Eight Georgia PGA members will be among 312 club professionals competing in this month’s PGA Professional National Championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C., with 20 spots in this year’s PGA Championship on the line.
The top 20 finishers in the PNC qualify for the 2014 PGA Championship, which will be played in early August at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.
The PGA PNC is set for June 22-25 at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club and the Grand Dunes Resort, with all four rounds televised on Golf Channel.
For the past two decades, the Georgia PGA has been represented by at least one Section member in the PGA Championship almost every year. Five of this year’s eight Georgia PGA qualifiers for the PNC have competed in the PGA Championship, with Tim Weinhart and Craig Stevens combining for eight appearances in one of golf’s four major championships.
Weinhart, an instructor at the Standard Club, will be making his 15th consecutive start in the PNC, qualifying by the narrowest of margins in the Georgia PGA’s qualifier last Fall. Weinhart survived a three-players-for-one-spot playoff, getting the final qualifying spot on the second extra hole.
In his 14 starts in the PNC, Weinhart qualified for the PGA Championship five times between 2002 and ’09, three times finishing 8th or better in the PNC, and twice getting the last spot for the PGA Championship in a playoff.
Weinhart is a 7-time Georgia PGA Player of the Year (2002-06. 2009-11), and is one of just a a handful of Section members to have won the Georgia PGA’s “Grand Slam.” He has won the Section’s PNC qualifier four of the last eight years.
Stevens, an instructor at Brookstone G&CC, is playing in his 17th PNC, and has qualified for the PGA Championship three times, including both 2001 and 2011, when Atlanta Athletic Club hosted the event. His best finish in the PNC was a tie for 9th in 2002.
The last two years, Stevens has earned Georgia PGA Player of the Year honors, adding to his previous titles in 1999 and 2001. Stevens, who was also the Georgia PGA’s Senior Player of the Year in 2013, won his third Georgia PGA Championship last year, and has also captured the PNC qualifier three times.
Also qualifying for the 2014 PGA PNC are Augusta Country Club head professional Tommy Brannen, Greg Lee of Chicopee Woods, Sonny Skinner of River Pointe in Albany, Bill Murchison of Towne Lake Hills, and two PNC “rookies” – Griffin Golf Course head pro Charlie King and Braelinn instructor Todd Ormsby, who won the 2013 Georgia PGA PNC qualifier at Champions Retreat.
This will be the 11th PNC appearance for Brannen, who qualified for last year’s event, missing the cut by just one shot in Oregon. Brannen remains the last Georgia PGA member to make the cut in the PGA Championship, tying for 38th in 1988 at Oak Tree in Oklahoma.
Skinner has qualified for the PNC each of the last seven years, although he did not compete in 2012. He placed second in the PNC in both 2008 and ’10, with his first runner-up finish coming at Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee. Skinner was a veteran tour player prior to becoming a full-time Georgia PGA member in 2006, capturing Georgia PGA Player of the Year honors the first year he was eligible.
During that span, Skinner has won the Georgia PGA Championship twice and has competed in the PGA Championship three times. Like Stevens, Skinner turned 50 several years ago, with both qualifying for the Senior PGA Championship, as has Brannen.
Lee, whose Georgia PGA victories include the Section Championship, Atlanta Open, Match Play Championship and PNC qualifier, has competed in the PNC 10 times since 2000 and has come close to qualifying for the PGA Championship.
Murchison has qualified for the PGA PNC each of the last four years, making it into the PGA field at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island in 2012 after tying for 7th in the PNC that year. He placed 2nd in the Georgia PGA qualifier at Champions Retreat, finishing two strokes behind Ormsby.
This will be Ormsby’s first PGA PNC appearance. He has played a limited tournament schedule, scoring his first Section victory last year in the PNC qualifier. He shot 70-73 at Champions Retreat for a 1-under 143 total, the only player in the field to break par for 36 holes.
King also qualified for the PNC for the first time, placing 3rd in the Section’s qualifier. King and Ormsby were the only players in the top 10 after the first round to qualify, with King posting scores of 71-75. King, 58, is among four Georgia PGA qualifiers for the PNC over the age of 50.
Georgia will have a ninth competitor in the event, after the recent move of Karen Paolozzi to the Atlanta area. Paolozzi qualified for the PNC out of the Ohio Section and is now an assistant at Druid Hills GC. She has already made an impact in the Georgia PGA, teaming with Druid Hills head Chad O’Dell pro to win the Section’s Pro-Assistant Championship in late May.
Paolozzi is just the third female to qualify for the PGA PNC.