Berkeley preview (web site)
By Mike Blum
Berkeley Hills Country Club will host the second Championship at Berkeley Hills July 11-12, with the top Georgia PGA players in the field, along with a sizeable number of amateurs.
The club professional field includes the top players in the Georgia PGA Section, including Tim Weinhart, Craig Stevens, Sonny Skinner, Jeff Hull and Shawn Koch, all coming off recent appearances in the PGA Professional National Championship, the top event for the country’s club pros.
Stevens was among 20 club pros that qualified for the upcoming PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, and will be competing for the third time in that event, with his first appearance a decade ago at AAC.
Skinner, Weinhart and Stevens all recorded top-five finishes in last year’s inaugural Championship at Berkeley Hills, with Skinner taking second behind winner Chris Nicol, who is unable to defend his title.
Nicol posted an 8-under 136 total to edge Skinner by one stroke in the 36-hole event. Nicol shot 65 in the opening round. Weinhart was fourth at 141, with Stevens tying for fifth at 143. Stevens won the Atlanta Open last month at The Frog.
Also tying for fifth last year at Berkeley Hills was Stephen Keppler, who is again in the field along with his teen-age son Jonathan. Clark Spratlin, Greg Lee, Bill Murchison, Michael Parrott and former PGA and Champions Tour player DeWitt Weaver are also playing, as is Mel Mendenhall, last year’s low amateur.
Berkeley Hills Country Club is located in Duluth, and will present an inviting opportunity to the tournament field, which will try to capitalize on the layout’s absence of length. The course measures under 6,700 yards from the tips, with only two par 4s longer than 406 yards.
Most of the field will be hitting short irons into a majority of the par 4s, and Berkeley Hills’ layout includes two short-ish par 5s and a par 3 under 150 yards, although all three holes are deceptively testy.
The Berkeley Hills layout includes holes that are tree-lined and quite tight, along with others that offer generous fairways. Those who place the ball in prime position will be able to attack most pin positions, with the course’s challenge largely a product of some fast, sloping greens that are particularly tough on those who are putting downhill too frequently.
The Bermuda putting surfaces are among the metro area’s best, and the course was in outstanding condition tee to green less than a week before the tournament, which is presented by Creative Financial Partners.
The Championship at Berkeley Hills is part of a heavy stretch of Georgia tournament action in early July that included the Georgia Women’s Open and Dogwood Invitational, and concludes with the GSGA’s Amateur Championship and the Berkeley Hills event.
Floyd 4th in Dogwood: Augusta State golfer Taylor Floyd was the top finisher among the Georgia contingent in the Dogwood Invitational at Druid Hills GC, tying for 4th at 15-under 273.
Floyd finished seven strokes behind tournament winner Nate McCoy from Iowa State, who shot 22-under 266 to win by two strokes over Bobby Wyatt from Mobile, Ala. McCoy posted scores of 66-68-67-65.
After an opening 73, Floyd shot 67-67-66 to make a steady move up the leader board.
Georgia Tech’s Paul Haley tied for 10th at 276, with Duluth’s Seth Reeves, also a Tech golfer, T12 at 277. Reeves shot 64-66 the second and third rounds, notching 10 birdies the second day. He was among the contenders before taking a 9 on the par-4 12th in the final round, shooting 73 on the day.
Woodstock’s Anders Albertson, also a Yellow Jacket golfer, tied for 17th at 279 along with Georgia Bulldog Bryden Macpherson, the recent British Amateur champion. Tech freshman Ollie Schniederjans of Powder Springs and recent Georgia grad Russell Henley of Macon were T20 at 280.
Carter wins in playoff: LPGA Tour rookie Dori Carter of Valdosta won the Georgia Women’s Open at SummerGrove in Newnan, surviving a two-hole playoff against Futures Tour player Lacy Agnew of Jonesboro.
Both players finished with 4-under 140 totals, with Agnew forcing a playoff when she birdied the 18th hole, her sixth birdie of the day, for a second round 69. Carter, who had at least a share of the lead the entire final round, closed with a 72 after shooting 68 the first day to share the lead with Lacey Fears, a member of the Mercer women’s team.
The playoff started and ended on the difficult par-4 9th hole. Both players had birdie opportunities on the first playoff holes after hitting big drives, but both missed short par putts to extend the playoff.
After an errant drive on the second extra hole, Agnew’s approach sailed over the green into thick vegetation, and after declaring her ball unplayable, had to replay the shot with a penalty stroke added. She made double bogey, with Carter winning with a par after an excellent second shot to within 5 feet of the hole.
Carmen Bandea, a frequent contender in the tournament in recent years, was 3rd at 142 after back-to-back scores of 71, with Fears 4th overall and low amateur at 143.