sophomore season.

Even if the 2016 season does not match his efforts in 2013, this year has already been memorable for Castro, as he and his wife Katie celebrated the birth of their first child.

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Mullinax, Werenski score Web.com victories

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Richy Werenski

GEORGIA TECH

olfers with Georgia ties continued their run of success on the 2016 Web.com Tour, winning the two most recent events in May in consecutive weeks.

Trey Mullinax, a member of Alabama’s back-to-back NCAA Championship teams and a St. Simons Island resident, scored a recent win in Raleigh, N.C., and currently stands fifth on the money list. Mullinax, who played his rookie Web.com season in 2015, tied for fifth in a tournament in Colombia early this year, and has effectively locked up his PGA Tour card for 2016-17 with the current Web.com season less than half over.

Recent Georgia Tech golfer Richy Werenski wrapped up a 2016-17 PGA Tour card with a victory the following week in the BMW Charity Pro-Am, played at three courses in the Greenville, S.C., area. Werenski, a 2014 Tech graduate, had a solid rookie season on the

Web.com Tour last year, and had a pair of runner-up finishes already this season prior to his recent victory. Before joining the Web.com Tour, Werenski won the final Big Break Competition on Hilton Head Island.

With his victory in the BMW Pro-Am, Werenski is second on the money list behind Augusta resident Wesley Bryan, who played his college golf at South Carolina. Bryan had top 10s in four of the first six tournaments in 2016, highlighted by wins in Louisiana and Mexico.

His victory in Mexico came by four shots over Werenski, who tied for second.

Bryan and Werenski are currently battling for the No. 1 spot on the money list, which ensures fully exempt status on the PGA Tour in 2016-17 along with a spot in the Players Championship.

The top 25 finishers on the money list during the Web.com regular season earn PGA Tour spots for next season, with three more Georgians among the top 25.

Recent Georgia Tech standout Ollie Schniederjans, an Alpharetta resident, is 10th in earnings after consecutive fin-

CREDIT

By Mike Blum

ishes of seventh in Evansville and sixth in Raleigh. They were his second and third top 10s of the season, including a playoff loss in Cartagena. Schniederjans has already exhausted his seven sponsor exemptions on the PGA Tour, making the cut four times and finishing between 38th and 50th the four times he made it to the weekend.

PGA Tour veteran Jonathan Byrd, who has not played on the Web.com Tour since 2001, is 14th on the money list after a tie for 12th in Greenville, just up I-85 from his hometown of Anderson, S.C. Byrd, a long time St. Simons Island

Atlanta Open [ Continued from page 8 ]

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in the Atlanta Open since 2009, the most recent in 2014.

Amateurs have won three of the last nine Atlanta Opens, beginning with Royak in 2007. Dave Womack, a former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, won on his home course at Georgia National in 2010, with Griffin, a member of the Armstrong Atlantic golf team at the time, winning in a playoff over Keppler in 2013.

Billy Jack, the head pro at St. Ives, said the course will favor players who hit “a straight ball off the tee and precision irons,” envisioning a winning score in the 6 to 8-under range.

Jack says St. Ives “is reasonably open off the tee, but there are a few tight holes.

If you get on the wrong side of the greens FOREGEORGIA.COM

resident, had three previous top-10 finishes on the Web.com Tour this year, and has largely abandoned his limited PGA Tour schedule to concentrate on a top-25 finish on the Web.com money list.

Just inside the top 25 at No. 24 is Anders Albertson, a recent college teammate of Werenski and Schniederjans at Georgia Tech. Albertson and Schniederjans are 2015 Tech grads, with both qualifying for the Web.com Tour in their first attempt. Unlike his former teammates, Albertson has struggled in recent weeks after a strong stretch of play outside the U.S., where he placed third, 30th and 13th in consecutive tournaments. Albertson, who is living in Alpharetta, missed the cut in his first three starts of 2016, and after his strong stretch of play, has again missed three cuts in a row.

No other Georgian is in the top 80, Bryden with ex-UGA golfer Macpherson moving up to 80th after tying for 16th in Greenville. Savannah’s Mark Silvers was next at 86th with a recent top-10 finish in Evansville.

Beginning with an event June 2-5 in the Dominican Republic, the Web.com plays 12 of 13 weeks before ending its regular season Aug. 25-28 in Portland.

The top 25 players on the money list at that time will earn spots on the 2016-17 PGA Tour, with 25 more players earning their Tour cards in the Web.com Finals, a series of four tournaments that begin Sept. 8-11 in Cleveland.

complexes, you won’t get up and down easily.”

St. Ives is one of a number of standout Tom Fazio designs in the state, and Jack said the course is a fairly typical Fazio design in the mold of White Columns, Eagle’s Landing, the Frog and Capital City-Crabapple.

Jack says there are “a handful of long, hard par 4s and a handful of short 4s. The par 3s are pretty strong – 11 and 15 are both carries over water. Three of the par 5s are reachable, the other is not.”

St. Ives has a decent number of hazards in play, especially on the back nine, with Jack pointing out that the trouble “is mostly off the tee” apart from the back nine par 3s.

The course opened in the late 1980s, and was renovated in 2013, with the green surfaces changed to Mini-Verde Bermuda.

JUNE 2016

Golf FORE Juniors June a big month for state juniors After a slow month in May apart from the state high school championships, June will be a big month for junior golf in Georgia.

Among the events on the June schedule are the Georgia PGA Junior Championship at Jennings Mill (June 6-7), the GSGA Junior Championship at Athens CC and the Girls Championship at Reynolds Plantation (both June 20-22), qualifiers for the U.S. Girls Junior (Cartersville CC, June 13) and U.S. Junior Championship (UGA GC, June 27), three American Junior events and a number of events from the junior tours that compete regularly in the state.

The AJGA will play June 7-9 at Brunswick CC and WindStone GC in Ringgold, and will play one of its top events – the Rolex Tournament of Champions – June 28-July 1 at Great Waters.

The Southeastern Junior Tour played last month at Chattahoochee GC in Gainesville, with Atlanta’s Keller Harper shooting 72-71—143 and winning a playoff over Evans Copeland of Columbus (75-68). Bartley Forrester of Gainesville was third at 145.

Myles Jones of Suwanee shot a second round 71 for a 149 total to finish one shot ahead of four Georgians in the 14-15 age group. Milton’s Heather Kipniss was the girls winner with scores of 75-77—152.

Kate Mashburn of Calhoun was second at 156.

Later in May, the SJGT visited the UGA course in Athens, with Suwanee’s Preston Topper winning the 14-15 division and taking second overall among the boys with scores of 68-68—136. Alex Shead of Appling shot 69-70—139 to take 2nd in boys 16-19, with Mac Thompson of Marietta 2nd in 14-15 at 144. Matthew Giesler of Marietta was the 11-13 winner by one shot at 75-71--146.

Elisa Yang of Norcross shot 68-75—143 in girls 15-19, but lost in a playoff.

Katherine Cook of Thomasville won girls 12-14 with scores of 76-75—151. Tori Owens of Chatsworth was 2nd at 155.

The SJGT plays three tournaments in the state this month, including the Peach Blossom Junior at Idle Hour in Macon June 13-14.

The Hurricane Junior Tour played last month at Bartram Trail in Evans, with two Augusta area juniors winning their divisions and another local losing in a playoff.

Hunter Dunagan of Martinez shot 7570—145 to win by two over Gainesville’s 2016 JUNE

Tanner Merck in boys 16-18, with Jackson Perry posting scores of 78-71—149 in boys 14-15 and winning a playoff over Tucker Meyer of Evans, who shot 71-78. Ballou Phillips of Augusta was the 11-13 winner at 73-75—148, six shots ahead of Bryan Kim of Martinez, who shot 72 in the second round.

Christyn Carr of Johns Creek was the girls winner with scores of 78-75—153, four ahead of Macon’s Carol Pyon.

Also last month, Canongate GC hosted a 54-hole tournament, with Atlanta’s Alex Ross shooting 6-under 210 (70-68-72) to win the boys division by four over East Point’s Lorenzo Elbert. Duluth’s Nicholas Gibson shot a final round 71 for a 220 total to win boys 14-15 by one over Suwanee’s Brandon Cho. Alpharetta’s Jake Peacock posted scores of 68-72-74 for a 214 total in boys 11-13, with Brett Murphy of Johns Creek 2nd at 218 after opening with a 67.

Amy Ng of Alpharetta was the girls winner at 228 with Duluth’s Lolli Yu 2nd at 232. Sara Im of Duluth shot 241 to win the under-13 division, one ahead of Lilburn’s Thienna Huynh.

In an earlier HJGT event at the Traditions of Braselton, also part of the tour’s Canongate Series, Merck shot 73-74—147 to win boys 16-18 by two over Anthony Wrobey of Jefferson. Myles Jones was the 14-15 winner at 152, with Blake Parkman of Cumming third at 154. Kevin Park of Johns Creek shot 158 to edge Deven Patel of Locust Grove by one in 11-13. Pyon and Buford’s Skylar Thompson shot 150 to tie for second in girls 14-18, one behind the winner. Im was the under-13 winner by four shots with a 151 total.

In an HJGT tournament at Jekyll island, Roswell’s JonErik Alford shot 71-71—142 on the Pine Lakes course to win boys 16-18 by four over Peachtree City’s Hunter Hester. Carter Pendley of Dalton was the 14-15 with scores of 70-74—144, three ahead of Parkman. Cason Cavalier of St. Simons was second in 11-13 at 158. Kiira Rihijarvi of Rome was second in girls 14-18 at 148.

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Lambert girls, Marist boys among state champions

By Mike Blum

he Georgia High School Association held its golf championships recently, with three of the state’s dominant teams among the 14 winners.

The 6A boys played their state championship at Spring Hill in Tifton, with the 6A girls at Sunset CC in Moultrie. The other 12 championships were played at courses in the Augusta area.

Results of the 14 championships: 6A boys: Freshman Nic Cassidy shot a tournament best 68 to lead Johns Creek to a narrow victory over Lambert and Mill Creek. Cassidy’s 68 led the Gladiators to a 294 total, two ahead of Lambert and four in front of Mill Creek. Lambert’s Spencer Ball and Mill Creek’s Peter Chung shot 72 to lead their teams, with Johns Creek’s Thomas Gerard contributing a 73.

Hunter Fry of Dacula and Austin Fulton of Douglas County tied for second individually with scores of 69.

6A girls: Lambert won its fourth straight title, posting a 230 total to finish six ahead of Alpharetta. Lambert’s Katie Owen was medalist with a 73, with teammates Kayley Marschke and Lauren Lightfritz adding scores of 78 and 79. Kelsey Kurnett led Alpharetta with a 76. Brookwood’s Harmanprit Kaur was second with a 75.

5A boys: Columbus shot 282 at

Nic Cassidy

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Bartram Trail to score an easy 14-stroke victory over Lakeside-Evans, one of two Columbia County teams in the top five.

Nolan Miller of Columbus earned medalist honors with a 66, with three teammates combined to shoot even par for a 6-under total. James Pearson shot 71, Ben Carr 72 and Daniel Davis 73.

Andrew Crockett of Starr’s Mill was second at 69, with his team fourth at 299 behind Cambridge at 298. Preston Wagaman of Lakeside shot 71, and Drew Duffie shot 70 for Greenbrier, which was fifth at 300.

5A girls: Dalton posted a score of 241 at West Lake CC to win by six over Columbus, with Glynn Academy third at 260. Glynn’s Julianna Collett was low individual at 75, with Carson Roberts leading Dalton with a 76.

Niquole Mangal of Lanier and Isabel Rijos of Northside-Columbus also shot 76.

4A boys: Marist won state for a fifth straight year, shooting 302 at Jones Creek to finish three ahead of Woodward Academy. Marist’s Will Chandler was medalist at 70, with Sport Allmond of Heritage-Catoosa second at 71.

4A girls: In a reversal of the boys results, Woodward shot 235 at Waynesboro CC to finish seven in front of runner-up Marist. Ayanna Habeel of Woodward was medalist with a 76, and teammates Jakari Harris and

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IOR GO AMERICAN JUN

Nolan Miller

r Will Chandle

Susannah Cole shot 79 and 80 respectively. Woo Wade led Marist with a 78. Burke County placed third on its home course at 253 led by Rylie Marchman, who was second behind

Habeel at 77.

3A boys: Keller Harper shared medalist honors with a 68 to lead Westminster to a 298 score at Gordon Lakes, six ahead or runner-up Pierce County. Also shooting 68 was Pierce County’s Zac Thornton. Oconee County was third at 308 led by Dustin DeMersseman with a 71.

3A girls: Calhoun and Blessed Trinity both shot 257 at Pointe South, with Calhoun winning the state title on the second playoff hole. Kate Mashburn was low for Calhoun with an 85, and Maddie Crump and Katie Rawls both shot 86. Hannah Jones was low for Blessed Trinity with a 79, three shots behind medalist Carol Pyon of Rutland.

2A boys: Greater Atlanta Christian shot 302 at Belle Meade, with the top four finishers all private schools. Pace Academy was second at 311, followed

by Lovett at 312 and Holy Innocents at 315. Gordon Lee was fifth at 317.

Benjamin Shipp and Jonathan Waters led GAC with scores of 70 and 71, just behind medalist Tyler Lipscomb of Bremen at 69. Alex Ross was low for Pace with a 72.

2A girls: Vidalia captured its fourth consecutive championship, shooting 148 at Applewood to finish four in front of

Wesleyan.

Layne Carter led Vidalia with a 70 and Jesse Dalton added a 78. Wesleyan’s Elisa Yang was medalist with a 69, 1A boys: Trion easily captured the title at 341, 24 shots ahead of Schley County. Trion’s Dawson Day was medalist at Goshen Plantation with a 73, with Thad Clark leading Schley with a 78.

1A girls: Portal shot 186 at Goshen Plantation to finish 11 ahead of Schley.

Kenzie Jenkins of Towns County was medalist with a 73, with Faith Reddick low for Portal with an 86.

1A boys (private): Walker Hinds shot 71 to lead Brookstone to victory at Forest Hills with a score of 292. Evans Copeland shot 73 for the winning team and William Reeves and Frank Waldrop contributed 74s. First Presbyterian was second at 302, with two players shooting 75s and two at 76.

Mt. Paran was third at 304. Logan Perkins of Strong Rock Christian was medalist with a 68. Jake McWhorter of Mt. Paran and Jordan Long of ELCA tied for second at 70.

1A girls (private): Amanda Doherty led Galloway to a championship, earning medalist honors with a 73. Galloway had a team total of 162 at Forest Hills, Mt. Pisgah was second at 171 and Stratford third at 175. Alexis Gopfert of Lakeview Academy was second behind Doherty with a 78.

JUNE 2016

Puterbaugh-Koch take Senior-Junior

Crumbley first in Senior Division

Engler a winner in GSGA Mid-Am

Augusta’s John Engler won the GSGA 2016 JUNE

Mid-Amateur Championship on his home course at Augusta Country Club, posting a 6-under 207 total to win by one over Taylor Smith of Covington.

Engler opened with scores of 68-66 to lead Smith by one after 36 holes, with both players shooting 73 in the final round. Engler notched 13 birdies over the first two rounds, but managed just two the final day, when only one competitor shot lower than 72 and no one broke 70.

Engler’s birdies at 6 and 7 gave him the lead for good the final day, with a double bogey by Smith at the par-5 eighth expanding Engler’s lead.

Cameron Hooper of Atlanta closed with a 70, the low score of the final round, to take 3rd at 210, with Augusta’s Jeff Knox, also an Augusta CC member, fourth at 212.

Engler was a standout in college in Clemson and made it to the PGA Tour in 2006 after suffering a serious foot injury in a car accident that eventually ended his professional career. He contended in the 2007 Georgia Open at Champions Retreat in the Augusta suburbs, finishing 4th, but gave up his pro status shortly after that and returned to amateur competition. He has qualified for the U.S. Mid-Am and advanced in match play.

Four-Ball Championship: Will Evans and Michael Standard, both of McDonough, won the 2016 GSGA FourBall Championship at Glen Arven in Thomasville when Evans made eagle on the final hole to win by two over Chris Waters of Atlanta and Billy Mitchell of Marietta.

Evans and Standard shot 67-60-63 for a 26-under 190 total. Waters and Mitchell opened with a pair of 63s to lead by one after 36 holes, but shot 66 the final day and lost their lead. The two teams were tied after 53 holes before Evans made eagle at the 18th. The winning team played the last

eight holes in 7-under par. It was the first GSGA title for both Evans and Standard.

The Columbus duo of Adam Cooper and Bubba Gallops shot 66-63-64 and placed 3rd at 193, with Hooper and Dalton’s David Noll fourth at 196 after scores of 68-62-66.

Senior Match Play: Marietta’s Jeff Belk won the GSGA Senior Match Play Championship at Horseshoe Bend CC, defeating Athens’ Doug Stiles 2&1 in the finals.

Belk won by a 5&4 margin in the semifinals over Jamie Kiely of Milton, with his toughest match coming in the quarterfinals against Marietta’s Mel Mendenhall, needing 19 holes to advance. Stiles needed 19 holes to win his semifinal match against Kennesaw’s Chris Hall, who shot 137 in stroke play qualifying to win medalist honors by nine.

Belk and Kiely tied for second in qualifying at 146, with Stiles tying for fifth at 149.

Reeves ties for 2nd at Savannah Lakes

Former Georgia Tech golfer Seth Reeves of Suwanee tied for 2nd in a SwingThought Tour event last month at Savannah Lakes in McCormick, S.C., just across the Savannah River from Georgia near Augusta.

Reeves shot 66-67-68 for a 15-under 201 total to finish two behind the winner, who shot 62 in the second round. Reeves birdied three of the final four holes in the third round, but the winner birdied two of the four to retain his advantage. Reeves earned $6,940.

Four Augusta area golfers posted top20 finishes. Augusta’s Chase Parker was 7th at 205, with Evans’ Chip Deason T10 at 207. Recent Kennesaw State golfer Kelby

Burton of Evans tied for 14th at 208 with Augusta’s Dykes Harbin T17 at 209.

Savannah Lakes was a long-time stop on the Hooters Tour, which along with the eGolf Tour was acquired by the Swing Thought Tour. Reeves and Parker, who played his college golf at Kentucky, tied for 7th the next week in High Point, N.C., at the site of a former eGolf event, shooting 8-under 208.

Veteran Tour player David Skinns of Suwanee and Web.com Tour member Drew Weaver of Atlanta tied for 11th at 209, with Atlanta’s Brent Witcher and Forsyth’s Jay McLuen, both former Web.com players, T15 at 210.

The SwingThought Tour has begun its Georgia Series of tournaments to complement its National Pro Series, with two events held in May. Recent Georgia Tech golfer Drew Czuchry of Alpharetta won at Governors Towne Club with a 4-under 140 total with scores of 68-72. Czuchry had six birdies and an eagle on the short par-4 10th the first day and was 3-under after 14 holes the next day before taking a triple bogey at the 15th. Czuchry finished one ahead of recent Georgia Southern golfer Charlie Martin of LaGrange, who shot 69-72.

Harbin won a Georgia Series event at Bratram Trail in Evams shooting 17-under for 36 holes with scores of 63-64—127.

Parker was four shots back in 2nd at 6665—131, with recent Kennesaw State standout Jimmy Beck of Columbus fourth at 142.

Both events featured small fields, with the Swing Thought Tour looking for more entrants in future Georgia Series tournaments at Callaway Gardens, Bear’s Best and Eagle’s Landing. McLuen won a tournament at Callaway earlier this spring in a playoff over recent Georgia State golfer Damon Stephenson, with both players finishing at 7-under 137. Martin and recent Georgia Tech golfer Bo Andrews tied for third at 139.

ROBERT MATRE

John Crumbley of Mystery Valley won a Georgia PGA Senior Division event at Bridge Mill, shooting 72-76—148 to finish two ahead of amateurs Mel Mendenhall and Rusty Strawn, and Uel Kemp of Lake Arrowhead.

Amateur John Foster and Tyrone golf center operator Wendell Coffee tied for fifth at 152, with amateurs Mark Benefield and Lee Dennis and Collins Hill pro Scott Hare seventh at 153. Tying for 10th at 154 was amateur Joey Kaney and Flat Creek instructor Ted Meier.

erbaugh (left), Shawn Koch

GEORGIA PGA

It took five extra holes for the team of Brian Puterbaugh and Shawn Koch to win the Club Car Senior-Junior Championship at Ansley GC last month.

Puterbaugh, an instructor at the Hooch, birdied the first hole at Ansley GC after he and Koch had matched scores for four holes with the team of Craig Stevens and Jeff Frasier. Both teams shot 11-under 61 in the best ball format.

It was the first title in a Georgia PGA team event for Puterbaugh and the sixth for Koch, who has won all four team tournaments, two of them in different events with Dean Kennedy and three times in the Pro-Assistant Championship with David Potts.

Stevens, an instructor at Brookstone G&CC, and Frasier, an instructor at Chicopee Woods, teamed to win the ProPro Scramble in 2011.

Four teams tied for third at 64. The four teams were Danny Elkins (Georgia Golf Center) and Patrick Richardson (Wilmington Island Club); James Mason (The Orchard) and Ted Fort (Marietta Golf Center); Clark Spratlin (Currahee Club) and Cary Brown (Valdosta CC); and Robby Watson and Jacob Tilton of Bartram Trail.

Tying for seventh at 65 were the teams of Michael Dietz and JP Griffin (Cherokee T&CC), Phil Taylor and Paddy Higgins (Ansley GC), and Bill Spannuth and Brian Dixon (Legacy/Fox Creek).

Senior-Junior winners Brian Put

Chip Shots

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Chimneys

[ Continued from page 14 ]

iron holes beginning with a very vulnerable trio on 10, 11 and 13.

The downhill 10th (343 golds, 302 whites) looks very inviting from the tee, with a surrounding backdrop of trees enhancing the visual appeal. Trees just off the right side of the fairway are the main worry on the even shorter 11th, although a large, front right bunker can make the short second significantly testier if the cup is cut behind it.

The 13th is about the same length as the 11th, but plays a bit uphill, with a pair of front bunkers requiring an aerial

Georgia Resorts [ Continued from page 7 ]

renovated in 2013, with some new greens installed. The front nine remains the longer and more challenging of the two, but the fairways are generous and there is

Hole #2

approach, unlike a number of other holes that will accommodate runup shots.

An exception among the back nine par 4s is the 12th, which has ample length (423 gold, 401 white), with a sizeable bunker complex down the left side in play for longer hitters. A large green

with a modest tier towards the back will make things interesting for those putting from long range.

The downhill par-3 14th (154 from the back tees) is as inviting as the short par 4s, with the par-5 15th having some length (543 golds), along with moderately rolling terrain from tee to green and OB stakes to the right.

There are no bunkers on the slightly uphill hole, which ends with a long green without a great deal of width.

The 16th plays uphill for the second shot, with a healthy disparity in length between the blue (368) and white (296) tees. A modest depression short left of the green can make for some touchy pitch shots to the elevated surface.

The yardage difference on 17 is most pronounced between the gold (392) and blue (340) tees, with an unobstructed

path to the green if you go the low route on your approach.

Another short-ish downhill par 4 closes out the round at the Chimneys, with the main challenge the second shot to an angled green with ample length but minimal width. The putting surface is flanked by bunkers, with the sand on the right making it difficult to go at right side pins with your approach.

Overall, the layout at the Chimneys is one of the friendliest in the metro area, with the welcoming attitude of Scott and his staff adding to the enjoyable experience. The rates are among the most affordable around, a necessity for a course which relies on most of its customers to drive at least half an hour one way to reach it.

For information on the Chimneys, call 770-307-4900 or visit www.chimneysgc.com.

little water in play after the opening hole. The back nine is tighter and shorter with some par 4s of minimal length that lend to scoring opportunities.

Georgia Vets, an excellent Griffiths design, has long been considered one of the state’s best daily fee courses, with the tree-lined, parkland-style layout having

12th green at Sea Island GC's Plantation course

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some length but little in the way of elevation changes.

Meadow Links is the most remote of the State Park courses but also one of the best, bordering Lake George in the southwestern portion of the state between Columbus and The Lakes at Laur a Walker Dothan, Ala. The superb Willard Byrd design offers a variety of holes from both an aesthetic and strategic standpoint, with some elevation changes challenge and features one of the best finproviding terrific views of the nearby ishing holes in the state, a risk/reward lake. The course is a solid but playable par 5.

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2016 JUNE

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