The last time Pinetree Country Club hosted the Georgia Amateur, David Noll collected the first of his two championship trophies in the event.
In the 10 years since Noll’s victory in 2003, only one other non-college player has won the championship – former UGA golfer Bill Brown in 2006.
That trend continued when Jimmy Beck, who plays at Kennesaw State, won the 2013 Georgia Amateur, the eighth time in the last 10 years a college player has won the event.
In recent years, Noll has been engaging in annual battles with the many of the state’s top college players, including current PGA Tour members Brian Harman, Harris English and Russell Henley.
Noll, a Dalton resident, was back in his familiar position as championship contender in the most recent Georgia Amateur, which was played at a renovated and more demanding Pinetree CC layout. He led after each of the first three rounds, but a third round 76 reduced his lead from three strokes to one heading to the final day.
In addition to having five players within two shots of his lead, Noll was dealing with a sinus condition that was visibly causing him problems. Noll battled throughout the final round, either holding or sharing the lead before finally running out of gas on the back nine.
For a while, it appeared that the Armstrong Atlantic golf team would continue its Summer run of success in the state that included back-to-back wins in a pair of Georgia PGA events, including the Atlanta Open.
Armstrong’s Travis Williamson pulled even with Noll when he birdied the par-5 second hole at Pinetree, which played the nines in reverse order for the tournament leaders. When a tiring Noll bogeyed the next two holes, Williamson had the lead to himself, and was still on top with four holes left to play.
Williamson, from Brunswick, continued to grind out pars, making 14 on his first 16 holes the final day. But in the group in front of the final pairing, the highest-ranked college player in the field made a late surge highlighted by a shot he will remember as long as he plays the game.
Beck came into the tournament as no less than a co-favorite with Noll. Pinetree is a second home course for the Columbus resident, who is the No. 1 player on the Kennesaw State golf team. Beck holds the competitive course record of 65, which he shot in a college event hosted by the Owls at Pinetree last Fall.
Beck won that tournament by six strokes, one of two victories during his sophomore season. He ended the 2013 college schedule as the No. 76 ranked player in the country, trailing only Georgia Tech’s standout duo of Anders Albertson and Ollie Schniederjans and Georgia Southern’s Scott Wolfes among Georgia’s college contingent.
Wolfes qualified for the Georgia Amateur, but elected to play in a national amateur event in Hilton Head, played that same week, along with Albertson, Schniederjans and a number of the state’s other top Division 1 players.
Beck could have secured an invitation to play in the Hilton Head tournament, but that was never a consideration.
“I was not going to pass up the opportunity to play here,” Beck said after his victory. “This is our home course and I love this place so much. And it was the best opportunity for me to win.”
Beck shot a 69, the low score of the final round, to finish at 1-over 285, with Pinetree playing to a par of 71 for the tournament. The 16th, a short but perilous par 5, played as a par 4 for the tournament at the same 505 yards.
Williamson was 2nd at 287, with a double bogey on the next-to-last hole ending his hopes of victory. Williamson and Noll were tied for the lead at 2-over midway through the final round, with Beck and recent Armstrong Atlantic golfer Ridge Purcell their closest pursuers.
Beck briefly gained a share of the lead when he made birdie on the difficult 16th (his 7th hole in the final round). The hole claimed Noll and Augusta’s Jeff Knox, who tied for 3rd at 289, among its victims the final day.
But Beck made consecutive bogeys at holes 18 and 1 before getting a shot back at the par-5 second. Williamson, Beck, Noll and Purcell all had a chance to win coming down the stretch, but Beck was the only one of the four not to back up on the finishing holes.
Noll fell back with bogeys at holes 3 and 4 (his 12th and 13th), but made a last stand on the par-4 fifth, which played at 288 yards the final day. Noll drove the green and had an eagle putt of less than 15 feet, but settled for birdie to get back within one of Williamson’s lead. But he bogeyed his last three holes for a 76, finishing in a tie for 6th at 290.
Purcell also birdied the 5th to stay within one of the lead, but bogeyed three of the last four holes and tied Noll for 6th at 290.
Beck was one back of Williamson as he played his 15th hole, Pinetree’s 6th. His tee shot on the 448-yard hole went right and was within a yard or so of being out of bounds. Beck said he “got really lucky” and had a shot from the trees, but still had 209 yards for his second shot.
Just hoping to get on or near the green, Beck hit his hybrid club within three feet of the hole for what he termed “my birdie of the century.”
That pulled him even with Williamson, and he followed with another birdie at the 7th to take the lead for good. Beck ripped a tee shot over the bunker at the corner of the dogleg right and hit his short second within 12 feet
Beck had a chance to end the tournament at even par, but was unable to get up and down for birdie after just missing the green on the par-5 ninth, which played as the finishing hole. That could have given Williamson a chance, but he hit his tee shot on the par-3 eighth into thick fescue left of the green and made a double bogey.
A birdie on the final hole gave Williamson a 72 and second place at 287. Knox, a frequent contender in the tournament and a two-time GSGA Mid-Amateur Championship, birdied three of his last five holes for a 73 and a tie for 3rd at 289 with UGA golfer Sepp Straka of Valdosta and David Watts of Chatsworth.
Noll and Purcell tied for 6th at 290 with recent Oglethorpe County high school golfer Jake O’Bryan. Georgia State golfer Damon Stephenson and Atlanta’s Cameron Hooper were 9th at 291 after final round scores of 70. Current Kennesaw State golfer Jonathan Klotz of Columbus and recent Kennesaw golfer Sam Curtis of Calhoun were 11th at 292.
Until the back nine the final day, the tournament belonged to Noll. He led Watts and Norcross high school golfer Zachary Healy by two after his opening 67, and shot 71 the next day to increase his lead to three over Watts. Noll was still in control midway through the third round, but went 6-over on a 5-hole stretch on his final nine before reclaiming the lead with birdies at his final two holes.
Beck stayed within range with scores of 73-70-73 to begin the final round two behind Noll in a tie for 4th. He began the final round with a birdie, but had to scramble for bogey on his next hole – the par-5 11th – when he hit his second shot well out of bounds. After taking a drop, he hit his fourth on the green from long range to save bogey and stayed close the rest of the way before playing his final eight holes in 3-under.
Going to the final round Beck was only two off the lead, and with his knowledge of Pinetree, he knew that “anything could happen.” Beck said his lone goal the final day was “to make some birdies,” and he wound up with five of them, including several on some of the most difficult holes on the course – the 10th (his first), converted par-4 16th and most notably, the 6th.