Peters Cup – Oct. 2012
For the first time in 25 years, the Peters Cup matches between teams from the Georgia
PGA and GSGA will play for a second straight year, with this month’s matches also
featuring a new site.
The event, which will be played Oct. 21-22, has been held on a biennial basis since 1987,
but is moving from odd to even-numbered years to accommodate a conflict with the
GSGA schedule. The next Peters Cup matches will be played in 2014.
The last four matches were played at Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course, with this
month’s event moving to the re-designed Capital City Brookhaven layout. The club’s
Crabapple course, which will host the NCAA Championship next Spring, is being over-
seeded for the Winter, necessitating the change in venues.
After losing the last four matches, three of them at the Crabapple course, the Georgia
PGA turned in a strong showing last year, winning 15 ½ to 8 ½. The GSGA had won
seven of the last 10 matches, but still trails 20-16-1 in the competition, which began in
1962
Both teams will field 16 player rosters, with four seniors on each side, two under the
age of 55 and two 55 or over. Eight four-ball matches will be played on Sunday, with 16
singles matches scheduled for the following day.
One reason for the recent dominance of the GSGA has been their success in the senior
matches, but that began to change last year. Craig Stevens and Sonny Skinner, two of
the Georgia PGA’s top players, turned 50 prior to last year’s event, and went 2-1, with
the Georgia PGA earning a split in the six senior matches.
The rest of the Georgia PGA team members were 12-5-1, giving the club professionals a
decisive victory. Most of the recent competitions have been one-sided, with the margin of
victory in the last four matches between three and nine points.
The last closely contested match was in 2003 at Atlanta National, with the GSGA
winning 12 ½ to 11 ½ to begin their four-match winning streak. The Georgia PGA took a
5 ½ – 2 ½ lead after the team matches, then won the singles 10-6 to secure its first victory
since 2001, when the club pros won 14-10 at Golf Club of Georgia.
Both teams will feature a mixture of veterans and newcomers. Stevens and Skinner
finished the year 1-2 on the Georgia PGA’s Player of the Year list, and will give the team
a very strong senior duo. Bob Burk will make his first appearance on the team and play in
the 55-and-over category along with Danny Elkins, who won his singles match last year.
The Georgia PGA’s third highly-competitive senior will play with his younger
teammates. Stephen Keppler, one of six members of the winning 2011 team who went
2-0 in the matches. Skinner also went 2-0, as did returning team members David Potts,
Matthew Evans and Michael Parrott.
Tim Weinhart, one of the Georgia PGA’s top players, also went 2-0 last year, but will
be missing from the lineup this month. Weinhart will be competing in the PGA Tour
McGladrey Classic, which overlaps with the Peters Cup, and will be playing again the
following week in the first stage of PGA Tour qualifying.
Also returning the Georgia PGA squad from last year’s winning team are Shawn Koch,
Greg Lee, Bill Murchison and Winston Trively. Brian Dixon and veterans Russ Davis
and Tommy Brannen have played on the team previously, with Rodger Hogan the lone
newcomers. Brannen and Davis are both eligible to play as seniors, but will compete
along side younger teammates.
The GSGA team returns veterans David Noll, Mark Strickland and Jack Hall, who
played as a senior last year, but will compete in the non-senior division this month.
Others who played for the GSGA last year and will be back in the lineup are Billy
Mitchell, Matt Russell, Mark Sweeney and Scott Weeks, along with seniors Doug
Hanzel and Don Marsh.
Hanzel has enjoyed an outstanding Summer, winning the GSGA Senior Championship
by 16 strokes and advancing deep into match play in several USGA events. He will play
with Bob Royak, who won the 2007 Atlanta Open against the state’s top club pros, in the
50-54 division.
Marsh, the only member of the 2011 GSGA team to go 2-0, is back in the 55-and-over
division with Dick Van Leuvan, a newcomer to the team.
Other first time players for the GSGA are Chase Jones, Zane Goldthorp, Travis Steed,
Bobby Brent and Justin Johnson.