November/December 2015 FORE Georgia Magazine

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NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

Roswell club again among area’s best

Horseshoe Bend CC’s transformation

By Mike Blum

uring its early years in the 1970s and ‘80s, Horseshoe Bend Country Club was considered among the top handful of private clubs in the Atlanta area.

The club hosted national level events in golf and tennis, was the site of the original home of the American Junior Golf Association, and was recognized throughout the metro area for the quality of its ALTA and junior swim teams.

But the AJGA outgrew its home in a small building near the Horseshoe Bend Country Club clubhouse and moved to more spacious surroundings at Chateau Elan, a Senior (now Champions) Tour event left after three mostly weather-plagued years and the pro tennis tournament, which featured many of the game’s greatest players of the time, also switched sites to a nearby club.

For a decade from the early 1980s to the early ‘90s, Horseshoe Bend Country Club hosted the AJGA Rolex

D

Tournament of Champions, won three consecutive years (1986-88) by Phil Mickelson, with Tiger Woods making an appearance several years later. The club also hosted the then Senior Tour the three years that Mickelson won its junior event, with the highlight victory in 1987 by then Atlanta resident Larry Mowry over Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.

In 1984, Horseshoe Bend CC was the site of a U.S. Open qualifier which former Georgia Bulldog David Canipe needed 14 playoff holes to earn the last spot in the field at Winged Foot. He garnered his 15 minutes of fame after being tied for third after 36 holes, playing in the next to last group on Saturday with Greg Norman before quickly returning to obscurity.

With its marquee events gone, Horseshoe Bend Country Club’s status began to decline at about the same time as a boom in the construction of upscale private clubs in the North Fulton area was occurring. The club fell into financial distress as conditions of both the clubhouse and course continued to spiral downward, but all that changed in

Horseshoe Bend CC

clubhouse overloo

March of 2011.

Ben Kenny, an entrepreneur, oil executive and avid golfer based in Atlanta, identified an opportunity in a stressed industry and researched clubs in distress which could be acquired and revived, and selected Horseshoe Bend CC. In less than five years, Kenny has spent around $25 million to upgrade the entire facility at

ks water features

on the 18th hole

the Roswell club, and the result is the return of Horseshoe Bend Country Club to the top level of the highly competitive upscale private club market in metro Atlanta.

The improvements made to the club[ See Horseshoe Bend CC, page 6 ]

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Instruction Fore You

To Be Straight Path Or To Be Arc Path That Is the Question

By Mike Perpich PGA Director of Instruction RiverPinesGolf

Mike Perpich highlights 5 points of set-up using Eye Line Golf’s Professional Putting Plane.

HOP STIPE

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

Well, actually the question is to putt with a straight back and straight through path or to putt with an inside to inside arc path.

This question has stumped players, teachers and coaches

Forecast

INSIDE THIS ISSUE FEATURES:

Changes for Sea Island event . . . . . 8

Spieth concludes stellar year. . . . . 10

English, Kisner at East Lake . . . . . 12

Castro, List back on PGA Tour . . . 14

River Pines celebrates 25 years . . 20

Paolozzi makes GPGA history . . . 22 Stevens scores Senior victory . . . . 24

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Weinhart Player of Year again . . . 26 FOREGEORGIA.COM

alike for years and the debate continues. I want to show you not only the proper method for putting but the reason why you should choose to putt that way.

There are advantages to both putting methods but there is only one method which our body’s anatomy will allow us to properly perform—the putting on the inside to inside arc path.

First, the way our body is aligned will not permit a straight back and straight through motion without manipulation. When you are properly set up to putt, your back and spine are on an angle, therefore allowing your shoulders to rotate around that angle. If you are attempting a straight back and straight through putting arc, you will have to make compensations such as turning your shoulders like a see saw or even moving your wrists from the close to open position. This added movement will hinder your putting stroke.

However, when you body is properly set up to putt, your shoulders naturally turn on an angle and everything moves with them on a tilted plane and the putter moves on an inside to inside arc path. In order to visualize this path in your mind, think of swinging a bolt on the end

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of a string as you move your arm it changes the path of the bolt.

The second factor is the putter itself is built on an angle and therefore it must be swung around you, your spine and your back on an angle. The putter is designed to swing on an angled plane. By allowing your putter to swing on an arc or tilted plane, you can make a stroke that has a one piece motion with few moving parts and a body that has no need for compensating movements. The less movement your putting stroke has the more consistent you will be able to be with direction and pace.

The putting path must be on an arc because our posture is dictated by our body’s alignment and the putter is built on an angle, allowing the putter to be swung on an angled plane, inside to inside arc. Now that you know why you should putt on an inside to inside putting arc, let’s look at five fundamentals which will make you a better putter.

Below I have listed my 5 Points for Putting which I use everyday to help people become more consistent and proficient putters.

Perpich’s Points for Putting: 1. Putter must be soled flat on the ground

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

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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 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

Mike Perpich • Rich Styles Rob Matre • Steve Dinberg Al Kooistra • Russell Kirk GEORGIA SECTION, PGA OF AMERICA OFFICERS

President Mark Mongell, PGA / mmongell@cherokeetcc.org Vice President Brian Albertson, PGA / bamulligan@bellsouth.net Secretary John Godwin, PGA / jgodwinpga@earthlink.net Honorary President Brian Stubbs, PGA / bstubbs@ccofcolumbus.com CHAPTER PRESIDENTS

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

2. Eyes should be over the ball and target line, more importantly your eyebrows should be parallel to the ground 3. The shoulder line should be parallel to the target line

Billy Jack, PGA / bjack@stivescountryclub.org Chad O’Dell, PGA / chadopro@aol.com Brandon Stooksbury, PGA / bjstook@pga.com Mark Lammi, PGA / mal9599@msn.com Brian Conley, PGA / pgaugadawg@aol.com Matthew Evans, PGA / mevans@pga.com Todd Ormsby, PGA / taormsby1020@gmail.com SENIOR DIVISION

4. The putter grip and shaft should run parallel and in between both forearms 5. The shoulders provide the motion for the putting stroke

President Mike Schlueter, PGA / mikeschlueter@comcast.net A S S I S TA N T S ’ D I V I S I O N

President Will Bartram, PGA / will@hawksridge.com S E C T I O N S TA F F

Now that you know your body and your club are built to swing most efficiently in an inside to inside arc path, to be or not to be should certainly be, inside to inside arc path.

Mike Perpich is a top 100 Golf Magazine instructor and a Top 50 U.S. Kids Golf teacher. Perpich is the instructor for PGA Tour player Jason Bohn.

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.

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2015 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

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Family pool area

green on the pa r-4 10th hole

nter New tennis ce

Horseshoe Bend CC [ Continued from the cover ]

FOREGEORGIA.COM

both its playability and visual appeal, particularly on the holes that run parallel to the Chattahoochee River, and has also aided in turf conditioning.

Horseshoe Bend was named for the turn the Chattahoochee takes as it winds alongside the property, with four of the holes directly along the river. Clearing of underbrush has greatly improved the view of the river from those holes, while tree removal on the opposite side of those fairways have made them less claustrophobic from a playing standpoint.

The tree lines were not as pronounced when the Joe Lee-designed course opened in 1974, but things changed as the years went by.

“Trees will eventually take away golf shots,” Cupp says. “If you have a lot of trees, it’s going to be a problem to make a course work.”

Cupp also made extensive changes to the bunkers, with the original layout featuring an abundance of sand, as is the case with most of Lee’s layouts. Cupp took out many of the bunkers, re-positioned others and made some changes to the greens complexes.

Only a few holes were altered significantly, with Cupp describing Lee’s original routing as “wonderful.” The main changes were to holes 1 and 9, which are now 10 and 18 after the nines were flipped. The new No. 10 was changed from a par 5 to a par 4 and the 18th from a par 4 to a par 5 along with two enhanced and appealing water features.

Although Cupp says the course is “not much different” due to the reversing of the nines, there are a few advantages to the switch. The previous routing had three of the holes that border the Chattahoochee on the front nine and only one on the back. The change in nines now has one hole on the front side (the par-5 fourth) giving you a peek at the river, with the three holes at the bend of the river now 14, 15 and 16, making for a more scenic finish.

The original 18th, one of the classic

risk/reward par 5s in all of Atlanta, is now the ninth hole. But with the original lengthy par-4 ninth, which Cupp described as a “balls to the wall” twoshotter, now a gorgeous but perilous par 5, Horseshoe Bend Country Club still has a memorable finishing hole.

The old 10th hole (now No. 1), a par 4 of modest length, makes for a less daunting opener than the old No. 1, which requires a second shot over water to an angled green, with the creek a serious factor on approaches to back right pins.

With the change, most of the best holes are now part of the back nine, including the most visually striking (No. 11) and most challenging (No. 17) of the par 3s and two of the strongest par 4s (10 and the long 13th), along with the picturesque trio along the Chattahoochee.

Cupp added several hundred yards from the tips, with Horseshoe Bend CC now listed at just over 7100 yards from the gold tees. The blue (6523) and white (6107) tees are not appreciably different than prior to the renovation, as are the two forward sets of tees – green (5482) and red (5034). The gold tees are rated at 74.0/141, the blues are 71.9/135 and the whites are 69.7/128, the latter two almost identical to the previous numbers.

Horseshoe Bend Country Club’s putting surfaces were converted from bent grass to Champions Bermuda in 2013, and Cupp made some revisions to both their shape and contour, combining with the changes in bunkering to create some pin positions that can significantly alter the strategy of the approach shots and enhance the challenge of those holes.

The course is in exceptional condition tee to green thanks to the work of Director of Agronomy Sam Welch and his staff, with its unique features including zoysia tees and TifGrand surfaces short of the greens, making for interesting short game shots off tight, well-manicured lies.

The conversion of the greens in 2013 followed the work on the golf course and clubhouse, with the next big

For information on Horseshoe Bend CC, call 770-992-1818 or visit www.horseshoebendcc.com.

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

RUSSELL KIRK / GOLFLINKSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

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house, golf course, swim and tennis facilities and the clubhouse parking lot are dramatic, particularly the clubhouse, which now ranks with any of the impressive structures found at other premier clubs in the metro area.

The new clubhouse is expansive, visually appealing and provides its members with a first class setting for both casual and fine dining, with splendid views of the course. It offers numerous meeting spaces, flexible rooms to host receptions and cozy places to socialize.

All of the upgrades to Horseshoe Bend CC were done in stages. The first was a renovation to the course layout by acclaimed golf course architect Bob Cupp, which began within a few months of Kenny’s acquisition of the club.

In order to limit the inconvenience to the club’s members, Cupp and the construction crew worked on a hole or two at a time, enabling the members to play almost the entire course while keeping an eye on the holes that were being renovated.

“We did a couple of holes and the members never had to go away,” Cupp said. “I got to know some of the members who would stop and ask questions while they were going past the hole we were working on. That was fun.”

Perhaps the most evident example of Cupp’s transformation of the course was the removal of close to 1000 trees, which has opened up the course and improved

RUSSELL KIRK / GOLFLINKSPHOT OGRAPHY.COM

Water guards th e

change a newly constructed swim and tennis facility which was completed last year. The 9,500 square foot facility consists of 13 tennis courts – seven hard, four American-style green clay courts and two European Red Clay courts similar to those of the French Open.

Horseshoe Bend Country Club’s tennis facility was recognized by the USTA as one of six Private Outstanding Facilities in the Country this year, a huge accomplishment considering the short length of time the facility has been open.

There are also four USTA junior courts for youngsters age 8-and-under, with the entire tennis facility bordering part of the golf course. The completely re-built tennis/swim facility features a well-stocked tennis pro shop with a dining area and bar upstairs, again offering some splendid views of the activities surrounding it.

Horseshoe Bend Country Club sports three pools – one which is adults only, a Junior Olympic pool that hosts the meets for the club’s very popular swim team, and a splash pool for youngsters 8and-under. The club was known for the quality of its tennis and swim programs during its heyday during the 1980s, but the new complex is a sizeable step up and reflects the considerable sum of money spent to make it among the finest facilities of its kind.

Jacqueline Welch, the Vice President for both Horseshoe Bend Country Club and The Golf Club of Georgia, which was recently acquired by Kenny, says Kenny looked at a number of potential clubs to make his first foray into golf business before deciding on Horseshoe Bend.

“He saw an opportunity for a course that was going under and jumped in,” Welch said. “And he came in with a vision.”

Kenny’s vision has resulted in the total transformation of a club that has seen contrasting highs and lows during its four decades, and is once again one of the brightest lights among the array of outstanding country clubs in the Atlanta area.

Photographs courtesy of: Russell Kirk / GolfLinksPhotography.com

2015 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

FOREGEORGIA.COM

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Big changes for Sea Island PGA Tour event New name, date and course, more players

By Mike Blum

T

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FOREGEORGIA.COM

Briny Baird

ROB MATRE

he PGA Tour returns to the Georgia coast for a sixth straight year, but almost everything about the tournament is different from its first five editions.

The event has a new name, a new date, a new course for one of the first two rounds and an expanded field. Sea Island Golf Club remains the tournament host, but the famed Seaside course will share its role as the tournament course for the first two days of play with Plantation, its adjacent sister course.

From 2010-14, the tournament was known as the McGladrey Classic, with the auditing, tax and consulting firm serving as title sponsor. It was recently announced that McGladrey will now be known as RSM, taking the name of its global network partner, with the tournament reflecting that change.

The RSM Classic will be played Nov. 19-22, the latest the tournament has been held. The McGladrey Classic was played Oct. 7-10 its first year and as late as Nov. 7-10 in 2013, with the event held in October four of the five years.

With the change, the RSM Classic will be the final event of the calendar year on the PGA Tour, concluding the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The tour will resume play in Hawaii in early January, and Tournament Director Scott Reid believes the change will result in a stronger field.

“This gives us a little separation from the Tour Championship, the Presidents Cup and the WGC event in China,” Reid says. “And it’s the last event prior to the break.”

The past few years, the tournament has been played in close proximity to the HSBC Champions in China, which effectively kept almost all of the game’s top players from competing in both. This year, the RSM Classic will be two weeks after the WGC event.

The tournament will conflict with two international events that draw the top European Tour players, as well as most of the PGA Tour’s Australian delegation.

The Dubai World Championship, the European Tour finale for 2015, shares the same dates as the RSM Classic, as does the Australian Masters.

Even with those conflicts, a number of

top international players will be teeing it up on St. Simons Island, with Graeme McDowell, Vijay Singh, Stuart Appleby, K.J. Choi and Tim Clark among the early commitments.

The strength of the tournament field starts with the contingent of players who live on St. Simons Island, or work with members of the outstanding instructional staff at Sea Island Golf Club. That list includes 2015 British Open champion Zach Johnson, fellow Presidents Cup members Matt Kuchar and 2013 McGladrey champion Chris Kirk, Brandt Snedeker, Charles Howell, Harris English, Brian Harman and tournament host Davis Love, who won the 2015 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., at the age of 51.

Other golfers with Georgia ties expected to play in the tournament are Jason Bohn, who almost won the 201516 opener in northern California, Stewart Cink, Russell Henley, Brendon Todd, Kevin Kisner, Hudson Swafford, 2015 Web.com Tour Player of the Year Patton Kizzire and Heath Slocum, who won the inaugural McGladrey Classic in 2010.

All five players who have won at Sea Island Golf Club will be in the field, with defending champion Robert Streb, Tommy Gainey (2012) and Ben Crane (2011) joining Kirk and Slocum.

Streb fired a final round 63 to finish at 14-under 266 and won a three-way playoff over South Africa’s Brendon de Jonge and Will Mackenzie. Streb trailed Mackenzie and Andrew Svoboda by five shots after 54 holes and was still four off the lead with five holes to play, but birdied four consecutive holes beginning at the 14th to pull even with de Jonge and Mackenzie, who were both stuck on 14-under for long stretches.

Mackenzie played his final 10 holes in even par while de Jonge parred his last six holes after playing the first 12 in 5under. Streb birdied five of the final seven holes of the front nine to close in on the leaders, but a three-putt bogey at the 13th seemingly knocked him out of contention.

Streb followed with four straight birdies, giving him nine on the round, to earn a spot in the playoff, and collected his first PGA Tour victory when he

scored his second birdie of the day on the 17th, the second playoff hole. Mackenzie dropped out of the playoff when he bogeyed the 18th, and Streb hit his tee shot on the par-3 17th to four feet to set up the winning putt.

Kirk, Henley and Kisner, all exGeorgia Bulldogs, tied for fourth at 12-under, with Kirk and Henley both poised to make a move on the stuck-inneutral leaders but unable to close the gap late in the round.

Streb’s victory launched a breakthrough season for the third-year PGA Tour player, who ended up with nine top-10 finishes and almost $3.95 in earnings, 14th on the final money list. He made his first appearance in the Tour Championship and will play in the Masters for the first time in April.

It was the third time in five years that the McGladrey winner made a huge final round surge, and the fifth straight time the tournament was decided in a playoff or by one stroke.

Crane birdied eight of his last 11 holes in 2011 for a 63 to erase a 5-stroke deficit and won a playoff over Webb Simpson.

Gainey closed with a course record 60 the next year after beginning the final round seven shots behind Love. He outdueled major champions Love, Jim Furyk and David Toms, edging Toms by a shot for his only PGA Tour title.

Slocum had the lead going to the final round in 2010, shooting 2-under 68 on the Seaside course to hang on to beat Bill Haas by one shot and Toms by two. Kirk shared the 54-hole lead with journeyman

in 2013, firing a final round 66 to finish one ahead of and Baird Clark, who made a Sunday comeback bid with a 62.

Haas, along with Kirk and Johnson the final day Presidents Cup heroes for the U.S., is back in Robert Streb the field this year along with Boo Weekley, 2015 Memorial winner David Lingmerth and Jason Dufner, who will be making his first appearance in the tournament.

This year’s field will be introduced to the Plantation course, which will host half the 156-player field each of the first two days. Plantation plays to a par of 72 (Seaside is a par 70) and measures over 7,000 yards from the tips.

Unlike Seaside, which is located amid the marshes and dunes on the tip of St. Simons Island, Plantation is more of a parkland style layout, with the 10th tee the only part of the course adjacent to the ocean and just a few holes on the front nine bordering the marshes.

With a mostly short-ish group of par 4s, a reachable quartet of par 5s and two short-iron par 3s, Plantation will offer plenty of scoring opportunities for the tour players, with its greens complexes less demanding than Seaside.

Plantation does feature more hazards than Seaside, with water in play on about half the holes, although a few of those require some seriously off-target tee shots to find trouble. Most of the hazards are on the par 3s and 5s, with three of the par 3s requiring tee shots over water, although two of them are in the 160-yard range.

Two of the par 5s, including the 18th, offer risk/reward opportunities, with a third featuring a dangerous tee shot for players hoping to reach the green in two.

Reid says there was some discussion with the PGA about converting two of the par 5s to par 4s, but he noted that [ See RSM Classic, page 30 ] NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

2015 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

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Spieth caps spectacular season with victory Tour Championship title a fitting conclusion

By Mike Blum

T

Henrik Stenson

he FedExCup has produced a string of champions in recent years who were not the PGA Tour’s top player the year

they won.

Of the four FedExCup champions from 2011-14, all of whom earned that title thanks to a victory in the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, only one began the Playoffs in the top 10 on the points list.

Billy Horschel, the 2014 FedExCup champion, was 69th in the standings coming into the Playoffs and 82nd after missing the cut in the Barclays, the Playoffs opener. But as Henrik Stenson the previous year and Brandt Snedeker (to a lesser extent) in 2012, Horschel got hot at the right time, tying for second in the Deutsche Bank Championship and winning the BMW Championship before capping off his torrid season-ending stretch with a victory at East Lake.

Until Jason Day put together a remarkable run of sensational play in the latter stages of the 2015 PGA Tour season, the year belonged to Jordan Spieth, who won the Masters and U.S. Open before reaching his 22nd birthday.

Spieth made a spirited bid for a calendar year Grand Slam, finishing one shot out of a playoff in the British Open and placing second in the PGA Championship behind Day, who won four times in six starts including two of the first three Playoffs events.

Day’s late-season surge moved him into Player of the Year consideration along with Spieth. But the potential debate over that honor was silenced when Spieth closed out his monster 2015 season with a victory in the Tour Championship, which also gave him the FedExCup title and the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Ranking, which has been going back and forth among Spieth, Day and Rory McIlroy.

With his win at East Lake, Spieth put the finishing touches on one of the best seasons in PGA Tour history, approaching many of those produced by Tiger Woods during his decade-plus span of dominance.

Spieth finished the 2015 season with five wins, four runner-up finishes, one third place showing and two ties for fourth, ending up one shot out of a 10

Jordan Spieth

FOREGEORGIA.COM

playoff on both occasions, one of them in the British Open. He had 15 top-10 finishes in 25 starts, and wound up with more than $12 million in earnings, breaking Woods’ former mark by more than $1 million. He also took home $10 million in bonus money for winning the FedExCup, joining Woods as the only player to finish as the points leader during the season before winning both the Tour Championship and FedExCup title.

After his victory at East Lake, Spieth tried to summarize his spectacular season, but did not have as much success in that regard as he did on the course earlier that day.

“It’s hard for me to compare it to anybody’s past seasons. It’s the greatest season I’ve ever had, obviously. But it’s one where I believe we took our game on course and off course to a level that I didn’t think would be possible.

“I believed that we could get to this position where we’re at right now. But there’s plenty of times when you feel so poorly with the putter or you’re not hitting any fairways with the driver, or you sit back and think how in the world does somebody do this.

“Then you kind of get into some momentum, you get into a groove, and it happens. And that’s what this season did; it proved that we can maintain that high level throughout the year, even when a couple of weeks get off, you can get it back quickly. I know that we can play at this level, even when we don’t have our best stuff.”

Spieth wound up with a 4-shot margin of victory in the Tour Championship after spending most of the first three rounds in pursuit of Stenson, who won the Tour Championship and FedExCup in 2013, his only prior appearance at East Lake.

Stenson came into the Tour Championship after consecutive finishes of second, second and 10th in the first three Playoffs events, similar to what he did in 2013. He was fourth in the FedExCup standings coming into the Tour Championship, trailing only Day, Spieth and Deutsche Bank winner Rickie Fowler.

Through 12 holes in the opening round, Stenson was 8-under and in range of a possible 59, but settled for a 63 to lead Paul Casey by two. Spieth was five back in a tie for fifth at 68. Spieeth closed

within three of Stenson’s lead after a bogey-free 66 in the second round, moving into second place and earning a third round pairing with the leader.

After nine mostly uneventful holes, Stenson still held a 3-shot lead over Spieth, but back-to-back Stenson bogeys at 10 and 11 reduced Spieth’s deficit to one. Stenson’s bogey at the 17th cost him the outright lead, and when Spieth birdied the par-3 18th for a second straight day, he claimed the lead for the first time in the tournament after shooting 68 to Stenson’s 72.

The two were again paired in the final group Sunday, with Fowler and Casey four shots back of Spieth in a tie for third. Although a handful of players mounted final round rallies, Spieth and Stenson remained clear of their pursuers and shared the lead late on the opening nine before Spieth displayed why he was the No. 1-ranked putter on the PGA Tour in 2015.

Spieth rolled in a 10-footer for birdie at the par-3 second to move two ahead of Stenson, but fell back into a tie with bogeys at 5 and 6. Spieth missed the [ See Spieth, page 30 ] NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

2015 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

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English, Kisner end seasons at East Lake Both will be part of Masters field in April

By Mike Blum

hree players with Georgia ties finished in the top 10 of the Tour Championship at East Lake, with three other former Georgia collegians in the field ending up outside the top 20.

Two of the latter trio, however, could live with their results, as their first appearances in the season-ending event ensured them invitations to golf’s biggest events in the 2015-16 season.

Former Georgia Bulldog Bubba Watson, who admits to not having much love for East Lake’s classic but somewhat constricted layout, tied for fifth for the second time in three years in the Tour Championship, shooting 68-67 the final two days to finish at 4-under 276.

Watson placed fifth in the final FedExCup standings to take home $1 million in bonus money to go along with his tournament paycheck of $302,500.

St. Simons Island resident Zach Johnson tied for eighth at 3-under after opening with a 66. Johnson was 6-under for the tournament midway through the second round, but went 5-over in a 5hole stretch beginning with a double bogey at the par-5 ninth, more than offsetting three birdies on his final four holes later that day. Johnson was sixth in the final FedExCup standings.

Fellow St. Simons resident Matt Kuchar tied for 10th at 2-under, improving one shot each day after an

T

Kevin Kisner

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opening 71. The former Georgia Tech golfer finished strong with four birdies on the back nine Sunday for a 68. He wound up 19th in the final standings.

Two ex-Bulldogs made their first starts in the Tour Championship, taking different routes to East Lake.

Harris English, the third St. Simons resident in the field, finished strong with a final round 67 for a 5-over 285 total, rallying after a 76 Friday that included seven Harris English bogeys on his last 10 holes. Kevin Kisner, a member of Georgia’s 2005 national championship team, did not have a good week, finishing last “That was huge,” English said of his among the 28 players who completed 72 birdie on the 72nd hole of the BMW holes, but that did not minimize his Championship. As thrilled as he was to breakthrough season of 2015. make it to East Lake for the first time, he English missed qualifying for the Tour noted that the Tour Championship “is Championship by the narrowest of mar- not just another tournament. This gets gins the previous two seasons, placing me in (the WGC events in) China and 32nd and 31st in the final FedExCup Doral and the majors.” standings. He appeared headed for The first of next year’s majors is the another near miss after beginning the Masters, with English missing out on an Playoffs 42nd on the points list and invitation to Augusta this year after working his way up to 32nd with one making his debut in 2014. tournament left before the Tour “I qualified for my first one two years Championship. ago, and I’ve been itching to get back,” For most of the week in Chicago, he said after the opening round of the English hovered right around the 30th Tour Championship. “Augusta is a tourspot in the standings, but appeared he nament you always want to play.” was going to again fall just short as he English put himself in good position played the final hole in the BMW early in the year when he tied for third in Championship. English faced a birdie Hawaii and lost in a playoff in San Diego, putt of almost 20 feet from the fringe, just missing what would have been his and needed to make the putt to move third PGA Tour win in the last three seapast playing partner Justin Thomas to sons. But a tie for 10th in Tampa turned claim the 30th and final spot in the Tour out to be his last top 10 of the season, Championship. and he gradually slipped down the English, who made three bogeys ear- FedExCup rankings despite missing only lier on the back nine to drop out of the two cuts in 2015. top 30, holed his birdie attempt while Because he just missed making it into Thomas settled for par after hitting his the Tour Championship last year, English second shot on the par 5 in the water. did not earn invitations to the Masters, Even with the closing birdie, Thomas U.S. Open or three of the four WGC appeared to be in line to finish 30th, but events. He did not play especially well in Kevin Na saved par at the final hole the biggest tournaments he qualified for, with a 10-foot putt to deny Thomas a missing the cut in the Players and finfew extra points that would have inched ishing well back in both the British him ahead of English in the final stand- Open and PGA Championship. ings.

Until the closing 67, his week at East When the final point totals were cal- Lake was less than a rousing success, but culated, English barely edged out just making it to Atlanta was reward Thomas and Daniel Summerhays for enough.

30th, netting him a hard-earned spot in English admitted he was “more the Tour Championship field after two relaxed” for the tournament than he had frustrating near-misses. been during the Playoffs events leading

to East Lake. “I’m not treating it like a major.”

After just missing out on Tour the Championship the previous two years, English said a third straight failure to qualify for the Tour Championship “would have been tough. It’s really hard to get in this tournament. I’m very happy I made it, and hopefully it will help me in the future how I was able to do it.”

English was a standout in college at Georgia and was pegged for stardom the minute he turned pro, making it to the PGA Tour in his first attempt after only five tournaments as a pro on the Web.com Tour.

Kisner, a native and resident of Aiken, S.C., part of the Central Savannah River Area that includes Augusta, had an excellent career in Athens, but was the team’s No. 3 player behind fellow PGA Tour members Chris Kirk and Brendon Todd.

After turning pro in 2006, Kisner made it to the Web.com Tour for the first time in 2010, and spent the next five years going back and forth between that tour and the PGA Tour, winning two tournaments and placing 11th and 13th on the money list in his two Web.com seasons, but struggling in his first two attempts at the PGA Tour.

Kisner played well enough in 2014 to retain his exempt status, and began the 2014-15 with his best showing on the tour – a tie for fourth in the McGladrey Classic at Sea Island Golf Club. That turned out to be his only top 20 finish in his first 14 starts of the season before he began a 4-month stretch of exceptional play that made him a regular on weekend network golf broadcasts.

From mid-April through early July, Kisner battled his way into three playoffs, running off a string of birdies down the stretch in each one. He made birdies in the first two playoffs in the Heritage [ See Kisner, page 30 ] NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

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Castro, Norlander, List back on PGA Tour

3 Georgians in Web.com Finals top 25

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peted in the Finals, finishing behind only the players who won the four tournaments.

Castro closed out the Finals with consecutive finishes of ninth, second and 10th in the last three events, concluding his run of excellent play with an 8-under 62 in the final round of the Tour Championship at the Dye’s Valley course at TPC Sawgrass.

Castro, who played in only two Web.com events during the regular season, had led the previous week after 54 holes in Columbus, O., but shot 75 in the final round on the demanding Luke List course at Ohio State to end up two behind the winner. Castro Norlander, who has has not won since early in his settled in Augusta, won the Finals opener pro career, when he scored five victories in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and was ninth and on the eGolf Tour and captured the 2009 18th in the last two of the four tournaGeorgia Open. ments, placing third on the Finals money List, who was the runner-up in the list after ending the regular season 47th.

2007 Georgia Open, was 22nd among Like List, Norlander started fast with a the 25 players who earned their PGA tie for fifth in Panama and a runner-up Tour cards in the Web.com Finals. He finish in Brazil, but had only two finishes was 64th on the regular season money of better than 30th the rest of the season list, getting off to a strong start with fin- until his victory. ishes of sixth in Colombia and fourth in Going to the final round in Ft. Wayne, Mexico, but had only one top-25 the rest Norlander was six shots off the lead, but of the regular season. wound up winning by three after closing After missing the cut in the first two with a 10-under 62.

Finals tournaments, List tied for fifth in Norlander was a rookie on the PGA Columbus to secure his return to the Tour in 2013, but did not play well PGA Tour and tied for 35th the fol- enough to retain his playing privileges. lowing week in Jacksonville. List will be He was 50th and 47th in his two seasons 45th on the priority list among the 50 on the Web.com Tour before his victory players who earned their PGA Tour cards in Indiana earned him a second shot at via the Web.com Tour, and will need to the PGA Tour. play well in his handful of starts this Fall Also competing in the Web.com Finals to move up in the standings when the were former PGA Tour winners Vaughn Web.com graduates are re-shuffled in Taylor of Augusta and Jonathan Byrd of St. Simons. Neither player placed early 2016.

List moved up to the PGA Tour for the among the top 25 and will have limited first time in 2013, but that was his only status in 2015-16 as past champions.

Taylor played on past champions status season in golf’s major leagues. After an outstanding Web.com season in 2012 in 2014-15 and got into 12 tournaments, that included a victory in Valdosta, List making 11 cuts and recording six top-25 has not approached that level of play, but finishes, including a tie for 10th at still has time to achieve the potential he Pebble Beach. He barely finished outside displayed as an amateur, making the cut the top 150 in the FedExCup standings, in the 2005 Masters while he was a but will be the first player outside the top 150 to get into tournaments, which member of the Vanderbilt golf team.

Roberto Castro

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our Georgians were among the 50 players who earned spots on the 2015-16 PGA Tour through their play on either the Web.com Tour this year or the Web.com Finals, which concluded in early October.

St. Simons Island resident Patton Kizzire led the Web.com Tour in earnings and maintained that status through the Finals, closing out his season with a tie for fifth in the Web.com Tour Championship in Jacksonville.

Kizzire, playing in his rookie season at the age of 29, had two wins, three other top-3 finishes and 12 top 10s, and was one of just a handful of players to earn more than $500,000 in the tour’s 25-year history.

Earning their PGA Tour cards for the 2015-16 season in the Web.com Finals were Henrik Norlander, Roberto Castro and Luke List, the latter two college contemporaries of Kizzire, an Auburn graduate. Castro played his college golf at Georgia Tech and List competed at Vanderbilt. Norlander, a member of Augusta State’s back-to-back national championship teams in 2010 and ‘11, was a freshman when Kizzire was a senior.

Castro and List were both among the state’s top juniors, with Castro from Alpharetta and List growing up in Jasper and Ringgold. Castro will be playing on the PGA Tour for the fourth straight season, while List returns to the tour after playing the last two seasons on the Web.com Tour.

After enjoying an outstanding season on the PGA Tour and qualifying for the Tour Championship at East Lake in 2013, Castro struggled last year and dropped out of the top 125 in the final FedExCup standings, costing him his exempt status. He made 16 starts on the PGA Tour this season, but his best showings were three finishes between 23rd and 29th in opposite field events and a tie for 40th in Memphis.

Castro finished the year 188th in the FedExCup standings to earn a spot in the Web.com Finals. He also competed in the finals last year, missing the 25th and final qualifying spot for this year’s PGA Tour by less than $32.

This time, Castro placed fifth among the approximately 135 players who com-

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By Mike Blum

should get him at least as many starts as in 2014-15.

An injury kept Taylor out of the first of four tournaments in the Finals, and he was unable to finish in the top 25 despite two top 25s in the last three.

Byrd won five tournaments in his first 10 seasons on the PGA Tour, but has struggled to regain his form since undergoing wrist surgery in 2013. He has not finished in the top 125 since 2012, and was 158 this past season. He tied for 16th in the Finals opener, but missed two of the next three cuts and may have to return to the Web.com Tour on at least a part time basis after not having played on that tour since 2001.

Former Georgia Southern golfer Blake Adams, a Lake Oconee area native, played in the Finals after competing on a medical extension on the PGA Tour in 2014-15. Adams enjoyed three solid season on from 2010-12, but hip problems have sidelined him for most of the last three years, with Adams undergoing hip replacement surgery in 2014.

Adams made 13 starts this past season after just 10 tournaments combined in 2013 and ‘14. A tie for 11th at Hilton Head was his only successful showing, and he has just three starts left on his medical extension, needing at least one top finish to regain his exempt status. He last played on the Web.com Tour in 2009, enjoying one of the best seasons in tour history by a non-winner as he ended up third on the money list.

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Quality overall facility an area favorite

RiverPines Golf celebrating 25 years

By Mike Blum

ince it opened in the early 1990s, RiverPines Golf Club has been one of most consistently successful daily fee operations in the state, with the overall quality of its facility drawing a steady stream of golfers to its prime location in the North Fulton suburbs.

The club will celebrate its 25th anniversary in November, with the week of Nov. 9-15 set aside for “rollback pricing” to the club’s opening, an array of contests, raffles and programs to mark a quarter century of providing area golfers with a first rate, affordably-priced product, while working hard to maintain a high level of customer service. Visit riverpinesgolf.com for details.

RiverPines Golf debuted in the fall of 1990, with its nine-hole par 3 course and expansive practice range the first elements of the facility to open. The Denis Griffiths-designed 18-hole layout followed two years later, and other than days when the weather is not conducive to golf, the club’s parking lot is almost always filled with golfers playing either the 18-hole course or par 3, or utilizing one of the area’s busiest practice areas.

There are multiple reasons for the success of RiverPines Golf, beginning with its location. The club is located in the midst of a sizeable number of outstanding private country club courses, with the Country Club of the South its next-door neighbor and Atlanta Athletic Club just around the corner.

Country Club of Roswell, Horseshoe

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RiverPines' expansive practice range

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Bend CC, Rivermont, Standard Club and St. Ives are all within close proximity of RiverPines, which is located on Old Alabama Rd. in the community of Johns Creek.

The land RiverPines Golf was built on has been in the family of Roger Miers, the club’s original owner who continues to operate the facility, for 100 years.

Stephen Spruill, Miers’ great grandfather, acquired land on both sides of what is now Old Alabama Rd. from Johns Creek to Jones Bridge Rd. for two dollars an acre in 1914.

The land was used for farmland and a saw mill until the area began to change from rural to suburban in the 1960s.

The last crop was produced in the early ‘80s, with the land sitting dormant until 1989 when Miers said he “pursued the opportunity to utilize the land” for a golf course, something his grandfather had hinted at two decades before.

“If I had to buy the land, this could not have happened,” Miers said.

Miers had worked in the corporate world until that time, but said he “had a yearning to do something on my own; to be an entrepreneur.”

As someone who “grew up around equipment,” Miers had some idea about the construction process, and knew where to look for a partner with a background in golf.

Miers was childhood friends with Toby Chapin, who was working for HMS Golf at Jones Creek in Augusta at the time.

Chapin was godfather to one of Miers’ children and the two “kept in close contact” even though Miers remained in the

A wetlands area

protects the gree n on the first hole

Atlanta area. The two saw the potential of an 18hole course on the property, and teamed up to get the project up and running.

Tragically, Chapin had been battling cancer for several years while RiverPines was in its infancy, and he passed away on May 5, 1993. The club holds an annual charity tournament to honor Chapin’s memory.

“It’s very hard to lose someone that close to you,” Miers said. “Toby was like a brother.”

RiverPines was a success from the start, but with little daily fee competition in the area other than the Champions (now Trophy) Club of Atlanta, customer service was not among the club’s stronger assets in its early years.

Miers, a hands-on owner, made a concerted effort to change RiverPines’ reputation in that regard. Once he rectified that situation, the club has thrived, with Miers joined by two respected figures among Georgia’s PGA professionals.

Mike Perpich, a nationally recognized instructor, left his position as head pro at nearby St. Ives Country Club to become RiverPines’ Director of Instruction in 1999. Phil Wagoner became the club’s head pro in 2003, with both having strong prior relationships with Chapin.

Like Chapin, Wagoner worked at HMS courses in the state, and along with Perpich, gives RiverPines an outstanding instructional program.

“We are well-regarded for our instruction because of Mike and Phil,” Miers says.

With one of the Atlanta area’s finest, most expansive practice facilities and an

excellent nine-hole, par-3 course, RiverPines is one of the best clubs around for introducing youngsters and older novices to the game, and the club has been active in various growing the game efforts.

One of the things that keeps people coming back is the quality and playability of Griffiths’ layout. The Georgia-based golf course architect has created many of the state’s top daily fee designs, including all three courses at Chateau Elan, the Georgia Club, St. Marlo, Chestatee, Brasstown Valley, Crystal Lake, Georgia National, Chicopee Woods, Georgia Veterans, Hard Labor Creek, Old Union and the private Crystal Falls.

RiverPines rates with Griffiths’ best efforts, striking a nice balance between challenge and playability, and offers a reasonable test for the array of golfers who tee it up there. With just two par 5s, RiverPines plays to a par of 70, making its modest yardage numbers (6600 from the tips, just under 6200 from the blues) a little deceptive.

The Course Rating/Slope numbers are also inviting (71.1/132 – tips, 69.4/127 – blues), with the white tees listed at 5785 (67.2/119). The forward tees are among the friendliest around at almost 4200 yards, with the silver tees at just under 5200 a comfortable fit for seniors and lower handicap female players.

RiverPines borders the Chattahoochee River on five holes, but the river is more a visual presence, not coming into play.

However, two creeks that wind through the property and a number of ponds and wetlands areas definitely impact play and NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

provide much of the challenge for Griffiths’ layout.

Hazards are in play more off the tee than around the greens, with only the par-4 13th requiring a carry of any significance to reach dry land. RiverPines offers mostly generous fairways, but there are a handful of holes that require a fair amount of accuracy. With the absence of serious length on all but a few holes, longer hitters can play the tighter holes without a driver, but there are a few par 4s where length off the tee is a welcome attribute.

RiverPines’ par 3s are on the tame side, without much length or trouble, but the par 4s are a very solid group, with only one soft touch among them. The long, relatively narrow fourth is one of the strongest par 4s in all of Atlanta, with several other par 4s requiring some thought and precision to avoid the frequent hazards encountered.

Among that group is the short seventh, which begins with a risk/reward tee shot over a creek for longer hitters, along with a testy second shot for those who lay

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up well clear of the water and may find themselves blocked by trees from the right side of the fairway.

One of RiverPines’ most entertaining holes is the par-5 17th, which has a lake that is in play off the tee and on the layup shot, with a creek short of the green and an imposing tree making it a risk/reward proposition for those going for the green in two.

The putting surfaces are gentle and not heavily bunkered, with the current green speeds faster than they’ve been in the past. The course is typically in quality condition, and is one of easier walks in metro Atlanta, with a compact layout and only a handful of holes with modest elevation changes.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, RiverPines will offer various specials and giveaways Nov. 9-15, with information available on its web site (www.riverpinesgolf.com) or at 770442-5960. The club also sports an excellent grill that offers one of the best golf course hot dogs around.

Original clubhouse

Original clubhouse

Clubhouse addition

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Leads 7 Georgians into top club pro event

Paolozzi makes history with PNC victory

K

aren

Paolozzi

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By Mike Blum

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to within about five feet of the hole for a winning birdie, the only one in the playoff.

Hogan, the head pro at Chattahoochee GC in Gainesville, started his final round with two birdies on his first five holes, but did not have another birdie on 21 holes the rest of the day.

Roman, who qualified for the PGA PNC four straight years from 2008-11, could have made it a five-way playoff, but bogeyed the par-5 18th after making a triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 fifth earlier in the day. He played his next 11 holes in 4under before the bogey at 18. Arnold, an assistant at Achasta GC, and Finemore, the head pro at Big Canoe, both birdied the 18th, with Finemore carding four birdies in a final round 74 despite playing with a recently broken rib, which caused him noticeable discomfort.

Other than Weinhart and Stevens, who have 33 career appearances in the PGA PNC between them, the other five Georgia PGA qualifiers have minimal experience in the national club professional championship.

Paolozzi, Ormsby and Smith will be competing in the PNC for the second time, with Ormsby making his first appearance after winning the Georgia PGA PNC in 2013 at Champions Retreat outside Augusta. Anderson, a veteran Georgia PGA member who recently won Mark Anderson

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made some history and two of the Georgia PGA’s top players survived a marathon playoff to highlight the recent Georgia PGA qualifying event for the 2016 PGA Professional National Championship.

Seven Georgia PGA members qualified for next year’s national club professional championship, which will be played in late June at Turning Stone Resort in upstate New York, the former site of a PGA Tour event and a past host of the PGA PNC. Paolozzi became the first woman to win the Georgia PGA Professional Championship and just the second female to win a PGA Section PNC qualifying event, joining Connecticut club pro Suzy Whaley, who has competed in both the PGA Tour Hartford Open and the PGA Championship.

In addition to qualifying for next year’s PGA PNC, Paolozzi will also compete that month in the Women’s PGA Championship, one of the LPGA Tour’s majors.

Paolozzi, who joined the staff at Druid Hills Golf Club early last year, tied for second a month earlier in the LPGA’s championship event for teaching and club professionals, with winner Laurie Rinker and fellow runner-up Jean Bartholomew both veteran former LPGA Tour members.

Competing in two national events in the span of a few weeks next year will be “a big deal,” said Paolozzi, who has competed in both but not in the same year.

“For me that’s two majors. I consider the PNC a major because it’s the championship event for our profession.”

Paolozzi has enjoyed success at the national level in club pro championships conducted by both the LPGA and PGA the past two years. She received national acclaim in 2014 when she joined Whaley as the only women to make the cut in the PGA PNC, tying for 49th and getting quite a bit of air time on Golf Channel’s broadcast of the event, particularly

CC, shot back-to-back scores of 70 to take second at 140, with Weinhart, who recently became Director of Instruction at Heritage Golf Links, third at 141 after managing just one birdie in a second round 74.

Brian Puterbaugh, the Director of Instruction at the Hooch GC, was fourth at 143 after scores of 72-71, with Todd Ormsby, the head pro at Highland CC in LaGrange fifth at 71-73—144.

Four players tied for sixth at 145, with a playoff held to determine the final two of the seven spots the Georgia PGA was allotted for next year’s PGA PNC. Karen Paolozzi Craig Stevens and Hank Smith came away with the two during qualifying spots, with Stevens needing a second-round 71 when she shot 4- five holes and Smith eight to qualify. under on her final nine to make the cut. Rodger Hogan and Mark Avery were Later that summer, Paolozzi placed the other two playoff participants, with second behind Bartholomew in the Hogan the first alternate and Avery the LPGA T&CP Championship at Chateau second alternate. Cherokee T&CC Elan to earn a spot in this year’s LPGA instructor Kevin Roman won third alterPGA Championship, and will play in the nate after finishing in a tie at 146 with event again next year after a second Jordan Arnold and Joe Finemore. straight runner-up appearance in the After shooting 77 in rainy conditions T&CP event. in the opening round without a birdie, Paolozzi shared the lead after 36 holes Smith had six birdies in a second round with Bartholomew this year at the 68 two days later, with most of the field Reunion Resort in Orlando, but Rinker never teeing off the second day before came from behind to win with a final play was halted. The tournament was round 65. Paolozzi shot 70 despite a completed under sunny skies, with quadruple bogey that derailed her title Smith’s 68 the low round of the day and hopes in Orlando. After getting off to a one of just four scores under par. hot start with three birdies on her first The four playoff participants all parred six holes, an 8 on the par-4 seventh cost the first four extra holes (18, 1, 18 and her the lead, but she rallied with three 17) before Stevens, the Director of birdies on the last seven holes to claim a Instruction at Brookstone G&CC, share of second place. emerged as the first qualifier when he After shooting 66 at Dunwoody parred the 15th, the longest of Country Club in the first round of the Dunwoody’s par 4s. Smith and Avery Georgia PGA PNC, Paolozzi did not both three-putted for bogey, with Hogan have nearly as eventful a final round as also making bogey after missing the she had a month earlier in Orlando. After green with his approach.

13 pars and a bogey on her first 14 holes, Avery, the head pro at Brookstone, Paolozzi birdied two of the next three to dropped out when he bogeyed the 16th, put a little distance between herself and and Smith and Hogan headed to an playing partners Mark Anderson and eighth extra hole after matching pars on Tim Weinhart, who finished second and the 17th. The playoff returned to the third respectively.

15th and Smith, the head pro at Paolozzi closed with a 72 after a bogey Frederica GC on St. Simons Island, at the par-5 18th for a 6-under 138 total. claimed the final spot when he hit his Anderson, an instructor at Brunswick approach shot under trees from the rough

[ See Paolozzi, page 28 ] NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

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Stevens captures Georgia PGA Senior PNC title Scores first big win of 2015 after earlier struggles

By Mike Blum

or almost the past two decades, Craig Stevens has been one of the most consistently successful players in the Georgia PGA Section.

Stevens has earned Player of the Year honors three times (2001, 2012 and ‘13), won 13 Section points events including three Georgia PGA Championships, two Match Play titles and the 2011 Atlanta

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which also serves as a qualifier for the PGA Senior Professional National Championship.

He shot 2-under 142 for 36 holes on the demanding layout at Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek to win by four.

Stevens led a group of eight Georgia PGA members who qualified for the PGA Senior PNC, which was played Oct. 15-18 at the Bayonet and Black Horse courses in Seaside, Calif.

The Georgia PGA sent 10 players to

Collins Hill GC, was eighth at 149, with Glen Herrell of Doublegate CC ninth at 150. Mark Anderson of Brunswick CC got the final qualifying spot in a playoff over Brian Puterbaugh, an instructor at the Hooch, with both finishing at 151.

Stevens posted scores of 69-73—142, with his opening 69 the low score of the tournament and just one of three underpar rounds on the highly-regarded Settindown Creek layout. He hit 13 greens in regulation in the opening

GEORGIA PGA

Open. Since turning 50 in 2011, Stevens has won the Georgia Senior Open three times and the Senior PGA Championship in 2012.

With only two tournaments left on the 2015 schedule, Stevens had yet to win a tournament other than two victories early this year in low-key Georgia PGA Senior Division events. Stevens came close to a fourth victory in five years in the Georgia Senior Open, but struggled in Georgia PGA events until a tie for seventh in the recent Section Championship at Sea Island GC. Stevens, the Director of Instruction at Brookstone G&CC, came through with his best showing of the year in the Georgia PGA Senior Championship, 24

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Craig Stevens

the Senior PNC, as James Mason and Sonny Skinner were already exempt for nationals. Mason tied for second in last year’s Senior PNC, while Skinner was exempt after making the cut in the 2014 Senior PGA Championship. Skinner tied for fourth at 147 and Mason tied for sixth at 148 in the Georgia PGA Senior Championship.

Tying for second at 2-over were Griffin City Golf Course head pro Charlie King and Cherokee T&CC Director of Instruction Russell Davis. Currahee Director of Golf Clark Spratlin tied Skinner for fourth at 147, with Marietta CC Director of Golf Stephen Keppler tying Mason for sixth at 148.

Scott Hare, Director of Golf at

Russ Davis

round, got up-and-down four of five times and carded four birdies to take a three-shot lead over Puterbaugh, the only player to match par.

“I played a very solid round,” Stevens said of his 69. He followed with a respectable 73 highlighted by back-toback birdie putts of around 25 feet on the 11th and 12th holes after Spratlin briefly pulled into a tie for the lead with a birdie at the 11th.

King got to even par for the tournament with birdies at 12 and 13, but fell into a tie for second when he threeputted 17 and 18 for bogeys and a 72.

Davis played steadily with a pair of 73s, but was hurt by a double bogey the second day on the short, par-3 seventh.

Spratlin, playing in senior events this year for the first time, was 1-under for the tournament after his final round birdie at the 11th, but struggled from there with a double bogey at the 13th and bogeys at 17 and 18, the latter after a huge drive that almost reached the creek fronting the downhill par-4. He shot 74 to tie for fourth with Skinner, whose 1-under 71 was the second lowest score of the day.

Keppler shot 6-under 138 at Settindown Creek last year to win by four over Anderson. He managed six birdies in the opening round and was 2-under after 14 holes, but a bogey at 15 and a double bogey at 17 left him with a 73.

He needed a birdie at 18 the next day for a 75. Like Skinner, Mason opened with a 76 but came back with a 72 to tie Keppler for sixth.

Hare and Herrell both made their first ever appearances in the PGA Senior PNC. Hare was 2-under the first day after an eagle on the par-5 10th, but settled for a 74 after four bogeys on the last eight holes. He shot 75 the next day with four birdies.

Herrell shot 80 in the opening round and was 3-over after two holes the next day before responding with a stellar comeback. He carded seven birdies after that, played his last 16 holes in 5-under and shot 70, with birdies at 15 and 16 earning him a spot at nationals.

Anderson, who was second in the Senior PNC last year behind Keppler, needed a pair of late birdies in the first round to shoot 75, and rebounded from back-to-back bogeys to start his second round, getting back to even par at the turn. He was well under the number to qualify for nationals until the par-3 12th, where he suffered a triple bogey after a double hit on a pitch shot.

After the triple, Anderson admitted he “was almost in tears,” but pulled himself together and saved par on the 13th from 50 yards short of the green and made birdie on the difficult 14th. A bogey at the par-5 16th dropped Anderson outside the top 10, but Puterbaugh bogeyed the 18th after an errant tee shot to drop into a tie with Anderson for the final qualifying spot.

Puterbaugh struggled early in the final round and fell to 6-over after a double[ See Stevens, page 28 ] NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

Georgia trio qualify for PGA Senior PNC hree Georgians qualified for the 2016 Senior PGA Championship by finishing among the top 35 in the recent PGA Senior Professional National Championship, played at the Bayonet and Black Horse courses in Seaside, Calif.

James Mason, who was second in the Senior PNC last year, tied for 11th at 4under 284 after sharing the 36-hole lead with scores of 68-69—137. Mason was one shot out of the lead in second place after a third round 71, but shot 76 the final day to finish seven behind the winner.

Also qualifying was Clark Spratlin, in his first year of senior eligibility.

Spratlin shot 70-73-71-73—287 and tied for 21st at 287. Sonny Skinner, a regular in the Senior PGA Championship in recent years, tied for 28th at 288 with

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scores of 73-69-74-72. Skinner got off to a rocky start in the final round, but carded four birdies over his last 11 holes to qualify with one shot to spare.

Stephen Keppler, Craig Stevens and Russ Davis all missed the 36-hole by just one shot, with all three posting scores of 146. Mark Anderson missed the cut by three at 148, with Charlie King, Scott Hare and Glen Herrell also failing to make it past the second round.

Mason had chance to lead after 54 holes, but a double bogey on the 16th hole prevented him from taking the lead going to the final round. Mason was still in position for a top-3 finish midway through the fourth round, but three consecutive bogeys on the back nine knocked him out of the top 10.

Spratlin also had a shot a top-10 finish before making three bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine, offsetting a pair of birdies in that stretch.

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Weinhart Player of the Year for eighth time Breaks GPGA record he shared with Wolff

uring his almost two decades of being a member of the Georgia PGA, Tim Weinhart has 13 career victories in points events, including all four of the Section’s majors and three wins in an event with near-major status.

But the last of Weinhart’s Section victories came in 2012 when he won the Match Play Championship and the Section’s qualifier for the PGA Professional National Championship for the third and fourth time respectively.

Although he was unable to add to his list of Section victories in any of the last three years, it wasn’t for lack of opportunities. Weinhart had a pair of runner-up finishes in 2013 and a second, third and fourth place showings last year. He finished both years second on the Georgia PGA’s points list after claiming the top spot in the standings seven times in 10 years from 2002 to 2011.

Weinhart shared the Georgia PGA record for Player of the Year honors with Gregg Wolff since claiming the award for a seventh time in 2011, but was unable to break the tie with Wolff in the three subsequent years.

Despite a third straight winless season, Weinhart captured his eighth Player of the Year award in 2015, turning in an exceptionally consistent string of performances to easily outdistance his closest pursuers. Weinhart held such a comfortable lead that he would have placed first on the points list even if he did not play in the final Georgia PGA event of the year and the player closest to him in the standings had won.

Weinhart ended the year with 6800 points, more than 2000 ahead of runnerup Mark Anderson. James Mason was third and Sonny Skinner fourth, with both winning multiple Player of the Year honors previously. All three won a Georgia PGA major in 2015, but could not match the consistent success Weinhart enjoyed during the year.

In 2015, Weinhart finished second or third in five of the seven points events, but twice came away with first place points. He tied for second in the seasonopening Rivermont Championship, but received first place points because the tournament winner has not yet achieved Class A PGA status and is not eligible to

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GEORGIA PGA

By Mike Blum

Tim Weinhart

compete for Player of the Year honors.

Weinhart was third in the Georgia PGA event at Berkeley Hills, but again received first place points, as the top two finishers were amateurs. After a disappointing final round in the Atlanta Open, the first of the Georgia PGA’s majors, Weinhart reached the semifinals of the Match Play Championship, was second in the Section Championship and took third in the recent Georgia PGA qualifier for the PGA Professional National Championship.

“I played solid golf all year round,” Weinhart said after his third place finish in the Georgia PGA PNC at Dunwoody Country Club. Weinhart won the Section award for low scoring average (71.3) for a fifth time, with the honor particularly meaningful for Weinhart because the award is named for Wolff, who Weinhart describes as “probably the nicest man I know. If I aspired to be like anyone, I would want to be like him.”

Wolff was the Georgia PGA’s Player of the Year seven times in an 8-year span from 1984-91, with Stephen Keppler earning the honor four straight years from 1993-96 and both Mason and Craig Stevens winning three times each since then. Weinhart matched Wolff and Keppler with four titles in a row from

2002-05 and won three straight from 2009-11.

Early in his career in the Georgia PGA, Weinhart endured a succession of near misses, losing five times in playoffs, four of them in majors between 2000 and 2003. He scored his first win in the 2004 Georgia Open, one of only two Section members to win that event over the past 20 years. He won three times the next year, including the Match Play and Section Championships, scored the first of his four wins in the Georgia PGA PNC in ‘06, and after several near-misses, won the Atlanta Open in ‘09 to complete the Section Grand Slam.

Weinhart won the Georgia PGA PNC three times in four years between 2006 and ‘09, and played well enough in the event to qualify the national club professional championship 15 consecutive years beginning in 1999, when he tied for second in the Section qualifier.

But his string was broken last year, and Weinhart was determined not to let that happen again.

“That was a very strong motivating factor,” he said with a broad grin, an unspoken testament to how much missing the PNC earlier this year hurt him.

Weinhart effectively locked up one of

seven qualifying spots in the PNC for Georgia PGA members the first day of the 36-hole event at Dunwoody Country Club with a 4-under 68 he said could have been “six, seven, eight or nineunder. I hit 17 greens and had a lot of great looks, but I didn’t make anything.

I played exceptionally well other than one swing. But my putter was unusually cold.”

Four birdies in a 6-hole stretch starting at the seventh put Weinhart in position for a possible score in the mid 60s, but his lone missed green at the 16th resulted in a double bogey. He rallied with an eagle at the par-5 18th for a 68 to put him in second after the first round, two behind eventual winner Karen Paolozzi.

Weinhart said he was “only focused on winning today,” but managed just one birdie and settled for a 74 to finish third at 142, four behind the winning total.

His third place finish capped a year that Weinhart said was surprisingly good “considering how much I was teaching.

My practice time was about non-existent.”

After teaching at the Standard Club in recent years, Weinhart gave his last lesson at the club the morning before he teed off in the final round of the PNC qualifier, and was to begin his new job as the Director of Instruction at Heritage Golf Links the next day.

Weinhart has taught at several clubs on Atlanta’s north side, but says this will be “the first time I’ve been in charge.”

He will be working with Heritage head pro Scott Curiel, who formerly held that position at the Standard Club.

Next year’s PGA PNC will be the 17th for Weinhart, who has made it to the PGA Championship five times. One of those years came when he played in the PNC at Turning Stone Resort in upstate New York, about an hour from where he grew up in Rochester.

Weinhart got the last qualifying spot at Turning Stone for the 2006 PGA Championship, the second straight year he survived a large playoff for the final spot in the PGA field. He also has three top 10s in the PGA PNC, and will be looking for a sixth next June.

“That will be cool,” he said of the prospect of playing in front of family members. “I get to go back home.”

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

Back9boys Golf Show covers variety of topics

By Rich Styles

any golf shows talk about who is leading a particular tournament; how many strokes under par he is and how it compares to the past. Way too many stats. The back9boys golf show on www.back9boys.com and on ESPN Coastal, a group of five radio stations covering SE Georgia from Brunswick/St. Simons Island to Savannah/Hilton Head, talks about how to improve your swing, your putting, how and why to get fitted by a professional. The Back9boys also covers how to eat on the golf course with more purpose; to drink more water not out of plastic containers.

We talk with teaching pros, PGA /LPGA/Champions/Web.com pros who talk about their journey to be on the tour, to win and what happens along the way when you have to battle back to the tour.

What do they do in their off time, how

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important it is to schedule rest into their schedules. Many work with their team on swing, putting, mental concentration, diet and hydration issues. We talk about why people play golf and how they started. Back9boys talks with authors of books about golf and designers of some of the great courses.

I fell in love with the game after many years of playing baseball. I have worked in radio as a DJ and Sales Manager; owned a couple of advertising/marketing/PR firms before following an opportunity to begin a new adventure with my wife on St. Simons Island. Golf is not a game of perfect.

It is the hardest game I have ever played, most challenging. Just when you think you have it figured‌you don’t.

On the show, we have had the honor of talking with Billy Casper, Davis Love III, Doug Sanders, Chi Chi Rodriguez, [ See Back9boys, page 28 ]

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Paolozzi

[ Continued from page 22 ]

the Georgia PGA Match Play Championship and qualified for the 2015 PGA Senior PNC in a playoff, will be making his first PNC start at the age of 55.

This is the third time Puterbaugh has qualified for the PNC, with his first appearance in the event coming at Reynolds Plantation in 2008. He finished second in the Georgia PGA PNC last year and won the event at Summit Chase in 1999 when there was a regional PNC in between Sectional qualifiers and nationals. After consecutive bogeys early

Stevens

[ Continued from page 24 ]

bogey at the 11th. He came back with six straight pars before his closing bogey, and did not have any better luck when he and Anderson returned to the 18th for the playoff. He hit his second shot into the creek protecting the front pin position, with Anderson winning the hole with a par.

It was Anderson’s second appearance in the PGA Senior PNC and his first trip to California. He was in position to qualify

in his final round in Dunwoody, Puterbaugh carded back-to-back birdies at holes 5 and 6, and played solidly the rest of the way with 11 pars and a birdie at the par-5 11th.

Ormsby started his final round with nine straight 4s, ending his streak with a birdie at the par-4 10th. He wound up with a 73 after two bogeys on the back nine.

Paolozzi was just 1-under after 12 holes in the opening round, but ran off five birdies on her final six holes, chipping in on 13 and 16 and hitting it close for the other three birdies in her torrid finishing stretch.

“I hit my irons pretty good, and when I didn’t hit it on the green, I chipped spectacularly,” Paolozzi said. She had seven birdies after taking a bogey on the opening hole, but did not make her first birdie in better conditions two days later until the 15th hole. It wasn’t her career low round, ranking just behind “several 65s. But it was definitely a very, very good round for me.”

Paolozzi three-putted the par-5 fourth for bogey in the second round, and her lead was reduced to one shot when Anderson notched back-to-back birdies at 4 and 5. Weinhart briefly closed within one of the lead with a birdie at the

without a great deal of drama before what he thought was a well-struck tee shot to the 12th “hit hard” and wound up in a fluffy lie over the green. The ball was sitting up in the rough and he got under his pitch shot a bit, resulting in the double hit.

“That was how much it meant to me,” he said of his emotional reaction to the triple bogey, but he settled down and earned his spot at nationals, giving him a chance for some redemption after a disappointing showing last year.

Mason was second in the PGA Senior PNC in south Florida in 2014, with

Skinner tying for 10th, Keppler tying for 18th and Stevens narrowly finishing inside the top 35 to join them at the PGA Senior Championship. Skinner, Stevens and Keppler have been regulars in the Senior PNC in recent years, with Mason joining them in the field last year with his career on the Champions Tour nearing an end.

King and Anderson made their first Senior PNC appearances last year, with Davis playing in the event for the fifth time this year since 2009.

Stevens has been a regular in both the PGA and Senior PNC, qualifying for the senior event every time since his first year of eligibility in 2011. That streak appeared in jeopardy considering his recent form, but he began to show signs of getting his game back to its usual level in the Section Championship two weeks prior to the GPGA Senior Championship.

For most of the year, Stevens says he has had a busy teaching schedule at Brookstone, and as a result, “I’ve neglected my game.” He made an equipment alteration earlier in the year, and said he “liked my ball flight on the range, but when I took it to the golf course, I didn’t know where it was going.”

Stevens recently returned to his old shafts and said he “got my distance control

Back9boys

[ Continued from page 27 ]

Peggy Kirk Bell, Hank Haney, David Ledbetter, Tom Fazio, Rees Jones, Zack Johnson, Harris English as well as many of golf’s leading instructors like Todd Anderson, Mike Shannon, Gale Peterson, Chrissy Felton, Randy Myers, Scott Fedison, Daniel Hocutt. We have talked with nutritionists, fitness experts and wellness care providers who said do not drink water out of plastic containers.

The chemicals in the plastic are not 28

FOREGEORGIA.COM

eighth, and Anderson birdied the 10th to again get within a shot. Paolozzi hit it close on the par-4 15th for birdie to extend her lead to three, and after an Anderson birdie at 16, Paolozzi locked up her win, rolling in a lengthy birdie putt at 17.

The victory was worth $4,800 for Paolozzi, who also won the 2014 Georgia Women’s Open shortly after moving from Ohio to join the staff at Druid Hills.

Paolozzi, who also won the 2015 Assistants’ Championship at Laurel Springs, played the Georgia PGA PNC at Dunwoody CC at 6,050 yards, with the men playing tees listed at 7,040 yards.

Charlie King

back. I’ve been hitting a lot of balls and working out like I did when I was about to turn 50 and playing well. It takes a lot of work to get your game in shape.”

Since turning 50 in 2011, Stevens has won one of the Georgia PGA’s two main senior tournaments every year, taking the Senior Open in 2011, ‘13 and ‘14 and the PGA Senior in 2012 and ‘15. He also won his third Section Championship and only Atlanta Open title after celebrating his 50th birthday, along with his second and third Player of the Year titles.

He described his struggles earlier this year as “just a hiccup. I knew I still had the ability to play the game. I never did think I was done. If I continue to work at it, I still have the ability and mental stability to compete.” good for you.

Back9boys.com is on 24/7, 365 with interviews, videos and more. Back9boys Golf Show on ESPN Coastal is on every Saturday and Sunday, 8-9amEST. Back9boys Golf Show offers a view from being a caddie, to psychology, teaching, pros past and present, designing courses all aspects to get to the heart of golf with experts and lovers of the game. No topic is out of line as long as it relates to golf.

I have a passion for the game and work to have that passion come through to the listeners.

Contact info is rich@back9boys.com.

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RSM Classic [ Continued from page 8 ]

Spieth

[ Continued from page 10 ]

green on the long, par-4 fifth, which yielded only three birdies all week, none in the final round when the wet conditions made the hole play even longer than normal. A rare three-putt at the sixth dropped the two into a tie, but thanks to Spieth’s deadly putting touch, the tie did not last long.

Stenson missed the eighth fairway and did well to get his second shot into the deep front bunker short of the green.

Spieth took advantage by rolling in a 20footer for birdie, and Stenson missed his par attempt of less than six feet to lose two shots on the hole.

It looked like Stenson might cut into

Kisner

[ Continued from page 12 ]

and Players, but lost both when Jim Furyk and Rickie Fowler followed with a second playoff birdie. Kisner made it to extra holes for a third time in the Greenbrier, but did not make it past the first hole of a 4-man playoff.

At the Heritage, Kisner shot 7-under 64 in the final round to erase a 3-stroke deficit after 54 holes. He birdied three of the last five holes, including the famous 18th at Harbour Town, but lost to Furyk, who birdied the par-3 17th after both he and Kisner birdied the 18th.

In the Players, Kisner closed with a 69 including birdies at the 16th and 17th at TPC Sawgrass, and birdied the 17th again in the playoff. But he lost when Fowler matched his first birdie at 17 and birdied it again when they returned to the 17th for the fourth extra hole.

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tees the first two days before the cut, the RSM Classic is better positioned to deal with possible weather delays.

The Georgia PGA will be represented in the tournament Tim by We i n h a r t , who claimed Player of the Year honors for a record eighth time in 2015.

Weinhart has made appearances in the tournament previously and has made several strong runs at making the 36hole cut, a rare achievement for a PGA professional.

The RSM Classic begins with a pro-am on Monday of tournament week, with a noon shotgun start on Seaside and free admission to the public. The courses will be closed to the public on Tuesday, with both Seaside and Plantation hosting proams on Wednesday.

A highlight of tournament week will be a concert Saturday night with Martina McBride at the St Simons airport, which is across the street from Seaside and Plantation. Previous pretournament concerts had been held on Plantation’s first hole, but it will be used for its intended purpose this year.

Golf Channel will provide live coverage of the tournament all four days from 1-4 p.m., with cameras located on both courses Thursday and Friday.

Spieth’s lead at nine after sticking his wedge approach to the par 5 within two feet of the cup. But Spieth nailed an 18footer to match Stenson’s birdie.

Both players missed the green on the 10th, like the fifth a par 5 converted into a par 4 for the tournament, and made bogey. Stenson again threatened to reduce Spieth’s lead when he landed his tee shot within four feet on the par-3 11th, but Spieth again thwarted Stenson’s attempt to rally, holing a bomb of more than 45 feet.

Another Stenson bogey at 12 increased Spieth’s lead to three, and Stenson was unable to exert any pressure after that.

Spieth holed a pair of clutch par putts at 15 and 16 to maintain his lead, and when a dejected Stenson made double bogey after a terrible approach shot to the 17th,

the last obstacle to Spieth’s crowning achievement was swept away.

Stenson holed a thoroughly unexpected 57-footer for birdie from across the 18th green to grab a share of second with Danny Lee and Justin Rose at 5-under. Spieth closed with a 69, his fourth straight round in the 60s, for a winning total of 9-under 271. Lee and Rose both carded seven birdies the final day, with both turning in 4-under 31.

Lee shot 65, with Rose posting a 66 despite a wildy errant tee shot on the 10th that went out of bounds and resulted in a double bogey.

Casey closed with a 70 to tie for fifth at 276 with big hitters Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson. Watson shot 68-67 on the weekend, while Johnson played his final 11 holes Sunday in 7-under for a 64,

the best round of the day and the second lowest of the tournament.

Zach Johnson tied for eighth at 277 and was joined in the top 10 by fellow St. Simons Island resident Matt Kuchar, who tied Day for 10th at 278, Stenson’s unlikely birdie at the 18th enabled him to move past Day in the final FedExCup standings, a $1 million difference in bonus money, and was worth almost $300,000 for his three-way tie for second, as opposed to a possible four-way tie for fourth.

Spieth collected $1.485 million from the purse of $8.25 million, making for an almost $11.5 million payday. Spieth contended in his first start at East Lake two years ago, closing with a final round 64 to tie for second, three shots behind Stenson.

After consecutive finishes of fifth in the Colonial, eighth in the Memorial and 12th in the U.S. Open, Kisner found himself in a third playoff in the Greenbrier, firing a final round 64 with five birdies on his last 10 holes to come from four back after 54 holes. A bad break and a worse lie quickly took him out of the playoff, as a birdie was required to make it past the first extra hole.

Kisner finished the regular season 17th in the FedExCup points list and wound up 21st after a disappointing showing at East Lake.

“You always want to win,” Kisner said of his 0-3 playoff record. “My goal was to have a shot to win and I did that, but you’ve got to finish. I played well; it’s not like I lost ‘em.”

Kisner had no ready explanation for his massive jump from outside the top 100 in 2014 to inside the top 20 for most of the Playoffs.

“I’ve just improved a lot the last few years.”

Kisner believed he would be able to accomplish the challenging feat of standing up to the pressure if he managed to get into contention, and did it every time he had the chance this season.

As a result he will make his first start in the Masters next April, making the drive of less than half an hour from his home in Aiken.

Kisner will be the latest ex-Bulldog to qualify for the Masters, joining former teammates Kirk and Todd along with English, Russell Henley and Brian Harman, who followed Kisner in Athens.

Although he is not a native Georgian like all of that group other than Todd, Kisner has a closer connection to Augusta, and said he is “looking forward to getting that invitation right around Christmas. That will be the coolest Christmas present.

“Obviously, growing up there, that’s

such a huge part of my career; going to the Masters and being a part of the week.

Aiken gets invaded with Masters patrons and other people that come to town. So I grew up in the middle of it and I know how big it is, because I grew up there.

Just excited to go play.”

Kisner anticipates taking full advantage of his access to Augusta National as a Master invitee, and gave the staff at the course advance warning.

“They’re probably going to get sick of me around there before the tournament.

Probably going to tell me I’ve come enough and my preparation ought to be done.”

All the players who competed at East Lake will be in the 2016 Masters field, including Patrick Reed, who led Augusta State to consecutive NCAA titles. Reed finished 18th in the final FedExCup standings, but was 27th in the Tour Championship, just ahead of Kisner.

ROB MATRE

“the spectators like to see guys make birdies,” with the likelihood that the four par 5s will remain par 5s for the tournament.

“It will be exciting to see how the players will handle Plantation,” Reid said. “A lot of players think Plantation is harder than Seaside. But they’re playing just one round and things will depend on the wind.”

The later date will bring the weather into play more than the previous five years, with the likelihood of cooler temperatures. The tournament has enjoyed near perfect weather thus far, but with only a.m. tee times off the first and 10th

Chris Kirk

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