july 2015 fore georgia magazine

prominent in Atlanta area golf circles asit once was.

Among the reasons was the departureof the club’s original Japanese ownership,which spent lavishly to help create GolfClub of Georgia’s lofty reputation. Themembership operated the club for abouta decade, but it eventually became neces-

sary for the members to sell. Businessman Ben Kenny, who also

owns Horseshoe Bend in Roswell,acquired Golf Club of Georgia last year,and is early in the process of restoring theclub’s standing in the Atlanta golf com-munity, much as he has done in recentyears with Horseshoe Bend.

Kenny invested millions of dollars inthe restoration of Horseshoe Bend, withthe improvements to the course, club-house and infrastructure coming instages. The same outline for Golf Club ofGeorgia has already begun, with theCreekside course opening recently afterfive months of renovation work byMedalist Golf and renowned Atlanta-based golf course architect Bob Cupp,who also handled the renovation atHorseshoe Bend.

Improvements to the clubhouse are tobegin this month and expected to takeabout a year to complete. The changeswill include a reconfiguration of themen’s locker room and grille, anupdating of the main dining room andthe creation of some meeting spacewithin the existing building. The socialaspects of the clubhouse will also beaddressed, with a new banquet hall andthe expansion of the bar to make it anindoor/outdoor operation.

Golf Club of Georgia opened as a golfclub as opposed to a country club, and

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hen the Golf Club ofGeorgia opened inthe early 1990s, itimmediately shot to

the top of the list of metro Atlanta’sfinest private golf clubs, with theLakeside course selected as the bestnew private course to open in the U.S.in 1991.

The Creekside course followed twoyears later, giving the club a secondstandout layout that provided adecided contrast in playing style fromLakeside.

In short order, the Alpharetta clubhosted the Georgia Amateur, U.S.Open qualifiers, Georgia PGA tour-naments, a unique pre-Masters eventmatching the U.S. and BritishAmateur champions, and a ChampionsTour stop for six years.

The Champions Tour event ended in2000 due to sponsorship issues, andother than the Georgia Cup and anannual college tournament the clubhas hosted for the past decade, GolfClub of Georgia has not been nearly as [ See Golf Club of Georgia, page 6 ]

W

Bright future for Golf Club of Georgia

.com

GEORGIAPGA.COM FOREGEORGIA.COM JULY 2015

««

CrosswordPuzzlePage 38

Golf Club of Georgia, Lakeside 11th hole

New owner returning club to lofty status

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

2 0 1 5 J U LY 3F O R E G E O R G I A . C OM

ALL greens are the same speed!

Georgia Open preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Atlanta Open wrapup. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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

Ga. Women's Open preview . . . . . . . 14

FedExCup update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Travel: Maggie Valley. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Judson tournament wrapup . . . . . . . 22

Roberto Castro feature . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Lee McCoy ponders future . . . . . . . . 26

PGA Tour event in Alabama. . . . . . . 28

Planterra Ridge renovation. . . . . . . . 29

up short.So, how did I choose such a

(seemingly) poor title for thisarticle? For any given length ofa putt, my speed neverchanges. Poor putters are con-stantly trying to adapt theirspeed to the new conditions.For every 10 foot putt that I

have ever hit, my speed has always beenthe same. In other words, I have a “normal”speed that I would use to make a 10footer. When I arrive at a tournament, I’llmake a few strokes from the flattest 10

feet that I can find. If I find that every putttravels 3 feet past the hole, the greens are3 feet faster than my “normal” speed.Therefore, every hole on the course justbecame 3 feet closer to me. My imaginaryhole is now closer on every putt. My targethole changes, so my speed doesn’t have tovary.

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

In these pictures, you’ll see that I havecreated white, imaginary target holes formy eyes. In the 1st picture, I have foundthat the green is rolling 3 feet faster thatmy “normal” speed. So, I have created anew hole at 7 feet, and I can make a“normal” stroke to my 7 foot target. WhenI think that it’s going to stop at the 7 footmark, it rolls another 3 feet to reach my 10foot hole.In the 2nd picture, I have found that the

greens roll 3 feet slower than my “normal”speed. So, I have created a new target holethat is 3 feet past my 10 foot target. When

I am preparing for thespeed of my putt, my eyesbecome focused on mynew, imaginary targetinstead of the hole. If youreyes get distracted by thehole, you’ll lose your dis-tance control.Additional accommo-

dations must be made foruphill and downhill putts,but those must be madeafter you have made yourinitial adjustment. Havinga downhill 10 footer onthe fastest greens, the

target hole could be 3 feet away from you.I’ll always be aggressive or accelerating tomy target hole, although that target maybe well short of the hole. When you areable to visualize an imaginary hole and areable to distract yourself from the real hole,you will find an amazing ability to controldistance.

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GEORGIA SECT ION, PGA OF AMERICA OFF ICERS

PresidentMark Mongell, PGA / [email protected]

Vice PresidentBrian Albertson, PGA / [email protected]

SecretaryJohn Godwin, PGA / [email protected]

Honorary PresidentBrian Stubbs, PGA / [email protected]

CHAPTER PRES IDENTS

Central Chapter PresidentWinston Trively, PGA / [email protected]

East Chapter PresidentBrandon Youmans / [email protected]

North Chapter PresidentShawn Koch, PGA / [email protected]

AT-LARGE DIRECTORS

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

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

Todd Ormsby, PGA / [email protected]

SENIOR DIV IS ION

PresidentMike Schlueter, PGA / [email protected]

ASS ISTANTS’ D IV IS IONPresident

Will Bartram, PGA / [email protected]

SECT ION STAFF

Executive DirectorMike PaullAssistant Executive Director/

Junior Golf Director Scott GordonTournament Director Pat Day, PGAOperations Manager Eric WagnerSection Assistant Carrie Ann Byrne

FOREGeorgia is produced by Golf Media, Inc.Copyright ©2014 with all rights reserved.Reproduction or use, without permission, of editorial or graphic content is prohibited.Georgia PGA website: www.georgiapga.com.FORE Georgia website: www.foregeorgia.com

Instruction Fore You

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Forecast

FEATURES:

By Ted FortPGA Director of InstructionMarietta Golf Center

If you’re a great putter, youunderstand exactly what I meanby the title. If you’re a bad putter,stop buying new putters andread the rest of this article. As aPGA professional, I’m invited to play in numerous charity events each year and I have the pleasure of meeting many new people. The pleasure is meeting the amateurs and getting to know some-thing about them. But, many times, thetragedy is watching them putt. Putting is such an easy skill set and many of theskills can be learned, but few spend time perfecting the art.One of the biggest problems that I see

in poor putters is distance control. It’salmost impossible to miss a 10 foot puttby 5 feet to the right or 5 feet to the left ofthe hole. But, how many times have youseen someone hit a putt 5 feet past or 5feet short of the hole? (...maybe a recentU.S. Open?) We all know that greens arevery different from course to course, andmany will blame the speed of the greensfor their poor putting. When greens areextremely fast, poor putters will decel-erate in an attempt to keep the ball fromgoing too far past the hole. When theydecelerate, they lose control of the clubface, making it almost impossible tostart a downhill putt on the intended line.When the greens are slow, they never get the ball to the hole. Everything comes

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that aspect will not change. However,for families that want swim and tennisfacilities along with the great golf theclub offers, Golf Club of Georgia mem-bers have access to those at HorseshoeBend, which has long been well-regarded for both and formerly hosted anATP tour event,

Jacqueline Welch, the vice presidentfor both clubs, describes the work beingdone at Golf Club of Georgia as “a totaltransformation. Golf Club of Georgiahad an amazing reputation and we wantto capitalize on that reputation. We’remaking a lot of changes to bring it to thenext level.”

In addition to the renovation work onCreekside and the improvements to theclubhouse, one of the aims of the club’s“transformation” is to make it a moreinviting place for families. Withoutswim and tennis, Golf Club of Georgiaoperated as mainly a guys’ club, butwith more of an emphasis placed onjunior clinics and camps, the family-oriented direction the club is heading inis already evident.

Kenny’s efforts to upgrade the entirefacility at Horseshoe Bend have beenwell received by its membership, whospent many years hoping for a return toits 1980s status as one of the Atlantaarea’s top private clubs.

According to Welch, Kenny isbringing the “one vision, one direction”approach he used at Horseshoe Bend toturn around the declining status there toGolf Club of Georgia. After more than adecade of being a membership-operatedclub, not everyone was on board with thechange in direction, but as Welch pointedout, “It’s hard to make everybody happy.”

Welch says there was also some initialskepticism at Horseshoe Bend afterKenny acquired the club and informedthe membership of his plans for it, butafter the sizeable amount of money hespent to improve it, the skepticism hasbeen replaced by appreciation.

Kenny’s goal for the members of hisclubs is simple, Welch says.

“He wants you to enjoy yourself.” For more than two decades, the mem-

bers at Golf Club of Georgia haveenjoyed a pair of outstanding but con-trasting courses, but have enjoyed onemore than the other.

Lakeside, the first of the two to bedesigned by acclaimed architect ArthurHills, was built on the prime golf courseland on the property, with much of theback nine winding along LakeWindward. Creekside was constructed on

a site not as ideal for a golfcourse, with a considerablenumber of wetlands areasimpacting the layout and theterrain not nearly as gentle asthat used for Lakeside.

While Lakeside offered atraditional, tree-lined set-ting with its large,undulating greens respon-sible for much of itschallenge. Creekside wasmore of a modern, target-style course, with thewetlands areas requiring anumber of forced carries.

Over the years, some ofthe areas that required shotsto have to carry from point Ato point B have become fairways, and afew others are either having some of thehigh native grasses mowed or beingsodded to add some definition.

John Huban, who took over as GolfClub of Georgia’s head professionalabout a year ago, says member play waslargely oriented towards Lakeside.

“They sort of avoided Creekside. Itwas hard and a little too demanding.”

Among Cupp’s changes was theremoval of a sizeable percentage ofbunkers, mostly along the fairways, withlittle work done to the greens com-plexes. Some new tees were added toreduce the length of some of the forcedcarries, and a new set of senior tees arebeing introduced to make it a little lessintimidating for members who can’t hitit as far as they once did.

Huban said the initial response toCupp’s efforts to soften Creekside a bitwas positive, but it remains a seriouschallenge, just not quite as daunting asit was previously.

The removal of many of the fairwaybunkers has made Creekside a lessdemanding course off the tee, but thereare still plenty of holes that will notrespond kindly to miss-hit shots. If youcan hit it reasonably solid off the tee,Creekside is not an overwhelming test,although there are several stout par 4s anda pair of demanding par 3s that willrequire your best efforts to avoid damageto your scorecard.

Creekside’s more inviting front nineoffers a number of scoring opportunities,beginning with a narrow, rolling par 5that features one of the more slopinggreens on the course. For the most part,the excellent putting surfaces onCreekside are gentler than those onLakeside, but they have sufficient move-ment and speed to put your touch to thetest.

Both par 3s on the outgoing nine areshort and on the tame side, with a pair of

undersized par 4s alsooffering scoring opportuni-ties. The ninth still requiresa modest carry over a hazard,but with the right sidefairway bunkers removed is amuch more receptive hole.

There are three standoutholes on the nine, startingwith the narrow par-4 third,one of several with sizeable hills alongthe fairway that can be friend or foedepending on how it re-directs shotsthat land on them.

The toughest hole on the course, andone of the most difficult you’llencounter anywhere, is the long par-4eighth, with a creek short of the greenrequiring a lay-up for shorter hitters orthose whose tee shots are a bit errant. Along, narrow green presents a toughtarget from long range, with fall-offsalong the edges making for some testyshort game shots.

Creekside’s target nature is perhapsbest exemplified by the reachable par-5fifth, which sports a large, island fairwayfollowed by an angled second shot over awetlands area that is being re-sodded.Trouble and trees left of a narrow strip ofgreen and a thin row of trees are in playto the right for those who bail out.

There are no soft touches on thelengthier back nine, with the only shorthole among the group the par-4 13th,which begins with a carry over wetlandsto a fairway that runs out for those whohit more club than they need. Even ifyou find the fairway, a tree short left ofthe green can impede approach shots.

The remainder of the nine features twolengthy par 3s with hazards in play, a par5 with a creek that winds through thefairway and impacts both the secondand third shots, two more par 4srequiring carries to reach the fairwayand a pair of strong par-4 finishingholes that lack hazards but not

much else. Lakeside is not as potentially penal as

Creekside, but has more than its share ofwater in play, along with some greens thatcan get very quick with plenty of break.

Water is a serious factor on about halfthe holes, including an exceptional trioof par 3s that rate high for both beautyand challenge. Both nines finish withrisk/reward par 5s with water guardingthe greens, and the par-5 11th offerssome glorious views with a greenperched along Lake Windward.

The par fours are a diverse group, withfour on the short side and only one withserious yardage numbers, with its down-hill nature reducing the effective length.Most of the fairways are on the generousside, with the greens complexes pro-viding much of the challenge on acourse, that like Creekside, is superblyconditioned.

Golf Club of GA[ Continued from the cover ]

For information on Golf Club of Georgia,call 770-664-8644 or visit

www.golfclubofgeorgia.com

Golf Club of Georgia

Lakeside Hole #6

Creekside Hole #11

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ot all golf tournaments pro-duce down-to-the-wireexcitement, with the out-come not decided until the

final hole. For most of the past decade, the

Georgia Open has only had a handful ofcompetitive finishes, with the winningmargin seven shots in three of the lastfour tournaments.

Two of those three runaway victoriesbelong to Jay McLuen, who scored hisfirst win in the tournament at BarnsleyGardens in 2011 and won again last yearat Pinetree Country Club, the first timethe event was sponsored by Tilted Kilt, asports pub with several metro Atlantalocations. Jonathan Fricke also won by seven in

2013 at the Legends at Chateau Elan, hissecond straight tournament title afterscoring a narrow victory the previousyear, also at the Legends.

McLuen and Fricke are part of thestate’s contingent of tour players whohave taken home the majority of winners’trophies since the event began in 1954.

Winners in the 1960s and ‘70sincluded PGA Tour members TommyAaron, Hugh Royer, Jr., DeWittWeaver and Larry Nelson, with TimSimpson and Gene Sauers winningthree times each in the 1980s.

Aaron, Steve Melnyk, Lyn Lott, Bob

Tway and Franklin Langham all wonthe tournament as amateurs prior toturning pro on the way to stints on thePGA Tour. But once the purses on thattour skyrocketed beyond those offered bythe Georgia Open, the state’s PGA Tourcontingent ceded control of the event totour players competing at levels belowgolf’s major leagues.

No amateur has won the tournamentsince Langham in 1989, and the GeorgiaPGA has had only four winners sinceGregg Wolff in 1991 – StephenKeppler in 1994 and ‘95, TimWeinhart in 2004 and Jeff Hull in2007.

Several of the winners of the eventover the past 25 years used their victo-ries as springboards to careers as tourplayers that included the PGA Tour,including Langham in 1992, MattPeterson in ‘93, Justin Bolli in 2003and Roberto Castro in ‘09.

Former tour players who won theGeorgia Open after competing on thePGA Tour or what is now the Web.comTour include two-time champions DaveSchreyer (1996, 2001) and DickyThompson (1998-99), along with TimConley (2005) and Bryant Odom(2008). Fricke and McLuen are still bothcompeting on various tours, as is 2010winner Samuel Del Val.

The Georgia Open, which will beplayed August 6-9 at Pinetree inKennesaw, has played at various sitesaround the state since leaving Savannah,where it was based for a number of years,in the early 1990s. The tournament hasmade stops at courses on Lake Oconee(1994-96) and at Jekyll Island (1997-2000), playing primarily in metroAtlanta since making a visit to The Frogin 2001. The Legends has served as hostfive times, three of those between 2002and ‘05 and again in 2012 and ‘13.

Other host courses include SettindownCreek (2003), Reynolds Landing (‘06),Augusta’s Champions Retreat (‘07) andSavannah Harbor (2010), with BarnsleyGardens, the Legends and Pinetree allhosting the event multiple times from2008 through this year.

McLuen, a Forsyth resident who haslimited experience on the Web.com andPGA Tours, found Pinetree to his likinglast year, winning by seven with a 19-under 269 total. McLuen plays primarilyon regional tours in the Southeast, and

has made two 2015 starts on theWeb.com Tour, with his professionalhighlight a tie for 16th in the PGA TourMayakoba Classic in 2013.

After 36 holes last year at Pinetree,McLuen trailed Eddie Lee, a contenderin the tournament each of the last threeyears, by three shots. After opening withscores of 66 and 72, McLuen pulled awayfrom the field with scores of 66-65 thefinal two rounds to finish seven shotsahead of Jimmy Beck of Columbus.Third place was a distant 11 shots off thelead, with Matt Nagy and KelbyBurton tying for third at 280.

Beck, Nagy and Burton were allplaying on familiar turf. All three playedon the golf team at Kennesaw State withPinetree, the home course for the Owls.Both Beck and Burton were still mem-bers of the Owls’ team this past season,with Beck recently joining Nagy in theprofessional ranks. Beck, who had a top-10 finish on the eGolf Tour in his prodebut, won the Georgia Amateur atPinetree in 2013 and also won a collegeevent hosted by Kennesaw State at thecourse.

Lee tied for fifth at 281 after placingthird in 2012 and tying for fifth in 2013.Also tying for fifth last year was ChrisNicol of Georgia Golf Center, who waslow among the Georgia PGA contingentin the field.

McLuen has a history of success in theGeorgia Open. He lost in a playoff atReynolds Landing in 2006 tied for fourthin ‘07 at Champions Retreat and wasthird at Barnsley Gardens in ‘08. He won

by seven shots at Barnsley in 2011, andwas sixth and eighth the next two yearsat the Legends.

Nagy made an impact on the tourna-ment for the first time in 2012, finishingone shot behind Fricke at the Legends,the only time since 2007 the GeorgiaOpen has had a tightly contested finish.Nagy was 10th the next year beforeposting his second top-3 finish in 2014at Pinetree.

The last Georgia PGA member to winthe tournament was Hull in 2007, whoedged future PGA Tour player Luke Listby a shot, with amateur David Noll,McLuen and former PGA Tour playerJohn Engler of Augusta also contendingfor a victory. Hull was formerly head proat Port Armor (now Reynolds Landing)and has since left the Georgia PGASection for the Carolinas Section.

Since Hull’s win, the top finishes byGeorgia PGA members have been ties forfifth by Bill Murchison in 2008 andCraig Stevens in ‘09, ties for sixth in2011 by Murchison, Keppler and ClarkSpratlin, and Nicol’s tie for fifth lastyear.

Keppler, who won back-to-back tourna-ments at Lake Oconee in 1994 and ‘95,finished one shot out of a playoff there in‘06 along with Sonny Skinner, withHull two shots back in sixth on the coursewhere he spent two stints as head pro.

Weinhart, a seven-time Georgia PGA Player of the Year, had a strongthree-year run in the tournament from

[ See Georgia Open, page 12 ]

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Georgia Open returning to Pinetree

Pinetree’s scenic par-3 12th

McLuen looking for third title in event

Jay McLuen

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ntil the Yamaha AtlantaOpen Pro-Am, which wasplayed the day before thetournament teed off, Sonny

Skinner had never played a round of golfat White Columns Country Club, thetournament host.

Skinner shot 65 in the Pro-Am toclaim low pro honors, then followed witha 65 the next day to lead by two strokesafter the opening round.

After making 14 birdies in those tworounds, Skinner began the second andfinal day of the tournament with 11straight pars, falling into a tie for thelead at that point with playing partnersBradley Smith and J.P. Griffin, bothnew to the Georgia PGA.

Just like the pro-am and openinground, Skinner spent the final round hit-ting fairways and greens and givinghimself birdie opportunities on most ofthe holes. Unlike the previous two days,the putts did not fall for Skinner. Hemissed two short birdie attempts early inthe round and never made a putt of anyconsequence the entire day.

But thanks to one superb tee shot on apar 3 and a deft pitch for a near tap-in ona par 5, Skinner did not pull off a finalround Faldo (18 pars), carding twobirdies against 16 pars.

That proved to be just enough to pro-duce a narrow victory, as Skinner’s finalround 70 gave him a 36-hole score of 9-under 135 and a 1-shot margin overSmith, who closed with a 69 to takesecond at 136. Griffin made a bogey onthe final hole for a 71 and tied for thirdat 138 with Kyle Owen.

“I thought I had been here, but I didnot remember one hole, and I alwaysremember holes from courses I’veplayed,” Skinner said.

White Columns, an excellent TomFazio design, proved to be a perfect fit forSkinner, who drives it straight but notespecially long and hits lots of qualityiron shots, but does not hole a sizeablepercentage of his birdie efforts.

Skinner said he liked the way “thetrees framed the fairways. It fit my eye onevery hole and I could hit a good driveror 3-wood. The greens were holding, soyou could hit it where you looked, and Ihit a lot of greens.”

The veteran pro from Sylvester teaches

part time atRiver Pointe in Albany and plays a heavytournament schedule, competing in bothGeorgia PGA and national PGA events,along with occasional appearances on theChampions Tour.

“I think I only missed two greens yes-terday and only one today,” Skinner said.“And in the pro-am, I only missed two.”

Skinner also enjoyed the pastoral drivethrough the North Fulton suburbs toWhite Columns, and jokingly offeredthat he might leave his long time homein south Georgia to move somewhereclose to the course, while wondering ifWhite Columns head pro Mitch Cookmight have some part-time position onhis staff available.

Skinner built his first round lead onthe strength of seven birdies and nobogeys, notching birdies on four ofWhite Column’s most inviting holes (11,15, 16 and 7) and three of the most diffi-cult (14, 2 and 4). The 65 put him twoahead of Smith and Griffin, and the threebattled it out the final day, with Owenand Chris Nicol also contending.

Nicol, an assistant at Georgia GolfCenter and a two-time Georgia PGAtournament winner, shot 70 and tied forfifth at 139. Also tying for fifth was 2007Atlanta Open champion Bob Royak,who earned low amateur honors.

Smith, the Director of Instruction atEagle’s Landing, had three birdies and nobogeys in his second round, pullingwithin a shot of Skinner with a birdie onthe opening hole and tying for the leadwhen he holed a birdie putt at the shortpar-4 seventh.

Skinner regained the lead when he hithis tee shot on the par-3 12th to about

three feet, but Smithanswered when hereached the par-5 13th intwo for a tying birdie.Skinner broke the tiewhen he birdied the shortpar-5 15th while Smithhad to settle for par on thehole.

Smith almost forced aplayoff when his birdiepitch from a mound bor-dering the 18th greennarrowly missed. Skinnerclosed out his round withtwo solid pars, two-puttingfrom relatively long range onboth 17 and 18.

Like Skinner, Smith began his profes-sional career as a tour player, competingon tours in his native Australia, Asia andthe Latino America Tour before a badback led to a switch from playing toteaching. While a junior in Australia,Smith had a chance meeting more than adecade ago with Skinner, who wasplaying in a Buy.com (now Web.com)Tour event at Smith’s home club.

Smith said he told Skinner that storyand wanted to see if he remembered it.Smith went on to play college golf in theU.S. at UAB, and has played well in ahandful of starts in Georgia PGA Sectionand Assistants’ events, beginning with athird place finish last year in theAssistants’ Championship. In three startsthis year prior to the Atlanta Open, heteamed with Matthew Evans ofRivermont to tie for second in the Pro-Pro Scramble, won an Assistants’ event atAugusta Country Club and tied forsecond at Orchard Hills.

Griffin played at the mini-tour levelafter completing his college career atGeorgia Southwestern, and has joined thestaff at Cherokee Town & Country Clubas an assistant. He had three top-5 fin-ishes in Assistants’ Division eventsearlier this year and another top five inthe Pro-Assistant Championship beforehis strong showing at White Columns.

A back nine 30 in the opening roundshot Griffin into contention, and hemoved into a tie for the lead the secondday with back-to-back birdies at holes 10and 11. But he pulled his tee shot on thepar-3 12th into a tough lie and madedouble bogey. Birdies at the two par 5son the back nine kept him within range

of Skinner, but he went left off the 18thtee and had to chip out of the trees,resulting in a bogey

Owen, the head pro at DunwoodyCountry Club, closed within one ofSkinner with consecutive birdies at holes4, 5 and 6, but parred the next 12 holesfor a 70 and a 138 total.

A birdie at 14 got Nicol within two ofSkinner’s lead, but he made double bogeyat the short par-4 15th, and went birdie-bogey-birdie on the final three holes.

Royak, a member at St. Ives, had sixbirdies the second day and shot 68 toshare fifth with Nicol at 139, winninglow amateur by three over MarkNickerson of Atlanta National, ErikMartin of Golf Club of Georgia, SeanMurphy of Druid Hills and Lilburn’sTed Moon, a former runner-up in theGeorgia Open who recently completedhis college career at Belmont.

Moon and Murphy were contendersafter opening rounds of 68, but both suf-fered double bogeys on the front nine thenext day to fall back.

Tying for seventh at 140 were JoeFinemore of Big Canoe, Charlie Kingof Griffin Golf Course and ChampionsTour member James Mason, who wonthe Atlanta Open in 2000, the last timeit was played at White Columns.

Finemore was 7-under for his roundafter 17 holes the final day, shooting 31on the back nine with an eagle on the16th and adding two more birdies on thefront before a closing double bogey at thepar-5 ninth. King and Mason both shotback-to-back 70s.

Tying for 10th at 141 were ToddOrmsby of Highland Country Club inLaGrange, Stephen Keppler ofMarietta Country Club, Clark Spratlinof Currahee Club in Toccoa and Evans.

Ormsby parred his first 10 holes in thesecond round, went 5-under on his nextsix with an eagle on the 13th, but fin-ished bogey-bogey for a 69. Keppler haswon three of the Georgia PGA’s fourmajors and owns 14 individual Sectiontitles, but has yet to win the AtlantaOpen. He shot 33 on his final nine for asecond round 68. Mark Anderson of Brunswick

Country Club was 4-under for the dayafter 10 holes and one shot behindSkinner, but made back-to-back double

[ See Atlanta Open, page 12 ]

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Skinner scores victory in Yamaha Atlanta Open Takes a liking to White Columns in initial visit

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Sonny Skinner

or the second straight year, nomember of the Georgia PGAqualified for the PGAChampionship, with none of

the seven Section members competing inthe recent PGA Professional NationalChampionship managing a top 20 finish.

The top 20 finishers from the PNCqualify for the 2015 PGA Championshipat Whistling Straits. The top finish by aGeorgia PGA member was a tie for 39thby recent Yamaha Atlanta Open cham-pion Sonny Skinner, who completed abusy week at the Philadelphia CricketClub.

Skinner also competed in the U.S.Senior Open in Sacramento, which endedthe day the PGA PNC began. BecauseSkinner missed the cut in the SeniorOpen – by just one shot – he was able toplay in the PNC two days later afterflying cross country.

Of the other six Georgia PGA mem-bers in the PNC, the only one to makethe 36-hole cut was Hank Smith, whofailed to make the 54-hole cut.

Skinner, who plays out of River Pointein Albany, has made it to the PGAChampionship three times since 2008,twice finishing as runner-up in the PNC.He played steadily in the most recentclub professional championship inPhiladelphia, posting scores of 72-72-73-72 for a 7-over 289 total. Thetournament was played over two courses,with the primary course playing to par70 and the other course a par 72.

With four holes to play late in thethird round, Skinner was even par for thetournament and inside the top 20, butthree straight bogeys late in the rounddropped him into a tie for 37th. Hebogeyed four of his first six holes thefinal day before rallying with threebirdies. A bogey on the 18th left himwith a 2-over 72 and 7-over total. A scoreof 4-over 284 played off for the 20th andfinal spot in the PGA.

Skinner played steady golf throughoutthe tournament, closing out his firstround with 14 straight pars after twoearly bogeys. He matched par of 72 thenext day and began his third round withbirdies on the first two holes beforetaking five bogeys the rest of the waywithout a birdie for a 3-over 73.

Smith, the head pro at Frederica GolfClub on St. Simons Island, shot 73-74the first two days, struggling down thefinish both times. He was even par after14 holes in the third round, but shot 3-over 73 with a double bogey on his final

hole. He was 1-under after 14 holes thenext day, but bogeyed three of his lastfour holes and shot 2-over 74. Smith didnot make a birdie in the third round andshot 77, closing out his round with threeconsecutive bogeys.

Failing to make the 36-hole cut wereClark Spratlin of Currahee Club, KyleOwen of Dunwoody Country Club,Gary Miller of the Oaks course, PhilTaylor of Ansley Golf Club and BrianPuterbaugh of the Hooch.

Spratlin and Owen both shot 7-over149 to miss the cut by two. Spratlin hadscores of 75 and 74 and Owen shot 74-75. Spratlin tried to rally with a pair ofbirdies on his final nine in the secondround, while Owen was 1-over for thetournament early in his second round,but did not make a birdie over his final16 holes.

Miller shot 75-76 for a 151 total,

while Taylor rebounded from atough opening round to shoot73 the next day, beginninghis second round with ninestraight pars.

From 2005-13, theGeorgia Section had 10players qualify for the PGAChampionship, sending atleast one player to themajor championship everyyear in that stretch except2007. Tim Weinhart andCraig Stevens, who haveeight PGAChampionship appear-ances between them andhave been fixtures in thePNC for the past 15years, both failed toqualify for the eventthis year.

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2002-04, tying for third in ‘02, losing aplayoff to former PGA Tour player Bolliin ‘03 and winning at the Legends in ‘04by one shot over Kris Blanks, anotherfuture PGA Tour player.

Entry deadline for the tournament isJuly 17, with the state’s top club profes-sionals and many of the top amateursexempt from qualifying. Other than pastchampions and top-10 finishers from lastyear, mini-tour players have to qualify toget into the field, with six qualifiersscheduled from July 20-27, three inmetro Atlanta and one each in Rome,Savannah and Albany.

Both the SwingThought.com (for-merly Hooters) and eGolf tours areplaying that week in the Carolinas,which will keep some of the state’s mini-tour players out of the field. Severalplayers with Web.com Tour status haveplayed well in the Georgia Open in

Georgia Open [ Continued from page 8 ]

recent years (Brent Witcher, MarkSilvers, Kyle Scott, Tim O’Neal), butboth Witcher and Silvers are likely to beplaying on that tour that week.

While McLuen won with a 19-undertotal and Beck was second at 12-underlast year at Pinetree, only four otherplayers in the field shot lower than 4-under 284, with just 10 players breakingpar for 72 holes.

Pinetree can play as long as 7100 yardsfrom the back tees, and is a stronger testfor the state’s top players since a renova-tion in 2008 by Atlanta-based golfcourse architect Bill Bergin, a formertour player.

The course added 280 yards from theback tees and the putting surfaces werechanged to Champions Bermuda, nowranking among the best and most chal-lenging in the Atlanta area.

Pinetree is relatively generous off thetee, and is more a second shot course,with the speed and movement on thegreens serving as a primary defense. Theheart of Pinetree’s challenge is a group of

Atlanta Open [ Continued from page 10 ]

seven par 4s that range from 418 to 455yards, with the 10th the shortest of thegroup but the only one of the seven withwater in play.

The 452-yard dogleg left 18th is likelythe toughest of the group, but is not thefinishing hole for the tournament.Although the holes retain their same des-ignation for the tournament, the leadersthe final two days begin on the 10th teeso the tournament finishes on the par-5ninth, which is a more spectator-friendlyhole than the 18th.

Two of the par 3s are in the 220-yardrange, but none of the four is particularlypenal, with a trio of short par 4s offeringsome scoring opportunities along withthe par 5s, three of which are reachable intwo by many of the competitors.

The 16th is only 505 yards and yieldedmore eagles last year than several otherpar 4s yielded birdies, with the ninth alsooffering an excellent chance for birdie forthose who can position their tee shot onthe proper side of the fairway to set upthe second shot on the dogleg right.

bogeys at 12 and 13 to tie for 15th at 142after a second round 70.

Skinner played on the PGA Tour forfour years in the 1990s and spent 10 fullseasons on what is now the Web.comTour between 1993 and 2004. He

became a Georgia PGA member in 2006and has played primarily in Sectionevents since, with occasional appearanceson the Web.com and Champions Tours,the latter after he turned 50 in 2010.

Since joining the Georgia PGA,Skinner has earned Player of the Yearhonors in 2006 and last year, won theMatch Play Championship in ‘06 and theSection Championship in 2009 and ‘12.

He’s won both the Georgia Senior Openand Georgia PGA Senior Championshipin recent years, and also made an impactat the national PGA level.

Skinner has twice finished second inthe PGA Professional NationalChampionship, the national champi-onship for club professionals, and hasearned national PGA Player of the Yearand Senior Player of the Year honors.

Hank Smith

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Skinner has top Georgia PGA finish in PNC

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he Volvik GeorgiaWomen’s Open celebratesits 20th birthday thismonth, with the event back

at Roswell’s Brookfield Country Clubfor the third straight year, with Volvikserving as host for the third time.

The tournament will be played July13-14, with Druid Hills assistant profes-sional Karen Paolozzi returning todefend her title. Paolozzi is one of thecountry’s top female club professionalsand competed in last month’s Women’sPGA Championship in New York.

The Georgia Women’s Open was heldfor the first time in 1995, and was playedat Canongate courses in Peachtree Cityand Newnan until moving to CallawayGardens in 2012. Brookfield, whichhosted a tournament on the LPGA Tourin the late 1970s and early 1980s, servedas host for the first time in 2013, withVolvik coming on board that year as titlesponsor.

The tournament expanded its playingfield last year, allowing golfers from out-side Georgia to compete for the firsttime. Players from several states, mainlyfrom Tennessee, competed in the 2014event. With several weeks left before theentry deadline, the tournament hadattracted players from Pennsylvania andIllinois, along with two former Georgiaresidents who have played in the tourna-ment previously. Paula Pearson-Tucker, now living in

Miami, was a Georgia Women’s Openregular when she lived in the state, andfinished as low senior pro in the tourna-ment last year.

Former Milledgeville resident and ex-Clemson golfer Ashlan Ramsey,finished fifth in the Georgia Women’sOpen in 2011 at Summer Grove, andwill be back in the field this month,competing in the professional division.

The tournament has had a mix of pro-fessional and amateur winners in its20-year history, with a number of themost prominent names in Georgiawomen’s golf over the past two decadesamong the champions. Caroline Peek Blaylock, who played

several years on the LPGA Tour, won theevent three of its first six years, includingthe first two in 1995 and ‘96. KrissieRegister, who grew up in Roswell and

played out of Brookfield, won twice asan amateur in the late 1990s beforeturning professional. Register waspart of an NCAA champion Arizonateam, with 1998 Georgia Women’sOpen champion Summer Sirmons, nowan Atlanta area teaching pro, also part ofan NCAA championship team duringher years at Georgia. Angela Jerman, a teammate of

Sirmons on the 2001 championship teamand a former LPGA Tour player, isexpected to return to the tournamentfield this year. Jerman finished second inthe Georgia Women’s Open as an ama-teur in 2001 and tied for third, one shotout of a playoff in 2009 as a pro, but hasnot played much in recent years, tyingfor eighth in her most recent tournamentappearance in 2011. Jerman is married toHighland Country Club head pro ToddOrmsby. Diana Ramage, who also played on

the LPGA Tour, won the tournament in2005 and ‘07, and is one of several formerAuburn golfers to have won the GeorgiaWomen’s Open. Courtney SwaimTrimble, now the head women’s golfcoach at Louisville, won over Jerman in2001, and Margaret Shirley, whocoached as an assistant at both Auburnand Georgia, has three Georgia Women’sOpen titles to match Blaylock.

Shirley, who recently became theExecutive Director of Atlanta JuniorGolf, has been a consistent presence inthe tournament since her days in juniorgolf. Shirley won the Georgia Women’sOpen in 2006 while a member of theAuburn women’s team and again in ‘08shortly after she graduated. From 2003-10, she finished fifth or better seven of

eight years, but missed the 2011 and ‘12tournaments before returning to scoreher third win in 2013 at Brookfield.

Last year, Shirley was a contender lateinto the final round, but wound up sixthafter a disappointing finish. A fewmonths later, Shirley won the U.S.Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship,an event in which she lost in the matchplay finals the previous year.

The Georgia Women’s Open has hadsix different winners, the past six years,beginning with Mariah Stackhouse in2009. Stackhouse had yet to begin hersophomore year in high school when shewon in a playoff at Summer Grove, andcame close to a repeat title the next year,finishing two shots behind EmilieBurger, then a member of the Georgiawomen’s team. Shirley, an assistant coachat Georgia at the time, was second thatyear.

The most recent playoff in the tourna-ment came in 2010, when current LPGATour player Dori Carter defeated cur-rent Symetra Tour player Lacey Agnew. Kendall Wright, who is also playing

on the Symetra Tour, won by four shots atCallaway Gardens in 2012, with Shirleytaking first by a five-shot margin atBrookfield the next year.

In her first appearance in the GeorgiaWomen’s Open, Paolozzi edged Roswell’sJessica Haigwood by one shot last yearwith a 4-under 140 total. Haigwood, amember of the women’s golf team atAugusta State, played at Brookfield

during her high school career atRoswell, and has been runner-up thelast two years after a fourth placeshowing in 2012.

Paolozzi, Haigwood and Shirleyplayed in the final group in the secondround of last year’s tournament, andbetween them had 25 out of a possible27 pars on Brookfield’s front nine. Theback nine featured several swings inmomentum, with Haigwood leadingby three shots with five holes to play.

Haigwood hit her tee shots in thewater on the par-5 14th and par-3 15thand Paolozzi made up two shots on heron both holes to take the lead. Shirleywas only two back of Paolozzi afterbirdies at 12 and 14, but struggleddown the stretch. Trailing by two withtwo holes to play, Haigwood birdied thelong par-4 17th and almost forced aplayoff, missing her birdie try on the18th.

Shirley, Haigwood and Wright havebeen consistent contenders in the tourna-ment in recent years, along with CarmenBandea, a frequent challenger over thepast decade but never a winner.

Bandea, who has played on both theSymetra and Canadian tours, has finishedin the top five each of the last five years,tying with Haigwood for second behindShirley two years ago. She also wassecond in 2007, losing in a playoff toRamage at White Oak. Bandea tied forfourth last year, three behind Paolozzi.

Wright was third last year, finishingtwo in back of Paolozzi after a final round68. She has finished fourth or better fiveof the last seven years, including her winin 2012, and has not been out of the top10 during that span.

Along with Agnew and JeanReynolds, Wright is playing on theSymetra Tour this year, with that tourplaying in Rochester, N.Y., two daysafter the Georgia Open ends. TheGeorgia Women’s Open will also loseseveral of the state’s top amateurs to theNorth and South event at Pinehurst,with Stackhouse and incoming UGAfreshmen Rinko Mitsunaga and BaileyTardy playing there.

The field is divided into several divi-sions for the amateurs, with twoChampionship flights and two flights forplayers not in the championship division,along with two senior amateur flightsand a senior professional division.

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Volvik Ga. Women’s Open back at BrookfieldPaolozzi, Shirley, Haigwood among field

Karen Paolozzi

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MargaretShirley

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B y M i k e B l um

ith less than twomonths remaining inthe 2014-15 PGA Tourschedule, the field for

the FedExCup Playoffs is taking shape,with players jockeying for spots in thetop 125 on the points list.

The top 125 players after the PGATour stop in Greensboro, N.C., Aug. 20-23 will qualify for the FedExCupPlayoffs, which begin the following weekat Plainfield Country Club in NewJersey. The top 100 after the Barclayswill play in Boston on Labor Dayweekend, with the top 70 on the pointslist after the Deutsche BankChampionship moving on to ConwayFarms in Chicago for the BMWChampionship two weeks later.

The Tour Championship returns toAtlanta’s East Lake Golf Club Sept. 24-27, with the top 30 in the FedExCupstandings comprising the field. Theplayers will compete for a purse of $8.25million, with the four Playoffs eventsoffering a total of $33 million, alongwith $35 million in bonus money for thePlayoffs qualifiers.

Although the Tour Championshipfield will not be determined until thePlayoffs event in Chicago concludes, thetop two players in the World Rankingswill definitely be in the field, along withmost of the other top-ranked players.

There will be some prominent playerswho will not make it to East Lake, begin-ning with 2007 Tour Championshipwinner Tiger Woods, who was 200th inthe FedExCup standings after the U.S.Open, with four or five starts remainingon his 2015 schedule. Woods will have tomove up considerably in the standings

just to qualify for the Playoffs, and wouldneed at least one win and another topfinish or two to have a chance to contendfor a spot in the Tour Championship.

Woods missed last year’s TourChampionship, as did Phil Mickelson,the only player to win twice at EastLake. Mickelson won in 2000 and ‘09,but is winless since the 2013 BritishOpen. After the poorest season of hiscareer in 2014, Mickelson has bouncedback with a much better showing in2015, but does not have many startsleft to improve his position of 45th inthe FedExCup standings after the U.S.Open.

Leading the standings by a widemargin was Masters and U.S. Openchampion Jordan Spieth, whoalmost certainly will be No. 1 in thestandings going into the Playoffs. Spiethis the only three-time winner on thePGA Tour this year, and is closing in onRory McIlroy for the top spot in theWorld rankings.

McIroy is fourth in the standings afterplaying a limited schedule in the U.S.and has won twice (Match PlayChampionship and in Charlotte), withJimmy Walker the only other multiplechampion this year, winning early inHawaii and a hometown victory in SanAntonio. He was second in the standings,with Dustin Johnson third after hiscrushing runner-up showing to Spieth inthe U.S. Open last month.

Johnson won the World GolfChampionships event at Doral and hascontended several other times this year,most recently at Chambers Bay. He willbe looking to return to East Lake aftersitting out last year’s event even thoughhe was among the top 30 in the

FedExCup standings. Reportedly, Johnson was

serving a six-month suspension fora failed drug test, but since thePGA Tour does not publiclyannounce player suspensions,Johnson’s absence last year wasnever fully explained.

Of the top 23 players in theFedExCup standings after the U.S.Open, only two were non-winnersthis season – Japan’s HidekiMatsuyama (9) and former UGAgolfer Kevin Kisner (14), whowill be looking to qualify for the Tour Championship for the first

time. Kisner finished outside the top 100 in

the final FedExCup standings his firstthree seasons on the PGA Tour, but hasbeen one of the hottest players in thegame in recent months. He lost in play-offs at Hilton Head and the Players,performing exceptionally well in both,had consecutive top 10s at Colonial andMemorial, and tied for 12th in the U.S..Open.

A member of Georgia’s 2005 NCAAChampionship team along with ChrisKirk and Brendon Todd, Kisner is chal-lenging Bubba Watson for top ‘Dog inthe Fed ExCup standings. Watson, whowon a WGC event in China last Fallearly in the 2014-15 schedule, was 12thin the standings, making just nine startsthrough the U.S. Open.

Kirk (17) was the third formerBulldog in the top 20, largely on thestrength of his victory in the Colonial.The highest ranked player who attendedcollege in the state was Tournament ofChampions champion Patrick Reed,with the ex-Augusta State standout fifthin the standings.

Also in the top 30 was former GeorgiaTech All-American Matt Kuchar, withthe St. Simons Island resident 26th afterfinishing the last five seasons in the top10 four times and the top 20 on the otheroccasion. Kuchar, the PGA Tour’s mostprolific top-10 machine in recent years,has just one since February, that comingin Hilton Head the week after theMasters. Kuchar has not missed the TourChampionship since 2009.

The top 30 after the U.S.Open consisted of a number ofplayers accustomed to being inthat position, including BrandtSnedeker (8), Justin Rose (10),Jason Day (13), Rickie Fowler(19), Bill Haas (20) and JimFuryk (22).

But there were even moreplayers unaccustomed to playingat East Lake, with many of thosein the top 30 mainly due to a vic-tory this season, with the odds ofremaining in the top 30 all the wayto the Tour Championship not intheir favor. Robert Streb was the surprise

winner of last fall’s McGladreyClassic at Sea Island Golf Club, buthis play since then has indicatedthat his victory was not a fluke.

Youngsters Ben Martin (15) andBrooks Koepka (16) are 2014-15 win-ners who are likely to contend for spotsin the Tour Championship field after thisyear, but international players StevenBowditch (18), Sangmoon Bae (23)and David Lingmerth (30) may be hardpressed to remain in the top 30 thisseason.

Other unexpected names among thetop 30 were rookie Daniel Berger (27)and relative PGA Tour newcomersRussell Knox (28) and Shawn Stefani(29), who have played well enough overthe course of the season to have realistichopes of making it to East Lake.

Among Georgia’s PGA Tour contin-gent, there are quite a few players outsidethe top 30 who have hopes of moving upwith a strong showing or two. Harris English (35) came close to

qualifying for the Tour Championshiplast year and is close again, but has beenmostly quiet lately after a strong 2015start. Jason Bohn (37) was secondbehind Kirk at Colonial and is looking tomake it to East Lake for the first time.Bohn has never finished in the top 60since the FedExCup was established in2007.

Former Georgia Tech golfer CameronTringale qualified for the TourChampionship for the first time last yearand is in position this year (40) after fin-ishes of fifth in Houston and second inNew Orleans.

[ See FedExCup, page 36 ]

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FedExCup Playoffs chase nearing conclusion

Chris Kirk

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Reed, Watson, Kisner, Kirk top Georgia pros

B y M i k e B l um

f Georgia’s summer temperaturesare a little too warm for a comfort-able round of golf, there’s somewelcome relief just a few hours

away in the mountains of NorthCarolina.

Maggie Valley Club and Resort is arelatively short, pleasant drive frommetro Atlanta, and typically offerssummer temperatures at least 10 degreescooler than it is in metro Atlanta andmost other parts of Georgia.

The North Carolina mountains are apopular destination for vacationerslooking for a variety of outdoor activitieswith more comfortable weather condi-tions than exist in most of Georgiaduring the summer months.

Maggie Valley is located in the westerncorner of North Carolina between theBlue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains.The Blue Ridge Parkway and GreatSmoky Mountains National Park areboth just minutes away, as is the tourist-friendly city of Asheville.

The area’s recreational opportunitiesare plentiful, with golf a big part ofMaggie Valley’s allure for the past 50years.

Maggie Valley’s golf course has beenaround since the early 1960s, with theValley nine, located along the road thatleads to the resort, opening for play in1963. A second nine built on higherground closer to the mountain was addedshortly after the original nine opened,giving the course an entertaining con-trast in topography and challengebetween the two.

One of the individuals involved in thedevelopment of the resort was primarilyresponsible for the layout, and eventhough he was not a professional golfcourse architect, Maggie Valley is a firstrate course in both design and condi-tioning, while offering the splendidviews you expect in a mountain setting.

“It’s a tale of two nines,” MaggieValley head pro Trey Smith says. “Thefront nine is at the floor of the valley sur-rounded by mountains. The back nineclimbs to roughly three thousand feet bythe time you reach the 13th green.Except for the tee boxes, you can hardlyfind a level lie on the back side.”

Although there are considerably moreelevation changes on the back nine, it

does not have the severity that exists onsome mountain-style layouts, with only afew seriously uphill shots before thecourse heads back down the mountainand no severe drop-offs.

The back nine is quite a bit shorterthan the front, with the downhill natureof several of the holes reducing the effec-tive length even more.

Maggie Valley measures a modest6466 yards from the blue tees, 6130 fromthe whites and is listed at 5242 from thegold tees, although the tees on some ofthe shorter holes from the golds can bemoved just in front of the whites to makethem better, more challenging holes.

The course is rated at 69.9/128 fromthe back tees, 68.6/125 from the whitesand a very friendly 65.4/115 from thegold tees. The forward tees are a comfort-able 4600 yards.

Players not accustomed to teeing it upfrom the tips can take on Maggie Valleyfrom the blue tees without being over-whelmed, with just one hole that may bea concern. The dogleg left third is listedat 458 yards from the back tees and 430from the whites, with creeks lining bothsides of the fairway. A pair of frontbunkers guards the putting surface, butas on almost all the holes, the approach tothe center of the green is open.

Maggie Valley is reasonably generous

off the tee, but tree lines and a decentspread of rough off the fairways necessi-tate a fair amount of accuracy. On anumber of holes, hazards just throughthe fairway can snare tee shots that maybe hit a little too solidly while being justa bit off line, with several of them notrequiring a driver for longer hitters.

With an exception or two, the qualitybent grass putting surfaces are neitherparticularly undulating nor fast, but havesufficient subtleties to put your touch tothe test. With many of the greens bor-dered to the side by bunkers and slightdrop-offs, getting up and down afterslightly errant approaches requires a deftshort game, especiallyon some of the nar-rower green designs.

The topographicallygentle front nineincludes several holeswith creeks and smallponds within reach offthe tee, but mostly farenough removed to notbe a serious concern. Thenine includes two shortbut potentially pesky par4s (2 and 5) and aninviting par 5 (No. 4)that is only 474 from theback tees, but like many

of the other holes on the front side, willpenalize tee shots that stray too far toeither side.

The other par 5 on the nine(No. 6) features a creek that bisects the fairway,with a fairly ample landing area narrowing as you near an extremely

long green without much width.

[ See Maggie Valley, page 22 ]

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Beat the Summer heat at Maggie ValleyPopular resort offers scenic, enjoyable golf


Maggie Valley [ Continued from page 18 ]

That hole is followed by the longest par3 on the course, with the seventhstretching out to almost 230 yards, witha trio of bunkers protecting a kidney-shaped green with right side pinpositions very difficult to get to.

Like the sixth, the par-4 10th sports acreek slicing through the tree-linedfairway, with a small target bordered bymounds making for one of the moredemanding approach shots on the course.The hole’s terrain is similar to that on thefront nine, but that changes beginningwith the second shot to the dogleg right,par-4 11th.

The fairway is on the generous side,but with OB right and a creek throughthe fairway on the left, there are penaltiesfor inaccuracy. The approach headssharply uphill, with a wide green fea-turing two distinct tiers – upper leftbehind a bunker and significantly lowerright. When the pin is cut up top on theleft, hitting that portion of the green inregulation is a real accomplishment.

The par-3 12th tops out at 109 yards,

but front and rear bunkers place a pre-mium on distance control, with the frontbunker obscuring the view of the green.

The uphill par-5 13th begins with atee shot over a frog pond brimming withfish. Trouble lurks off both sides of thefairway, with the hole gradually headinguphill to a green with a pronounced falsefront and a Chambers Bay-like backboardat the rear.

Things are mostly downhill fromthere, beginning with an elevated teeshot at 14 that must avoid trees right andanother small creek through the fairwayon the left that can transform a well-struck tee shot into a problem.

The par-3 15th also heads downhill,with a large, inviting green beckoningwith nothing but grass in between teeand putting surface.

Maggie Valley concludes with aninteresting pair of finishing holes. Thedownhill, dogleg left 17th is a shortpar 4 with OB right near the farcorner of the dogleg and trouble allthe way along the left. The shortapproach is one of the few that hasto carry a front, middle bunker, witha sloping green making it tougher to

For information on Maggie Valley,call 800-438-3861 or visit

www.maggievalleyclub.com

get close to the hole than the yardagewould indicate.

A creek winds through the fairway onthe par-5 18th but can be carried bylonger hitters, setting up the opportunityto reach the downhill hole in two. Thecreek is also in play down the right side forshorter hitters on their lay-up shot, andleft of the green for those going for it fromlong range. The large green has somebailout room to the right, with the holeamong the most scenic and interestingfinishing holes you’ll encounter.

Maggie Valley offers a variety of stayand play packages, with two-and-three-bedroom condos offering appealing viewsof the course from private balconies.Guests have full access to the club’s otheramenities, with Maggie Valley centrallylocated for the array of outdoor activitiesavailable in the area.

Judson Legends Pro-Am sports new formatTotland wins college event; Needham third

B y M i k e B l um

he Judson Collegiate& Legends Pro-AmChallenge was playedfor the fourth time

late last month at Country Clubof Roswell, with the tournamentchanging its playing format thisyear to more closely reflect thementoring aspect of the event.

During the first three years ofthe tournament, the LPGALegends played one round of golfin a pro-am format with a team ofamateurs, and also played one daywith players who were also com-peting in the college portion of thetournament.

The individual score during theround with the college players wasthe only one that counted for theLegends’ players in the field, with two ofthe tour’s lesser-known players comingaway with victories the first three yearsthe event was held. Alicia Dibos, a non-winner during

her stint on the LPGA Tour, won thefirst two years, and Barb Moxness, alsoa non-winner in a relatively brief butsuccessful LPGA career, was last year’schampion, winning in a playoff overDibos.

This year, the Legends format changedto two pro-am rounds with collegeplayers competing both days prior totheir 54-hole tournament. The LPGALegends competed in two separate teamformats, one a scramble with their threeamateur partners, and a modifiedscramble (“shamble”) with a collegeplayer, counting the best ball among thetwo.

Atlanta resident Rosie Jones serves asthe Tournament Host for the Legendsplayers, and was part of one of the win-ning teams in the first day of the pro-am.Jones said the change in format stemmedfrom wanting to have more interactionbetween the Legends and the collegeplayers, which fit the overall leadershipaspect of the event.

“We wanted to have a chance tomentor the college players,” Jones saidafter the completion of the second pro-am.

The Legends played with collegeplayers in the three previous tourna-ments, but since the pros were also

competing individually for a purse ofmore than $100,000, they had to dividetheir attention between competition andmentoring.

The change in format took some of thefocus off the Legends’ competitivenature, and put them into a more relaxed

situation where they could more easilyinteract with their amateur partners andcollegiate player.

“We could have more conversationsand spend more time with each other,”Jones said. The change was good for theLegends’ amateur partners and benefi-cial for the college players, with theLegends players losing a competitiveopportunity while gaining a chance tohelp the next generation of femalegolfers.

Although this year’s Legends fieldwas a little smaller than the past threeand was missing a few name players,the majority of the Legends’ actuallegends returned to play last month.

Among the players competingalong with Jones were Nancy Lopez,

Pat Bradley, Betsy King, Amy Alcott,Hollis Stacy, Jan Stephenson andKathy Whitworth, one of the LPGA’strue legends.

“The field was as good as the field wehad last year,” said Jones, who felt herfellow Legends enjoyed the new formatand the increased opportunity to get to

know the college players. Tournament Director Jackie

Cannizzo, a member of the golf staff atCountry Club of Roswell, pointed outthat the tournament “first started as acollege event. The opportunity to pair upwith the Legends was an added bonus.”

Cannizzo said the LeadershipConference held at Georgia Tech the daybefore the tournament started, was ahuge success, with a huge increase in par-ticipation from both speakers andworkshop attendees.

The Judson Collegiate & Legends Pro-Am Challenge was created to honor thememory of Jim and Beth Judson, aRoswell couple who were a big part ofthe local golf and philanthropic commu-nities. They died in a plane crashreturning from watching daughterLauren Judson compete in a collegetournament.

Lauren Judson, her brother Dean,Cannizzo and family friend Kirk Knoushelped create the JCI Foundation and the

T

[ See Judson, page 29 ]

Judson winner Taylor Totland

(center) with Sarah Bae (L)

and Sydney Needham (L)

B y M i k e B l um

wo years ago at this time,Roberto Castro was in themidst of a sensational sopho-more season on the PGA Tour,

which ended with an appearance in theTour Championship at East Lake.

Castro, who grew up in the northAtlanta suburb of Alpharetta and was anAll-American at Georgia Tech, hadenjoyed success each step of the way fromjunior golf to the PGA Tour, culmi-nating with his outstanding showing in2013, when finished 21st in the finalFedExCup standings and earned $2.155million.

But after a significantly less successfulshowing in 2014, Castro lost his exemptstatus, and things haven’t gotten anybetter this year, with Castro facing theobstacle of a limited number of startsthat has required him to play in Mondayqualifiers to get into some events.

Through the first seven months of the2014-15 PGA Tour schedule, Castro hadmade just eight starts, and even thoughhe made five cuts, he barely registered onthe FedExCup points list, ranking 210th,with just one finish better than 58th.

When Castro competed in last month’sU.S. Open Sectional qualifier at HawksRidge in Ball Ground, he had made justone PGA Tour start since mid-March,that coming in the Byron NelsonChampionship, where he made the 36-hole cut but not the 54-hole cut, comingaway with just one FedExCup point forhis efforts.

Castro, who played his way into twoevents on the PGA Tour’s Florida swingin March through Monday qualifiers, putthose experiences to use at Hawks Ridge.After firing an 8-under 64 in themorning round of the 36-hole qualifier,Castro followed with a 68 in the after-noon to finish third in the 42-playerfield.

Only the top three finishers earnedspots in the U.S. Open, with Castro’sspot in jeopardy until younger brotherFranco Castro missed a birdie putt onhis final hole that would have forced aCastro brothers’ playoff for the final qual-ifying spot.

With Castro also in the field for theFedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis laterthat week, it gave him a relatively rarechance for back-to-back starts this

season, with the likelihood ofmore PGA Tour appearancesbefore the regular season endsin August.

It was an unusual andsomewhat awkward situationfor Castro, who stood next tothe ninth green and watchedas his brother narrowlymissed a birdie putt on hisfinal hole that would havesent the two to a playoff.

After the round, Castrorelated an observation froma veteran PGA Tour playerthat certainly applied tothe conclusion of the U.S.Open qualifier.

“He said that if you playthis game long enough,you’ll see everything. Ithink that goes to the top of the list.”

Castro said that very possibility was atopic of discussion during a practiceround at Hawks Ridge. While that hypo-thetical situation seemed unlikely tooccur, Castro wasn’t caught off guardwhen it did.

“I’m not surprised by anything ingolf,” he said. “Anything can happen.You watch enough tour events and youknow.”

When Castro finished his round, hewas three shots clear of his brother infourth place, but Franco birdied the sixthand seventh holes at Hawks Ridge beforeclosing his round with a pair of pars.

Castro was hoping his U.S. Openappearance wound get his 2014-15season headed in a positive direction aftera mostly forgettable first half of the year.

“Just playing in the U.S. Open tellsyou where your game is at,” he observed.

Castro qualified for the Open as a PGATour rookie in 2012, and thanks to hisoutstanding 2013 season, was exemptfrom qualifying last year. He did notmake it into the 2013 U.S. Open, butbegan the best three-month stretch ofgolf in his life shortly thereafter.

Two weeks after the Open, Castro fin-ished second to Jay Haas in the AT&TNational at Congressional, more thanholding his own in a head-to-head finalround battle. A month later, he tied forsixth in the Canadian Open, and in hisnext start tied for 12th in the PGAChampionship in just his second appear-ance in one of golf’s four majors.

Castro was 41st in the FedExCupstandings going into the 2013 Playoffs,but played well in all four events, placingninth, 15th and ninth the last three tofinish the year 21st in the standings. Afinal round 65 at East Lake endedCastro’s season on a high note, but itwould be a while before Castro did any-thing to celebrate on the golf course.

After a trio of top 25 finishes last yearon the West Coast, Castro went almostthree months without a decent showingbefore tying for eighth at Quail Hollowin Charlotte. But Castro missed nine ofhis next 12 cuts and was unable to sal-vage his season with a respectable but notquite good enough showing in the reg-ular season finale in Greensboro.

Castro finished the 2013-14 season135th on the points list, and had to com-pete in the four-tournament Web.comFinals to retain his exempt status on thePGA Tour. Castro made the cut in allfour events and added another top-10finish in Charlotte, but came up short byless than $32. He shot higher than 74 injust one of 16 rounds, but his one highscore proved costly, ending what hadalready been a disappointing season on aparticularly sour note.

After competing in 60 tournaments in2013 and ‘14, Castro has not playednearly as much this year, which he saidhas its positive and negative aspects.

“I went crazy hard for two years. It’s alittle frustrating not to get to play asmuch, but looking on the bright side,

I’ve been homesome for the firsttime in twoyears.”

B e g i n n i n gwith his start inthe Byron Nelson,Castro waslooking forward toa more activesummer scheduleon the PGA Tour,pointing out thathe has “alwaysplayed my best golfin the summer. Istill have time tomake some hay.”

Castro said therewas no obviousanswer for thedecline in his play

from 2013 to 2014. “The difference was not huge. I just

didn’t play as good. Every little part ofmy game just did not come together.”

Other than driving distance and put-ting, neither of which were the strengthsof Castro’s game during his successful2013 season, Castro’s statistics droppedoff measurably last year. He hit fewerfairways and far fewer greens, and whenhe did hit greens in regulation, he didnot make nearly as many birdies. Hewent from 42nd in scoring in 2013 to158th in 2014, both numbers very sim-ilar to his standing on the points andmoney lists.

Castro said his problems began withhis driving, but the most glaring drop inhis ball-striking stats came in greens inregulation, which went from 33rd in ‘13to 169th in ‘14. The most consistentaspect of his game remains his putting,which was not that great even when heenjoyed his career best season and isranked near the bottom of the PGA Tourstats this year.

“I’ve been playing good,” he said. “Ijust haven’t shot low scores.”

After his strong performance in U.S.Open qualifying, Castro came back withhis best showing of 2014 in Memphis,closing with a 66 to tie for 40th. Hepicked up enough FedExCup points tomove up from 210th in the standings to193rd, which doesn’t sound like much,

[ See Roberto Castro, page 36 ]

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Castro hoping to salvage difficult season

Roberto Castro

Ex-Tech star looks to reclaim ‘13 success

B y M i k e B l um

fter an outstanding juniorseason for the UGA golfteam, Lee McCoy has asummer tournament

schedule that’s getting busier by theweek, with a difficult decision to followin the fall.

McCoy, who moved with his familyfrom Tampa to Clarkesville prior to hissenior year in high school, has alreadyrepresented the U.S. once this summer ininternational competition, will do soagain this month and likely for a thirdtime in September.

Also this summer, he has made his firstappearance in one of golf’s major cham-pionships and his first start in a regularPGA Tour event, and has another onescheduled this month.

Since competing with his Georgiateammates in the NCAA Championshipin Florida, McCoy has played in thePalmer Cup in Illinois, the U.S. Open inWashington state and a PGA Tour eventin Hartford, Conn.

McCoy will play in the PGA TourJohn Deere Classic this month, followedby an appearance in the Pan Am Gamesin Toronto the following week, with theU.S. Amateur in Chicago likely on hisAugust schedule. September shouldinclude a trip to England as a member ofthe U.S. Walker Cup team, with McCoyfacing a career decision at the conclusionof that event.

After qualifying for the U.S, Open in aSectional qualifier at Hawks Ridge, aninaccurate story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had McCoy turning probefore the U.S. Open.

“My first pro event will be our nationalchampionship,” McCoy said. “It doesn’tget any better than that.”

McCoy was referring to playing in aprofessional event, not competing as apro, and made it clear that his upcomingscheduling priority was the Walker Cup,which will be played in England inSeptember.

“Hopefully I’ll make the Walker Cupteam. That’s my big goal. This is notgoing to hurt my chances,” he said ofqualifying for the U.S. Open. “I’ll get alittle links experience.”

McCoy is a near certainty to make theWalker Cup, which would be his thirdappearance as a member of a team repre-

senting the U.S. Immediately after his successful quali-

fying round at Hawks Ridge, McCoyheaded to Illinois for the Palmer Cup, anannual event matching top Americancollege players against their Europeancounterparts, most of whom are playingin the U.S.

The U.S. team won 18-12, withMcCoy posting a 1-2-1 record. Heteamed with Georgia Tech’s OllieSchniederjans to split his two teammatches, winning decisively in alternateshot before losing in best ball. McCoylost his first singles match, but manageda half the final day against the No. 1player on the European team.

Schniederjans won both his singlesmatches, including a win againstEurope’s No. 1, and Georgia Tech team-mate Anders Albertson went 2-2,splitting both his team and singlesmatches. The U.S. team was led byGeorgia Tech coach Bruce Heppler.

McCoy will also compete in the PanAm Games, which will be played inToronto. The golf tournament is sched-uled for July 16-19, the week afterMcCoy plays in the John Deere Classic.

After flying cross-country followingthe U.S. Open, McCoy’s first appearancein a regular PGA Tour event got off to ashaky start. He was 4-over after fourholes in the opening round, but was evenpar the rest of the day and shot 74.

Things went considerably better thenext day, as McCoy ran off four birdies in

a five-hole stretch, but closed out hisround with nine straight pars for a 66,missing the cut by two shots.

How McCoy fares in his PGA Tourstarts will have an impact on his decisionlater this year whether to turn pro.

“I’m going to get to play in so manyincredible events,” McCoy said, with theU.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields inAugust breaking up his schedule of proevents and team competitions.

McCoy made his first appearance on anational stage in the U.S. Amateur lastyear, sharing medalist honors in strokeplay qualifying at Atlanta Athletic Club.McCoy posted scores of 67 and 68 at theRiverside and Highlands courses for an8-under 135 total, but drew NathanSmith, America’s top mid-amateur inthe first round of match play, and lost onthe 19th hole.

The success he enjoyed from his U.S.Amateur experience carried over to hisjunior season with the Bulldogs, asMcCoy emerged as one of the country’selite collegiate golfers.

McCoy played well as a freshman inAthens, and followed with a solid sopho-more season, winning one tournament,taking second in regionals to helpGeorgia qualify for the NCAAChampionship and earning honorablemention All-America honors.

Coming off his co-medalist effort inthe U.S. Amateur, McCoy enjoyed one ofthe finest seasons in Georgia history as ajunior. He won four tournaments to

match the school record held by currentPGA Tour players Chris Kirk andRussell Henley. Three of those winscame in succession this spring includingthe Linger Longer Invitational atReynolds Plantation and the AugustaInvitational at Forest Hills. He alsobroke the school scoring record (70.08),was selected first team All-American andwas a candidate for several Player of theYear awards.

McCoy enjoyed his third straight strongfinish in the regionals, but did not play hisbest golf in the stroke play portion of theNCAA Championship. He did save hisbest score for the final round, shooting ateam low 70 to tie for 33rd at 294.

“I did nothing in stroke play,” McCoysaid. “I was very happy the team put meon their back.”

Georgia tied for third to qualify formatch play, with the Bulldogs the lowestseeded team among the eight qualifiers.

“Nobody expected anything out of us,but we made it to the final four,” McCoyoffered.

After a solid final round in stroke play,McCoy was back on form for the matchplay portion of the tournament.

“I found my game and a waxed thefirst guy I played,” McCoy said of his5&3 win in the anchor match againstSouth Florida. McCoy also won againstLSU’s No. 1 player, but was the onlyUGA golfer to win as the Bulldogs lostin the semifinals to the eventual nationalchampion.

Four of the Bulldogs who were in thelineup in the regionals and NCAAChampionship have eligibility remaining,but McCoy is considering turning pro andgiving up his senior season.

“We have a chance at nationals nextyear, no doubt,” he said, “whether I’m onthe team or not.”

Of his plans, he said “It’s too early totell. There’s too much golf to play beforeI decide.”

McCoy shot 65-66 for a 13-under 131total to place second in the U.S. Openqualifier at Hawks Ridge, but missed thecut at Chambers Bay by three shots withback-to-back scores of 74. He playedrespectably both days, but a triple bogeyin the opening round proved costly, andhe encountered the same challenge theother 155 players faced on the course’sless-than-championship-quality puttingsurfaces.

Lee McCoy

USG

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Busy summer, tough decision awaits McCoyBulldog senior could go pro after Walker Cup

B y M i k e B l um

he Robert Trent Jones TrailGrand National Lake coursein Opelika, Al., has hostedthe LPGA Tournament of

Champions, NCAA Championship andNike (now Web.com) TourChampionship since it opened in theearly 1990s.

This month, the course will be the siteof a new PGA Tour event, as the inau-gural Barbasol Championship will beplayed July 16-19. The tournament willbe played the same week as the BritishOpen, and is one of four on the PGATour played the same week as either aWorld Golf Championship event or theBritish Open.

The tournament will have a purse of$3.5 million and will offer 300FedExCup points to the winner, whoreceives a two-year exemption and a spot

in both the PGA Championship andTournament of Champions, but not theMasters.

With only five weeks left in theFedExCup regular season after theBarbasol Championship, most of thePGA Tour players who did not qualifyfor the British Open will be playing inthe tournament to improve theirstanding on the points list, which deter-mines which 125 players qualify for thePlayoffs and earn exempt status for the2015-16 season.

It’s been 15 years since the GrandNational Lake course has hosted a bigtime event after a busy four-year stretchbetween 1997 and 2000.

The course hosted the Nike TourChampionship in 1997, with PGA Tourveteran Steve Flesch winning by fourshots. The LPGA played its Tournamentof Champions there the next year, withKelly Robbins, one of the tour’s top

players before injuries ended her career,winning that event. Both tournamentsmoved to other courses on the RobertTrent Jones Trail after making their ini-tial appearance at Grand National.

The NCAA Championship was playedat Grand National in 2000, with thecourse also hosting a Preview event in thefall of 1999. Luke Donald won thePreview while playing at Northwestern,with Augusta’s Charles Howell the2000 individual champion in record-set-ting fashion, leading Oklahoma State toa national title.

Howell shot the lowest 72-hole totalin NCAA history (23-under 265),matched the 18-hole scoring mark (63)and won by a whopping eight shots. Heholed a clutch putt on the 72nd hole toforce a playoff between Oklahoma Stateand Georgia Tech, with Oklahoma Statewinning over a Tech team headed up byMatt Kuchar and Bryce Molder.

The Lake course is considered as per-haps the best of the Robert Trent JonesTrail courses, with the Grand NationalLinks course right there with it. Lakeserves as the tournament course becausethe ninth hole on Links does not comeback to the clubhouse, making two-teestarts impractical.

The Lakes course can play as long as7150 yards, but will be on the short sideby PGA Tour standards, with no par 4sover 445 yards and a quartet of par 5sthat average under 540. The par 3s, how-ever, are a strong group, with three of thefour over 210 yards and the semi-island15th among the featured holes on thecourse.

More than half the greens on the Lakecourse are bordered by water, and thelayout, which was built along LakeSaugahatchee, features severalrisk/reward shots, most notably on thepar-5 12th. Lake is relatively tight off thetee, but is more a second-shot course,with some demanding pin positions bor-dered by hazards. The putting surfacesare large with ample amounts of undula-tion, and the presence of mounds alongthe edges makes it an all-around chal-lenge for the pros’ short games.

Although there are a few walks acrossbridges, the Lake course is spectatorfriendly, with several intersecting holesand a minimal amount of elevationchanges. In that regard, the course issimilar to Callaway Gardens, whichhosted a PGA Tour event from 1991-2002.

The Columbus area, which had a PGATour event for more than three decades,has been without a tour event since aone-year trial with the Champions Tourin 2003 was unsuccessful. Opelika,which is located near Auburn, is a shortdrive from Columbus, and is only about90 minutes from Atlanta off I-85.

As one of the PGA Tour’s handful of“opposite” events, the BarbasolChampionship will be lacking for thegame’s marquee players, but tourna-ments in that category have producedplenty of drama in recent years, and haveproved as springboards to future successfor many of golf’s best.

Former U.S. Open champion GeoffOgilvy won an opposite event in Reno-Tahoe last year, with Atlanta area nativeand former UGA star Chris Kirk win-ning in Mississippi in 2011 the sameweek the British Open was played. Jordan Spieth’s breakthrough tour-

nament on the PGA Tour was arunner-up finish in Puerto Rico in 2013,with recent Georgia Tech golferChesson Hadley winning as a PGATour rookie last year in Puerto Rico.

Golfers with Georgia ties have a his-tory of success in opposite events, mostnotably veterans Jason Bohn andJonathan Byrd. Bohn tied for second inMississippi last fall and was also arunner-up there in 2012, with Byrd thirdin Reno-Tahoe last year and second in2013.

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PGA Tour plays at Grand National this monthRTJ Trail course has hosted big events in past

Jason Bohn


B y S t e v e E u b a n k s

ust as a beautiful sunset canbrighten an otherwise miserableday, sometimes a feature that hasnothing to do with golf coursearchitecture can totally trans-

form the makeup of a club and cheer theattitudes of players who are on it.

Such is the case at Planterra RidgeGolf Club, the ClubCorp property thatwas part of the old Canongate network ofcourses in Peachtree City. Originallydesigned by Rocky Roquemore, thecourse opened in 1994 as the last of thethree master-planned golf properties inthe golf-cart infested town half-an-hoursouth of Hartsfield-Jackson InternationalAirport.

For the first 18 years, it was a fine,mid-range family club with few memo-rable features: nothing wrong orgimmicky but nothing that would makeyou raise your eyebrows and tell yourfriends about it. LocalU.S. Open quali-fying was held there a couple of times,but other than that the course seemeddestined to toil in relative obscurity, lostin the stew of real-estate golf thatdrowned the Atlanta market throughoutthe 90s.

But something interesting happenedon the road to anonymity. First, Planterra

Ridge had to create two-and-a-half newholes when the adjacent local airport,Falcon Field, commandeered everythingfrom the approach shot on No.3, thoughthe green on No.5. The new holesimproved the place but, again, not inway that would make you sing praises toanyone outside your closest group offamily and friends.

Then the trees came down and the damwent up.

After decades of permitting problemsand political wrangling, Fayette andCoweta Counties finally built LakeMcIntosh, a 240-acre reservoir fed thatacts as a water source for both counties. Apark and dock were added on thePeachtree City side and sailors andkayakers enjoy late afternoon sunsets onthe calm waters.

The lake also abuts Planterra Ridge,turning an average golf course into one ofthe most scenic and challenging layoutson the south side of the city.

Nine holes are now on the water withlake views on three more, a change thatputs Planterra on par with the courses ofLake Oconee. The lake also affected theplayability of the place, as what was oncerough is now water and holes that weretree-lined before are now open andbreezy.

Nothing else has changed. No bunkerswere deepened; no greens redesigned; notees added or pars changed: the only dif-ference is the lake. And it’s a major one.Residents now fondly refer to theircourse as “Planterra by the Sea” and theycan’t get enough of it, inviting guests

from allover the world down to play.

“It is the busiest club in town by far,”said Steve Soriano, the general manager ofthe Peachtree City cluster of courses. “Weowe that to the ‘added water attraction.’It makes it a beautiful place to be.”

Planterra Ridge

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Planterra Ridge loses trees, enhanced by lake

Judson [ Continued from page 22 ]

tournament that supports it, with theemphasis this year shifting more to theLeadership Conference that preceded thetournament.

Jones had come close to winning thefirst three years in the individual compe-tition, and managed to be part of thewinning team in the Legends-collegeplayer format the first day. BarbMucha’s team won the scramble format,with Betsy King the Legends-collegewinner the next day and Laurie Rinkerthe pro on the first place scramble team. Taylor Totland of Furman won the

54-hole Judson Collegiate Invitational,carding scores of 71-74-71 for a 3-over216 total. Sarah Bae of North CarolinaState was second at 217, shooting 75-69-73. Sydney Needham of Villa Rica,who is transferring from Samford toFlorida, shot 71-73-74 to place third at218.

Totland birdied five of the first 10holes in the final round to offset a triplebogey on the par-4 fourth, and preservedher lead with pars on her last seven holes.Bae had the lead midway through thefinal round until she took a triple bogeyon the short but perilous par-4 ninth.

Needham had a chance to win before anerratic finish that began with a doublebogey at the par-5 13th and a bogey at the14th. She rebounded with birdies and 15and 16 to close within one of the lead, butmade bogey on the difficult par-4 17thand settled for par on the par-5 18th.

Defending champion JessicaHaigwood of Roswell, who plays atAugusta State, was among the leadersafter an opening 71, but followed withback-to-back 75s and tied for sixth at221 with Milton’s Payton Schanen,who will be a freshman at Mercer thisFall. Schanen shot 74-74-73, beginningher final round with 11 straight parsbefore carding four bogeys and twobirdies over her final seven holes.

he Greg Norman ChampionsGolf Academy, located at theBarefoot Resort in NorthMyrtle Beach, S.C., has been

meeting the needs of top amateur andprofessional golfers since it was created in2010.

The GNCGA is one of the largest golftraining facilities in the world, withaccess to four courses that Norman wasinvolved in the design and construction.The 10,000 square foot state of the artfacility was designed to meet the needs ofgolfers at every stage of their develop-ment.

The facility houses two classrooms, fulllocker rooms and a world class gym fea-turing Cybex equipment. There are threehitting bays for the GNCGA students,with each one equipped with V-1 videoanalysis.

GNCGA coaches guide the juniorgolfers in a daily basis with one on onetraining along with group instructionMonday through Saturday. The studentsare housed at The Farm in CarolinaForest and are cared for by the GNCGA’s

house parents. The Greg Norman Champions Golf

Academy is a full-tome boarding golfacademy that offers a variety of programs,including summer camps, full-time,post-graduate, and customized and adultprograms.

The summer camp provides weeklyand multi-week training programs forboys and girls ages 8 to 21. The summercamp begins in May and runs throughSeptember, offering the same experienceas full-time high school and post-grad-uate students receive.

The GNCGA full-time programfocuses on education and improving golfskills in 10 months, running fromAugust to May. It provides top juniorsfrom the U.S. and abroad with aninstruction program and training envi-ronment.

The academy partners with K12, aleader in online learning, as well LowCountry Prep School for an excellent pri-vate school academic experience. Theacademic offerings are high end, andcombined with the individualized inten-

sive golf instruction, helps stu-dents achieve the goal of receivinga college scholarship.

The post-graduate programwas designed to prepare playersages 17-21 for college golf andbeyond. It allows students anextra year to improve their golfgames to compete more effec-tively at the college levelwithout losing a year of eligi-bility. The post-graduateprograms also start in Augustand ends in May.

The professional andinstructional know how ofGreg Norman provides aplatform for junior golferslooking to dramaticallyimprove their ability to com-pete effectively and win inlife. #attacklife!

In addition to the large number of jun-iors in attendance, the GNCGA offersadult golf programs that include one,two and three-day golf schools coveringall aspects of the game. Customized pro-

grams are also offered for thoselooking to improve in a particular area.Those areas include the short game, longgame, putting, driving, full swing,bunker play and chipping.

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Greg Norman Champions Golf AcademyMyrtle Beach facility a top training ground

Greg Norman Golf Academyoffers a variety of programs,including summer camps, full-time, post-graduate, customized and adult programs.

Schniederjans, Harrison claimGPGA Jr. titlesLuke Schniederjans of Powder Springsand Sarah Harrison of Augusta were thewinners in last month’s Georgia PGA JuniorChampionship at Pinetree Country Club. Schniederjans shot 70-75 for a 1-over

145 total to finish four ahead ofWoodstock’s Ryan Hines. Schniederjanshad five birdies in his opening round tolead by one after 18 holes, and expandedhis lead the next day despite a triple bogeyon the par-5 ninth hole. Hines shot 74-75and made double bogey on the ninth inthe final round. Ollie Schniederjans, Luke’s older

brother and a recent Georgia Tech grad-uate, won the Georgia PGA JuniorChampionship in 2009. Hunter Hester of Peachtree City and

Jake Lawson of Atlanta tied for third at150. Lawson was one back after an opening71, carding five birdies, and was tied withSchniederjans midway through the finalround before making a 9 on the par-5 11th. Hudson Huber of Tyrone and Hunter

Fry of Dacula tied for fifth at 152, withHuber closing with a 72. Harrison won the girls division by three

shots with scores of 78-74—152. Sheshared the lead after the opening round,rallying with three birdies on her final nineafter making a triple bogey on the par-418th. She pulled away the next day despitemaking just one birdie. Alejandra Ayala of Alpharetta shot a

final round 76 to take second at 155, withfirst round co-leader Christine McDonnellof Suwanee third at 159. Kate Owens ofSuwanee and Buford’s Skylar Thompsontied for fourth at 160, with Alissa Yang ofNorcross sixth at 161 after a final round 76.

Lee, Lightfritz takeGSGA Junior titlesS.M. Lee of Buford and Lauren Lightfritzof Suwanee scored impressive wins in theGSGA Junior and Girls Championships, withboth players finishing under par for 54holes. Lee was dominant at Augusta’s West

Lake Country Club, winning by eight shotswith a 16-under 200 total. He shot a tour-nament record 63 in the first round to leadby seven, and maintained his advantagewith scores of 67 and 70 the next two days.

For the tournament, Lee had 20 birdiesand an eagle, breaking the 54-holescoring record set by recent GeorgiaSouthern golfer Scott Wolfes, who shot201 in 2009. Lee won last year’s GeorgiaPGA Junior Championship at DunwoodyCountry Club.Gainesville’s Spencer Ralston shot 68-

67 the final two rounds and was second at208, with Georgia PGA runner-up RyanHines third at 210 after a final round 68.Hunter Dunagan of Augusta was fourth at211, with Roswell’s JonErik Alford andCanton’s Brady Keran fifth at 212. Keranshot 66 in the second round. Luukas Alakulppi of Valdosta was sev-

enth at 214 and Atlanta’s Will Chandlerwas eighth at 215 to earn spots on theGSGA Junior Challenge Match team thatwill play a team from South Carolina thismonth. Lightfritz shot 4-under 212 at Coosa

Country Club in Rome to finish two aheadof Payton Schanen of Milton, the 2014GSGA Girls champion. The two playersshared the opening round lead at 69, butLightfritz took the lead outright with asecond round 70. After making just three bogeys the first

45 holes and standing 7-under at thatpoint, Lightfritz was headed for an easy vic-tory and possible tournament scoringrecord, but made four bogeys on her finalnine for a 73. Schanen birdied the final two holes in the

third round for a 70 to take second at 214.Melissa Talbott of Woodstock was secondat 141 after 36 holes with scores of 70 and71, but after notching nine birdies the firsttwo days, did not make a birdie in the finalround and shot 75 to place third at 216.

Alissa Yang shot 72-70 the final twodays and was fourth at 217. Lizzie Reedy ofMarietta was fifth at 218 after a final round71, Ivy Shepherd of Peachtree City wassixth at 220, and Christina Yang ofSuwanee and Amanda Doherty of Atlantatied for seventh at 221. Doherty shot 69 toshare the opening round lead.

4 Georgians winAJGA tournamentsFour Georgians scored victories inAmerican Junior Golf Association tourna-ments last month, with Lawrenceville’sJenny Bae scoring her win in a Junior All-Star event at WindStone GC in Ringgold. Bae shot 67-69-72 for a 5-under 208 total

to win by two. Skylar Thompson tied forsixth at 216, with Ivy Shepherd 10th at219. Bae led after each of the first tworounds, but was three shots behindheading to the back nine the final day. Sheshot 2-under 34 on the final nine to makeup five strokes on the 45-hole leader. It was just the second AJGA tournament

for the 13-year-old Bae. Junior All-Star tour-naments are for players age 12 to 15. Luka Karaulic of Dacula was second in

the boys division, finishing two shotsbehind the winner with scores of 73-68-66—207. Tyler Lipscomb of Carrolltonshot 68-67 the final two rounds to tie forfourth at 209, with Ben Carr of Columbustying for sixth at 210. Brendan Patton of Alpharetta tied for

Golf FORE Juniors

Jenny Bae

Luke Schniederjans

Sarah Harrison

Charles Huntzinger


Lauren Lightfritz

S.M. Lee

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eighth at 211, with Garron Terrell ofWoodstock 10th at 212, Will Kahlstorf ofWatkinsville and Liam Shinn of NorcrossT11 at 213, and Thomas Hogan of St.Simons T13 at 214. Patton, Shimm andHogan all shot 68 in the first round. Charles Huntzinger of Duluth, who is

headed to Penn State this Fall, scored hisfirst AJGA win in the FJ Invitational inGreensboro, N.C. Huntzinger finished at 4-under 276 with scores of 71-66-70-69 towin by two. Huntzinger trailed Benjamin Shipp,

also of Duluth, by four shots after 36 holes,but after starting with scores of 66-67,Shipp struggled the next two days andtied for 11th at 285. GSGA Junior cham-pion S.M. Leewas second after 36 holes at136 after a second round 66 and finishedtied for sixth at 282. JonErik Alford scored his victory at

Bear Creek on Hilton Head Island. Alfordtrailed by seven shots after an opening 76,but closed with scores of 72-68 to win bythree at even par 216. Alford was still six back after the second

round, but moved into contention withthree birdies on the front nine the finalday and wrapped up his first AJGA victorywith birdies on the last two holes. His finalround 68 matched the low score of thetournament. Austin Fulton of Villa Rica was the

fourth AJGA Georgia winner in June, alsopulling off a major third round comebackin Mount Sterling, Ky. Fulton was six backafter 36 holes after scores of 74-72, but gotoff to a fast start in the final round withthree birdies on his first five holes. Fulton still trailed by five shots with six

holes to play, but birdied four of the sixholes for a 65 to overtake the lead and winby a shot. Alex Markham of Dacula tiedfor fifth at 216. In other AJGA events last month:

Karaulic placed third in Ashland, Ky., andNicholas Cassidy of Johns Creek tied forfourth. Karaulic shot 67-71-69 for a 3-under 207 total to finish three behind thewinner. Cassidy was four back at 208 afterscores of 68-69-71.Kayley Marschke of Suwanee was sev-

enth in the girls division in Nashville with a227 total, with Lightfritz T11 at 232. DarioAyala of Alpharetta tied for eighth amongthe boys at 2-under 214 after a final round69. Jacob Bayer of Lawrenceville was 11that 216.

Marchman takes Jr. Peach BlossomWaynesboro’s Rylie Marchman won thegirls division of the Southeastern JuniorGolf Tour Junior Peach Blossom at Macon’s

Idle Hour Club, talking a playoff overLayne Marie-Carter of Lyons.Both players finished with 159 totals,

with Carter shooting a final round 77 aftertrailing Marchman by two after the firstround. Hannah Gasaway of McDonoughwas third at 160. Davis Hall of Marietta was second in

boys 16-19 at 145, and Matthew Geiser ofAtlanta was second in the 12-13 agegroup at 147. Jackson Toole of Lyons shot72-74—146 to win the 14-15 division bytwo over Brendan Patton. Sam Barrett of Thomasville shot 75-

77—152 to win boys 12-13 by three shotsat Shoal Creek in Birmingham. KateMashburn of Calhoun tied for second ingirls 15-19 at 170, two behind the winner.

Chung wins by 7 at Chateau ElanPeter Chung of Dacula won a HurricaneJunior Golf Tour event at Chateau Elan lastmonth, firing a final round 67 to finish at 2-under 211, seen shots ahead of therunner-up in boys 15-18. Nicholas Gibson of Lawrenceville was

second in the 13-14 age group at 217,three behind the winner, and TessDavenport of Buford was second in girls11-14 at 228. Joshua Grenville-Wood of Peachtree

City was the boys 15-18 winner at WhiteOak in Newnan with scores of 71-72—143.Peachtree City’s David Bartels wassecond at 144. Brandon Cho of Suwaneeshot 151 to win the 13-14 age group by 12shots. The girls 15-18 winner was Cameron

Daniel of Sharpsburg at 154, with AshleyShim of Newnan second at 156. LizaEubanks of Peachtree City shot 162 ingirls 11-14, but lost in a playoff. Davenportand Kimberly Shen of Johns Creek tiedfor third at 163. At Royal Lakes in Flowery Branch,

Wesley Hanson of Macon won the boys15-18 with scores of 75-76—151. Tying forsecond at 153 were Grant Manning ofSuwanee, David Frank of Dunwoody andTanner Merck of Gainesville. NicholasGibson of Lawrencecille was the 13-14winner at 156, with Shyam Joshi ofDacula second at 158. Louise Yu of Duluth shot 76-77—153 to

win girls 15-18 by seven over KellyStrickland of Alpharetta. Tess Davenportwon the 13-14 age group by seven overDunwoody’s Woo Wade with scores of 77-74--151. Drew Smith of Decatur won boys 15-18

at the Grand National Links course inOpelika, Al., shooting 72-79—151 to takethe division by three.


Hirschman defendsSoutheastern titleGrant Hirshman, a member of theOklahoma golf team, defended his title inthe Southeastern Amateur at Country Clubof Columbus, winning by five shots with a15-under 269 total. Hirshman, who had yet to enter college

when he won the tournament last year,trailed by six shots after an opening par 71,but matched the low score of the week inthe second round with a 62 to close withinone of the lead. Carter Page of Waynesville, N.C., also

shot 62 and led by one after 36 holes, butHirshman followed his 62 with a 63 to leadby five heading to the final round.Hirshman, from Collierville, Tenn., playedcautiously the final day, shooting 1-over 72to easily preserve his lead. Jared Bettcher of Auburn, Ala., closed

with a 64 to take second at 272, with BeauTitsworth, Hirshman’s Oklahoma team-mate, third at 274 along with FloridianSean Kelly. Page finished fifth at 275. Tyler Joiner of Leesburg, who will be a

freshman at Georgia Tech this Fall, was lowamong the Georgians in the field, tying foreighth at 277 after shooting 67-68 the finaltwo rounds. Also tying for eighth wasVinceWhaley, who will be a junior for the YellowJackets. Whaley also tied for ninth in theMonroe Invitational in New York. Bobby Brent was the low finisher from

Columbus, placing 13th at 280. CharlieFlowers of Columbus and Steven Fisk ofStockbridge were among the leaders after54 holes, but both shot 78 the final day andtied for 18th at 282. UGA golfer Zach Healyof Peachtree Corners was T22 at 283, andGeorgia Tech golfer Michael Pisciotta ofAlpharetta matched par of 284 and tied for24th. Shad Tuten of Savannah, the runner-up

to Hirshman last year, was among theleaders after an opening 67, but wound uptied for 30th at 285 with Jacob Joiner, whowill be joined at Georgia Tech by hisyounger brother.

Kennerly, Wolfes2nd in am eventsAlpharetta’s Billy Kennerly and St. Simons’Scott Wolfes both placed second innational amateur events last month. Kennerly, who plays at Clemson, was

runner-up in the Palmetto Amateur atPalmetto Golf Club in Aiken, S.C. Wolfes,who recently completed his career at

Georgia Southern, was second in the pres-tigious Sunnehana Amateur. Kennerly finished at 6-under 274 in the

Palmetto Am, posting scores of 66-69-74-65. He finished two shots behind NorthCarolinian Ben Schlottman. Alpharetta’s Zach Jaworski, who plays

at Vanderbilt, tied for eighth at 281, withLexington’s Nathan Mallonee, a memberof the Georgia State golf team, T14 at 284.Augusta’s Emmanuel Kountakis (Mercer)tied for 16th at 285, with Davin White ofLocust Grove and Georgia State, 20th at287. Wolfes shot 65-70-69-65 for an 11-under

269 total, one behind Virginia golfer DerekBard. Recent Mercer graduate Trey Rulefrom Eatonton tied for 21st at 277. RobertMize of Columbus, the 2014 GeorgiaAmateur champion, led the tournamentafter an opening 65 before finishing with a281 total.

Mitsunaga takes GSGA Match PlayRoswell’s Rinko Mitsunaga, who teamedup to win the USGA Women’s Four-BallChampionship earlier this year, added arecent individual title, taking the GSGAWomen’s Match Play Championship atPiedmont Driving Club. Mitsunaga defeated Payton Schanen of

Milton 3&2 in the finals in a match of twohigh school golfers from North Fulton.Mitsunaga will be a freshman at Georgiathis Fall, while Schanen will play forMercer. Mitsunaga needed 19 holes to get past

Villa Rica’s Sydney Needham in the semi-finals, while Schanen won 4&3 over former

UGA golfer Emilie Burger, who hasregained her amateur status after playingbriefly as a professional. In a battle of USGA champions in the

quarterfinals, Misunaga won on the 19thhole against Atlanta Junior Golf ExecutiveDirector Margaret Shirley, the 2014 U.S.Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and athree-time winner of the Georgia Women’sOpen. In another tight quarterfinal match,Needham won 1-up against UGA golferIsabella Skinner of Cumming. Augusta’s Laura Coble, who has won

the tournament nine times, lost 1-up inthe first round to Sea Island’s CherylGrigg.

Strawn capturesLee-Weir MemorialAmateur Rusty Strawn won last month’sGeorgia PGA Senior Division Lee-WeirMemorial at Canongate 1, edging fellowamateur Mel Mendenhall for the title. Strawn finished with a 9-under 135

total, posting scores of 69-66. Mendenhallwas second at 67-69—136. James Mason of Dillard was low pro

and third overall with scores of 69-68—137. Tying for fourth at 140 were prosSonny Skinner of Sylvester and DannyElkins of Georgia Golf Center, who shot 68in the final round. Clark Spratlin of Currahee Club was

fifth at 69-73—142, with BrianPuterbaugh of the Hooch and CharlieKing of Griffin Golf Course tying for sev-enth at 143. Puterbaugh shared the leadafter an opening 67. Amateur BillLenhardt and pro Mark Anderson ofBrunswick CC were ninth at 144, withAnderson closing with a 68. The tournament is a fixture within the

Georgia PGA Senior Division and is playedin honor of former Canongate head proEmory Lee and long-time PING represen-tative Billy Weir.

Weaver a winner on Canadian TourAtlanta resident Drew Weaver, a formerBritish Amateur champion, continued hisoutstanding play in 2015 with a victory inthe recent season-opening tournament onthe PGA Tour-sponsored Canadian Tour. Weaver had to survive a five-way playoff

to win the tournament in Vancouver,scoring three straight birdies on par-5s, twoon the 18th hole and one on the first hole,the third extra hole. He earned $30,000 forhis victory and followed with a tie for 10thin the next Canadian Tour event. Earlier this year, Weaver enjoyed a strong

run on the North Carolina-based eGolf Tour, winning one tournament, tying forsecond twice and placing third twice. Inseven starts on that tour this year, he has sixtop-10 finishes and has not finished lowerthan 15th. Weaver plays out of Druid Hills Golf Club. In a recent eGolf Tour event in

Gordonsville, Va., recent Georgia Techgolfer Bo Andrews shot a final round 63 fora 205 total to finish second and earn $7500. The SwingThought.com (formerly

Hooters) Tour made two recent stops inNorth Carolina, with several Georgia golfersposting top finishes. Bobby Wyatt, a member of Alabama’s

national championship teams in 2013-14and a St. Simons resident, tied for second atCutter Creek GC with a 270 total. Albany’sT.J. Mitchell, a recent UGA golfer, tied forsixth at 277, along with Acworth’s JamesWhite (Georgia Tech) and Canton residentJeff Karlsson (Kennesaw State). CaseyJohnson of Augusta was 12th at 280. Karlsson was fourth in New Bern, N.C.,

three shots behind the winner, with a 19-under 269 total. Johnson was ninth at 274,with Matt Nagy of Buena Vista, Karlsson’steammate at Kennesaw State, 10th at 275.Ex-Georgia Tech golfer J.T. Griffin, a St.Simons resident, and Wyatt tied for 11th at

34 GO L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C OM J U LY 2 0 1 5

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277, with recent Georgia Tech graduateAnders Albertson of Woodstock tying for15th at 12-under 276 in his professionaldebut. Albertson was recently named the ACC

men’s golf Scholar Athlete of the Year, andpreviously won the Byron Nelson Award forthe top graduating senior based on hisentire academic and golf performancethroughout his college career.

Georgia Amateurqualifying resultsThe Georgia State Golf Association held 10qualifiers around the state last month forthe Georgia Amateur, which will be playedJuly 9-12 at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seasidecourse. Qualifiers from the 10 sites were: Houston Lake: 67 – States Fort, Evans;

Stephen Welsh, Macon; 70 – Bill Sharpe Sr.,Albany; 71 – Mark David Johnson, St.Simons; 72 – Michael Chapin, Atlanta; ParkBrady, St. Simons; Cole Ackerman, St.Simons. Alternates: 72 – Neill Hatcher,Columbus; Shawn Hodge, Kathleen. Governors Towne Club: 68 – Brock

Nixon, Kennesaw; 69 – Chris Gugliemo,Cumming; Benjamin Shipp, Duluth; SheaSylvester, Roswell; Spencer Ralston,Gainesville; 71 – Nicholas Budd,Woodstock; Brett Barron, Suwanee; 72 –Patrick Bridges, Atlanta; Billy Johns, JohnsCreek; Garrett Marschke, Suwanee; MichaelMotz, Cumming; Daniel Fienemann,Peachtree City; Sean Murphy, Decatur; 73 –Matthew Hayes, Marietta; Todd Schmitt,Atlanta; Adam Morris, Acworth; JasonCoolik, Atlanta; Hudson Hooks, Atlanta;Steve Davis, Rome; Luke Schniederjans,Powder Springs; 74 – Barrett Waters, Dallas.Alternates: 74 – Ryan Stachler, Alpharetta;Zan Banks, Atlanta; Jack Stumpfig, VillaRica; Michael Sheahan, Marietta; RobertShaw, Cumming. Fields Ferry: 69 – Sean Elliott, Sandy

Springs; Chase Jones, Chatsworth; ChaseJones, Cartersville; Wyatt Larkin,Morganton; 70 – Jason Dejiacomo, BigCanoe; Collin Doss, Rome; 71 – HaroldWyatt, Atlanta; David Sullivan, Woodstock;Matt Eicholtz, Dalton; 72 – Kevin Burns,Canton; Scott Davenport, Marietta; SpencerBall, Suwanee; Justin Johnson, Canton.Alternates: 73 – Jayce Stepp, Cartersville;Bill Faith, Atlanta; Daniel McKenzie, Atlanta. Savannah Quarters: 66 – Travis Mobley,

Hinesville; 68 – Tripp Coggins, Pooler; 69 –Hal Hayes, Savannah; 71 – Danny Nelson,Savannah; 73 – Harrison Stafford,Savannah; Jeff Cowart, Savannah; 74 –Travis Williamson, Brunswick; Hunter Fry,Dacula; 75 – Howard Hickey, Savannah.Alternates: 75 – Josh Williams, St. Simons;

Lane Jowers, Brunswick; 76 – Chad Ring,Fayetteville. Lane Creek: 68 – Jarod Trammell, Jasper;

Henry Persons, Macon; S.M. Lee, Buford;Nathan Mallonee, Lexington; 69 – AshtonPellicano, Albany; 70 – Eamonn Owen,Madison; Eli Crumley, Cleveland; 72 –Colton Strawn, Athens; Ben Huckaby,Bishop; 73 – Poli Medrano, Greensboro;Larry Harris, Loganville; 74 – Garrett Bailey,Hartwell; Ben Avery, Athens; David Noto,Clarkesville; Edward Bannister, Loganville;Kyle Harper, Hartwell. Alternates: 75 – TreyPearson, Dacula; Jake Crane, Bogart; BobRusso, Johns Creek; Hunter Young,Gainesville. West Lake: 65 – Gus Wagoner, Duluth;

67 – Matt Jackson, Waynesboro; 70 –Greyson Sigg, Augusta; 71 – EthanChamineak, Thomson; 72 – John Yi,Marietta; William Garner, Augusta; 73 –Trevor Balliet, Augusta; Douglas Carter,Augusta. Alternates: 73 – Carson Spears,Augusta; 74 – Andrew Chong, Grovetown;Jordan Long, Stockbridge. Green Island: 70 -- Ridge Purcell,

LaGrange; Keller Harper, Atlanta; 73 –Charlie McDaniel, Columbus; 74 – ParkerDerby, Columbus. Alternates: 74 – MelMendenhall, Marietta; Tyler Young,Kennesaw. Cherokee Run: 71 – Mitch Kim,

Cumming; 74 -- James Kyles, Atlanta;Danny Smyth, Atlanta; 75—AndyLabanauskas, Atlanta; Taylor Smith,Covington; Jake Fendt, Suwanee; 76 –Steven Wysocki, Hoschton; CameronHooper, Atlanta; Danny Whigham, Atlanta;Dave Womack, McDonough; Erick Martin,Alpharetta. Alternates: 77 – Harry Lambert,Suwanee; Chris Harris, Atlanta; SpencerPapciak, Atlanta; 78 – Travis Steed, Mason. Newnan Country Club: 68 – Henry

Mabbett, Griffin; Trevor Smith, Brunswick;69 – Carson Vaughan, Newnan; 70 – ScottOdell, Claxton; Stanton Schorr, Columbus;Seth Sanders, Macon; 72 – Jason Henry,Newnan; 73 – Mike Cromer, PeachtreeCorners; Damon Stephenson, Atlanta; JakeThomas, Cumming; Steven Fisk,Stockbridge; Austin Weathington, Atlanta;Ryan Blackburn, Atlanta; 74 – MadisonTurner, Canton; Paul Kocsis, Fayetteville;Sam Asbury, Atlanta. Alternates: 75 -- TreLamb, Calhoun; Preston Heyward, Duluth;Jack Harpe, Griffin; Riley Baxter, Atlanta. Kinderlou Forest: 71 -- Taylor Welborn,

LaGrange; 73 – Mitch Lomax, St. Mary’s;Luukas Alakulppi, Valdosta; 74 – ChrisRogers, Dawson; McKenzie Blanchett,Moultrie; 75 – Scott Campbell, SandySprings; Sam Barrett, Thomasville; JaredPurvis, Valdosta. Alternates: 76 – RobBenton, Douglas; Brock Young, Tifton;David Matthews, Valdosta.


FedExCup [ Continued from page 16 ]

Russell Henley (51) has had chancesto win the McGladrey, Tournament ofChampions and in Houston, finishingone or two shots behind the winner in allthree. Like Tringale, Henley made it toEast Lake for the first time last year. Zach Johnson has been an East Lake

regular for the past decade, and has had asolid season with a string of top-20 fin-ishes, but has not had the big week ortwo and was 59th. He has been in the top20 in the final FedExCup standings sixtimes the past eight years. Todd was also a Tour Championship

rookie last year after capturing his firstPGA Tour title, and has playedrespectably this season with a trio of top10s and was 62nd, two spots in front ofChesson Hadley, Tringale’s GeorgiaTech teammate. Like Todd, Hadley hashad a solid season with three top 10s andseveral other top 20s. Charles Howell has come close to

qualifying for the Tour Championshipeach of the last two years, but was 70thafter a decent but unexceptional seasonwith two months to play. Fellow Augustanative Scott Brown was 80th, with

PGA Tour sophomore HudsonSwafford 88th and virtually certainto retain his exempt status afterplaying better than he did as arookie. Brian Harman has slipped a bit

after winning for the first time lastyear, but contended in both thePlayers and Colonial and is up to96th. Bryce Molder has been asolid PGA Tour player since 2009,but is 99th this year and unlikely tomake it to East Lake for the firsttime. Ex-UGA golfer ErikCompton should keep his PGATour card, but at 104 is unlikely tomake it to the Tour Championship.

At 117, former Georgia Techgolfer Nicholas Thompson is indanger of losing his exempt status,with veteran Stewart Cink in asimilar spot at 120, but with no concernsyet about losing his status thanks to hisstanding on the career money list. Cinkhas a string of middle-of-the-pack finishesthis season, but is still looking to find hisgame he apparently lost after winning the2009 British Open.

Outside the top 125 after the U.S.Open were:

Former Clayton State golfer WillWilcox (137), who has played well in his

Roberto Castro [ Continued from page 24 ]

second season but was making just his10th start at Hartford; Vaughn Taylor(162), who has played just six times offpast champions’ status, but has finishedbetween 10th and 22nd four times;Jonathan Byrd (163), who has gottenenough starts as a non-exempt player, buthasn’t done much with his opportunities;Davis Love (176), who has returnedfrom foot surgery but had just onequality showing in 10 starts prior tomissing more than two months; BlakeAdams (192), who is struggling to

regain form after undergoing hipreplacement surgery last year;Roberto Castro (194), who quali-fied for the Tour Championship in2013, but lost his exempt status forthis season and has played a limitedschedule; and veteran HeathSlocum (199), who has note enjoyeda successful season since2010.

Among the prominent PGA Tourplayers outside the top 125 after theU.S. Open were Geoff Ogilvy (128),K.J. Choi (133), Luke Donald (144),Graeme McDowell (148), AngelCabrera (158), Martin Kaymer(160), Ernie Els (170) and SteveStricker (174).

Players inside the top 125 but notclose to the top 30 include VijaySingh (116), Charl Schwartzel(114), Lee Westwood (95), Adam

Scott (87), Jason Dufner (77), andPadraig Harrington (69), the lowest-ranked player to win a PGA Tour eventoffering full points.

With only three tournaments left onthe schedule that will draw a sizeablenumber of top players (British Open,WGC event at Firestone, PGAChampionship), the tour’s lower tierplayers will have opportunities to moveup in the standings, with two tourna-ments played opposite those three (one inAlabama) and several others that typi-cally lack for star power.

36 GO L F F O R E G E O R G I A . C OM J U LY 2 0 1 5

but will be critical when the PGA Tourregular year ends in Greensboro inAugust.

The top 125 players on the final reg-ular season points list make it into theFedExCup Playoffs and are fully exemptfor the 2015-16 season. Those who finishbetween 126 and 200 will play in theWeb.com Finals, with the top 25 moneywinners from that 4-tournament seriesjoining the top 25 money winners fromthe Web.com Tour regular season moneylist on the 2015-16 PGA Tour.

Those who finish outside the top 200are not guaranteed full Web.com Tourstatus next year, and Castro does not wantto find himself in that situation. Castrohas made just two Web.com starts thisseason, but might have to return to thattour late in the season if he drops out ofthe top 200 in the FedExCup standings.

Castro has a track record of success onthe Web.com Tour, but after his out-standing PGA Tour showing in 2013,would just as soon not have to return togolf’s version of baseball’s Class AAA. He

finished 6th and 12th in consecutiveWeb. com starts late in 2009, and playedhis way onto the tour late in the 2010season when he ran off three straight top-20 efforts, highlighted by a runner-upfinish in Wichita.

Exempt on that tour for the first timein 2011, Castro finished in the top 25 onthe money list to move up to the PGATour in 2012, and after retaining hisplaying privileges, enjoyed his careerbest season in 2013.

Castro admitted that following up aseason like 2013 “is really hard,” consid-ering the level of energy you have toexpend to play at that level for anextended period of time. He said hebelieves he has the ability to get to thatlevel again, but for players who are notblessed with exceptional talent, “You canlose that little edge” that separates a suc-cessful season from an unproductive one.

Castro’s time to turn around a difficultseason is dwindling, and after his excel-lent play in the U.S. Open qualifier andstrong finish in Memphis, he missed thecut by just one shot at Chambers Bay anddid not make it to the weekend inHartford.

Brian Harman

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Across1. California course which was the siteof the 2008 US Open (2 words)7. Path of a drive9. Louis Oosthuizen recorded a double___ at the Masters in 201210. A (bad) high, short shot11. ____ of approach13. Ryder Cup nation14. Graeme McDowell’s nationality16. The Arnold Palmer ____ is givento the player with the most moneyearned on the Champions Tour18. Stand in20. Have21. Habit or pattern that is hard tochange22. ___ of bounds24. Curve a shot to fit a situation

25. ___ shot, aka whiff26. Outdoor building27. Insect that can distract a golfer28. Charles Howell ___29. How a 5 stroke victory could be described (2 words)31. Airline, briefly32. Famously tough hole at Pebble Beach35. There’s a lot of stress on this jointfor golfers36. Rain heavily on38. Steve Williams and Mike “Fluff”Cowan, for example41. Doesn’t make the putt, e.g.42. ___leg44. Shots that curve to the right (for a right handed golfer)45. This makes a ball reverse courseafter it hits the ground

Down1. 1972 British Open winner overJacklin2. Get back in front (3 words)3. Look at closely4. Author of “The Secret of Golf,” Joe ____5. Old way of saying no6. Home of the 2015 British Open (2 words)7. Clifford Roberts co-founded thisfamous course8. Signal12. Winners of the 2015 SEC men’sgolf championship15. Placing the hands ahead of the ballboth at address and impact17. Hole No. 13 at Augusta National19. In 2015, this tournament was held

in Irving, Texas and won by StevenBowditch (2 words)23. Employ27. Goes up and down along thefairway, for example30. A golfer ____ on the backswingbefore releasing the swing (2 words)31. Golf crowd sounds, oohs and ___33. Listens to advice34. Golfing great, Snead37.He beat Spieth at Colonial in 201539. Medical pro40. For that reason43. Combination of England, Scotlandand Wales (abbr.)

Answers at: www.foregeorgia.com/puzzle

Crossword PUZZLE.com

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july 2015 fore georgia magazine

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