Georgia Open preview – 2011, page 16;
By Mike Blum
Over the past two decades, the Georgia Open has provided an opportunity for some of the state’s lesser-known tour players to make a name for themselves in one of the most prominent professional events in the state.
Franklin Langham and Matt Peterson started the trend of up-and-coming young professionals winning the Georgia Open in 1992 and ’93 on their way to careers as tourplayers. The two former Georgia Bulldog teammates have since left the tour life, withPeterson now the head professional at the UGA course in Athens.
After back-to-back wins in 1994 and ’95 by then Georgia PGA No. 1 player Stephen Keppler, who lost in a playoff to Peterson in ’93, three mini-tour players who had a few brushes with golf’s big time took six of the next seven Georgia Opens before the next up-and-comer claimed the title.
Justin Bolli won at Settindown Creek in 2003 as a member of the Hooters Tour, and hasplayed on either the PGA or Nationwide Tour every year since. Roberto Castro won atBarnsley Gardens in 2009, and within a year was a Nationwide Tour member and nearwinner after splitting his time between the eGolf and Hooters Tours.
The 2011 Ziplocal Georgia Open will be played July 28-31 at Barnsley Gardens, thethird time in four years the event has been played at the northwest Georgia resort in Adairsville.
With both the eGolf and Hooters Tours off, it will be a conflict-free week for most of thestate’s tour players not competing on either the PGA or Nationwide Tours. The Georgia-based Peach State Tour will be in action that week, with a tournament at Nob North in Cohutta ending the day before the Georgia Open tees off.
Among the state’s mini-tour contingent already inquiring about playing in the GeorgiaOpen are current Nationwide Tour player David Robinson of Sandersville and former Nationwide Tour member Jonathan Fricke of Covington. Robinson has limitedNationwide Tour status and plays primarily on the eGolf Tour as does Fricke.
Mini-tour players finished 1-2-3-4 in last year’s Georgia Open, played at Savannah Harbor, the home course for the Champions Tour Legends of Golf. Samuel Del Val,who played his college golf at Berry and now lives in Athens, won in impressive fashion,posting a 20-under 268 total to win by four strokes over Savannah’s Tim O’Neal, who spent several seasons on the Nationwide Tour.
Duluth’s Brent Witcher, a young mini-tour player, was 3rd at 273. Savannah’s Mark Silvers, who has won a number of tournaments in the past year on the Peach State Tour,was 4th at 276 along with fellow Savannah resident Doug Hanzel, one of the state’s topamateurs.
Sharing low club professional honors were 2007 Georgia Open champion Jeff Hull, an instructor at the UGA course in Athens, and CC of the South Director of Instruction Shawn Koch, who tied for 7th at 279. Hull is one of only two club professionals to winthe tournament since Keppler in the mid-1990s, with Tim Weinhart edging out current PGA Tour player Kris Blanks at the Legends at Chateau Elan in 2004.
Barnsley Gardens hosted the Georgia Open in 2008 and ’09, with Castro and Bryant Odom the two featured performers. Odom, a former Georgia Bulldog who played brieflyon the Nationwide Tour, won in 2008 with Castro five shots behind in 2nd.
Castro turned the tables the next year, firing a final round 66 to break out of largelogjam at the top of the leader board. The former Georgia Tech standout from Alpharettafinished two strokes ahead of mini-tour player Drew Bowen and three in front of Odom and Travis Nance, both from Cartersville.
Nance, a former mini-tour player, is now an assistant at Coosa CC in Rome, while Odomis out of the golf business after working for a time as an assistant at Ocean Forest. Both tied for 10th at Savannah Harbor last year, along with Georgia PGA members Brian Dixon, Michael Parrott and Winston Trively, and mini-tour veteran Don Wright, whonotched his third straight top-10 finish in the tournament. It was the fourth consecutivetop 10 in the Georgia Open for Odom.
The best showing in the two Georgia Opens at Barnsley Gardens by a Georgia PGAmember was turned in by Craig Stevens, an Atlanta area instructor who tied for 5th in2009 at 285. Peterson was the only other Section member in the top 10 that year, tying for 7th at 286.
The lone Georgia PGA member in the top 10 in ’08 was Towne Lake Hills assistant Bill Murchison, who tied for 7th at 284. Hull, who has been the Section’s most consistentperformer in the tournament in recent years, tied for 15th in ’08, for 11th in ’09 and was T7 last year with Koch.
Hull won at Champions Retreat outside Augusta in 2007, outdueling rookie pro Luke List, now on the Nationwide Tour. David Noll of Dalton, who tied for 11th both timesthe tournament was played at Barnsley Gardens, almost became the first amateur winnersince Langham in 1989, finishing just two shots back in 3rd place.
The field for this year’s Georgia Open will tackle one of the state’s finest courses,with the Jim Fazio-designed Barnsley Gardens layout providing a serious test. Odom’swinning score of 14-under in 2008 was the only score better than 9-under for 72 holes the
two years Barnsley Gardens hosted the Georgia Open, with Castro winning the next yearat 7-under.
Barnsley Gardens has decent length (almost 7,200 yards from the tips), one of the state’sbest and strongest collection of par 3s and a stout quartet of par 4s averaging 450 yards.But Fazio’s outstanding layout also includes mostly ample fairways, a vulnerable ifslightly hazardous group of par 5s and a trio of short-ish par 4s that are also susceptible tobirdies.
The putting surfaces are not as expansive as those on most courses designed by Fazio’sbrother, but have plenty of character, with several offering modest-size targets requiringprecise iron shots to set up birdie opportunities. Barnsley’s greens are typically of topcaliber, with enough speed and roll to test players’ putting skills.
Six qualifiers will be held for players not exempt into the field, with the deadline July 8 at10 a.m. Qualifying sites are: Cartersville CC (July 11); Orchard Hills (July 13); BerkeleyHills (July 18); The Frog (July 19); Wilmington Island Club (July 20) and Eagle’s Landing (July 21).
For information, visit www.georgiapga.com.