Three of the top five seeds in the Georgia PGA Match Play Championship reached the semifinals, which were played at Peachtree Golf Club for a second straight year.
Top-seeded Sonny Skinner, the 2006 Match Play champion, was among the four semifinalists, as was second-seeded Tim Weinhart, one of just two Georgia PGA members to win the event three times. Neither player made it to the finals.
Matthew Evans, the No. 5 seed, rallied on the back nine to defeat Skinner 1-up in his semifinal match, with Mark Anderson, the lowest seed of the four players at No. 22, getting past Weinhart 2&1 in the other semifinal.
That set up a championship match of two veteran Georgia PGA members who have been frequent contenders over the years, but between them had just one victory in a Section points event, that coming 12 years ago in a tournament that has not been contested for more than a decade.
Anderson, the owner of the one Georgia PGA individual title among the two finalists, added a second career victory, outlasting Evans on the 19th hole of a tightly-contested championship match. Anderson led for only three holes during the match, which was all square for most of the back nine.
Evans won the first two holes, but his lead was gone by the sixth hole. He won only two more holes the rest of the day, taking a 1-up lead at the ninth, but that advantage did not last long. Evans three-putted the par-5 10th for a par from relatively close range and never led again.
Anderson took his first lead when he almost holed his second shot on the par-4 13th for a conceded birdie, with Evans pulling even when he reached the par-5 16th and two-putted for a winning birdie.
The last two holes were halved with pars, with both players missing par putts in the 5-to-6-foot range on the 18th. That sent the match to the first hole and sudden death, with neither player having much success on the hole earlier in the day.
Anderson bogeyed the hole to start both his matches, while Evans was unable to keep his tee shot out of the trees right of the fairway. He found the trees for a third straight time in the playoff, and this time he clipped a branch with his second shot, coming up well short of the green.
Evans hit a deft pitch shot to a similar range as the putt he missed at the 18th, with Anderson also missing the green before chipping to approximately the same distance as Evans. After Evans missed his par attempt, Anderson holed his to score his first Georgia PGA victory since the 2003 Lake Oconee Classic.
Anderson had lost in a playoff in April in the Georgia Senior Open. Considering that and his struggles on the opening hole, he said he was “not overly excited going there for extra holes.”
Things did not look good for Anderson after he pulled his second shot well left and long on the first playoff hole, but Evans was having problems of his own before putting the pressure on Anderson after his precisely played pitch shot,
Anderson said one of the main reasons he was able to win his two matches at Peachtree was that “I did not let bad shots bother me.” He faced a delicate third shot on the playoff hole, but hit his chip the perfect speed coming down the slope to get inside Evans’ third and given himself a second chance to win.
On the final hole of regulation, Anderson had a putt to win, but his par attempt spun around the lip to send the match to extra holes. Given a second chance to close things out, Anderson came through to end a long day for the finalists.
Because of heavy rain the previous day, the two players had to walk 36 holes with a caddie, as Peachtree’s cart paths do not cover the entire course. Anderson felt fatigue was a factor, but both players held up well in the championship match, shooting right around par for the round on a difficult course with some of the most demanding greens complexes in the state.
Anderson, an instructor at Brunswick Country Club who previously worked in the Atlanta area, said he was “a little deflated” that he did not win the match in regulation, but added, “I was no worse off than I was at 18. It was sudden death after we reached 18.”
After his off-target approach on the first playoff hole, Anderson’s short game pulled out the victory, and he said, “That up and down was as good as I could do. That was my first par in four tries on number one,” including his practice round for the tournament.
Anderson credited Frederica head pro Hank Smith for some swing help Anderson says has his game “moving forward. I’m on the right track and I’m longer at 55 than I’ve ever been.”
Prior to this year’s Match Play Championship, Anderson had enjoyed little success in the tournament other than 2004, when he reached the finals at Settindown Creek before losing to Clark Spratlin, who won the event for the third time in four years.
With an improving game, Anderson will take his second shot at qualifying for the Champions Tour after failing to get past the first stage last year.
Evans, the Director of Golf at Rivermont G&CC, is still looking for his first victory in a Georgia PGA Section event after a number of close calls. He has a solid track record in the Match Play Championship, reaching the quarterfinals twice and the semifinals once over the last five years. He came within one match of making it to Peachtree last year, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Brian Dixon.
“This is definitely disappointing,” Evans said. “I missed a couple of putts and lost control of the match.”
Evans quickly went 2-up in the title match. He scrambled for a par on the first hole after an errant tee shot, and won the par-5 second with a two-putt birdie. He came close to going 3-up after three, but his approach shot on the par-4 third spun down the slope and well away from the hole after landing within a foot of the cup on the fly.
Anderson holed a birdie putt in the 15-to-18-foot range on the par-3 fourth, and the two players matched two-putt birdies on the par-5 fifth. Evans had to scramble for a bogey to tie Anderson on the par-3 sixth, and lost his lead when he missed the green and was unable to save par at the seventh. Anderson stayed even with a nice par putt at the eighth, but missed the green again at the ninth for a bogey to fall behind for the last time in the match.
Both players hit superb second shots to reach the par-5 10th, but after Anderson made his birdie, Evans said he “got too aggressive” with his eagle attempt from above the hole, and three-putted for par to give up his lead.
Anderson took his first lead with a birdie at the 13th, but Evans pulled even when he hit the par-5 16th in two and lagged his eagle try close enough for a conceded birdie. Anderson drove in the rough and was forced to lay up short of a pond, leaving a long third shot that resulted in a par.
Earlier in the day, Anderson had failed to clear the pond with his second shot from the rough, but was 3-up at the time and closed out his match with Weinhart on the next hole.
Weinhart, an instructor at the Standard Club, was making his seventh appearance in the semifinals, including wins in 2005, ’11 and ’12 and losses in the finals in 2000 and ’10. His semifinal with Anderson went back and forth early before Anderson won four holes in a six-hole stretch beginning at the seventh, three with birdies.
During that stretch, Anderson also holed a putt of some 40 feet for a par and a half, and admitted he was the beneficiary of a few good breaks that turned less-than-quality shots into successful ones. He also holed his share of putts, building a 4-up lead after 12 that was too much for Weinhart to overcome.
Evans was 2-down after nine in his semifinal against Skinner, who has had a busy summer with trips to Champions Tour majors in California and England and an appearance in the PGA Professional National Championship in Philadelphia.
Skinner still had the lead midway through the back nine, but hit his tee shot in the water on the par-3 13th and bogeyed the 15th before Evans took the lead with a birdie at 16 after reaching the par 5 in two.
Anderson came out of the Georgia PGA’s East Chapter bracket, winning his first three matches against players from the southeast corner of the state. He needed 19 holes to win his first match over Drew Pittman from Forest Heights in Statesboro before closing out his next two matches on the 15th and 16th holes. He edged Bill Murchison of Towne Lake Hills 1-up in the quarterfinals.
Evans had tough matches in the first three rounds, needing 19 holes to get past Brian Corn of Peachtree GC in the second round and taking his next match 1-up over Brookfield’s Michael Parrott. He won his quarterfinal match 4&3 over 2010 champion David Potts of Country Club of the South.
Weinhart won his quarterfinal match 4&3 against defending champion Dixon, while Skinner defeated 2007 champion Greg Lee of Chicopee Woods 2&1 in the other quarterfinal.