University of South Carolina golfer Ryan Stachler began the final round Tuesday in the Championship at Berkeley Hills with back-to-back bogeys, and his day ended after consecutive bogeys on his final two holes.
But some bogeys are better than others, and the first and last bogeys Stachler scored in the final round of the Georgia PGA tournament helped produce his first victory since he was a high school golfer.
Stachler recovered from his bogey-bogey start, carding five birdies over his next eight holes and parring his last eight for a 3-under 69 and a 36-hole total of 137.
That got him into a playoff with Fox Creek instructor Brian Dixon, who shot a bogey-free 68 Tuesday. But after having just one bogey on his scorecard through 36 holes, Dixon fell victim to tough breaks on each of the two playoff holes, and went bogey-double bogey on Berkeley Hills’ par-4 18th to lose to his significantly younger opponent.
Stachler had a chance to win the tournament in regulation after hitting a superb approach to the 18th, but missed his birdie try from about five feet.
The two players returned to 18 for a playoff and both drove into the left trees. Dixon had to chip out, while Stachler was able to thread his second shot onto the front of the multi-level putting surface. After Dixon was unable to save par, Stachler again had a chance to claim victory, but missed his short par putt to extend the playoff.
This time, both players drove into the right rough. Dixon hit first and caught the mother of all flyers. His 9-iron approach sailed over the green and the row of hedges behind it, landing on the concrete path near the cart barn. The ball ricocheted off the deck where club members and interested spectators were watching the playoff, eventually coming to rest on a strip of grass below and adjacent to the deck and well out of bounds
Stachler pitched his second shot short of the green and settled for a bogey, which was good enough when Dixon was unable to hole his bogey chip from just over the green.
“As soon as I hit it, I said “Oh, man,” Dixon said of his second shot to 18 on the second extra hole. “I caught a jumper. But that’s golf. I got a bad break the first go round and caught a flyer on the second hole.
“But I’m happy with the way I played. I played really solid today, no bogeys (until the playoff). I was never in trouble. I lipped out a couple of putts and almost made a 40-footer on 18.”
Dixon took home the first place check and first place points in the Georgia PGA Player of the year race. “I like that,” he said. “But I wanted the trophy.”
While Dixon reflected on his unfortunate finish, Stachler looked back on his shaky start that almost took him out of contention before he got very far into the final round.
After an opening round 68, Stachler was paired in the final group Tuesday with co-leaders Sonny Skinner and James Kyles, a member of the Georgia State golf team and a Berkeley Hills member. Both shot 71 Tuesday to finish in a tie for third at 138 with Jared O’Kelley of Canton, who completed his college career at Cincinnati last year.
Stachler hit his opening tee shot on the par-4 first hole into the right trees, but had an opening to the green from the rough. Like Dixon in the playoff, Stachler caught a flyer and his second shot flew the green into a tree with a dense base behind the putting surface and had to take an unplayable lie.
After his drop, Stachler hit a deft chip shot within tap-in range to save bogey, and followed with another bogey at the second after a second straight tee shot that strayed into trouble to the right.
Despite his difficult start, Stachler said he “kept my same plan, which was to be aggressive and hit driver when I could.”
He pulled out his driver on the dangerous par-5 third, which claimed a prominent victim the day before. Tim Weinhart, a 9-time Georgia PGA Player of the Year with five top-4 finishes in the first seven years of the Berkeley Hills tournament, made a 13 in the opening round after finding the fairway with his tee shot. He hit three balls into the pond short of the green and his next shot into the hazard beyond the putting surface.
Stachler had just a 9-iron for his second shot Tuesday and hit it safely just right of the green, setting up an easy birdie after a short chip. He followed with birdies on the short par-4 fifth, the par-5 seventh and the par-4 ninth, a parallel hole to the 18th.
That pulled him into a 4-way tie with his two playing partners and Dixon, who also birdied the ninth to go out in 33.
For most of the tournament’s 9-year history, the back nine at Berkeley Hills has produced plenty of fireworks, with most of the winners surging to the finish with a run of late birdies and an occasional eagle on the par-5 15th.
That was not the case Tuesday. The five primary contenders combined for the grand total of five combined birdies on the back nine, two by O’Kelley, who never held a share of the lead in the final round.
Stachler took the lead with his final birdie of the day at the narrow, dogleg left par-5 10th. He hit his tee shot over the trees that line the left side of the tee, aiming for the parallel first fairway. He found the fairway bunker on the right side of the first hole and had just 7-iron left, hitting it to about 15 feet in the back fringe.
“I haven’t played here in about ten years,” said Stachler, who noticed a possible alternative route on the 10th when he hit his first shot there in the opening round. “It worked for me, but I don’t know how many others have tried it.”
Kyles was in position for a matching birdie after taking a more conventional approach and just missing the green in two. But a weak chip and a 3-putt resulted in a bogey for Kyles, and it was a par fest from there on out for the three players in the final group as well as Dixon.
Skinner parred his last nine holes, Stachler parred his last eight and Dixon parred eight of his last nine, hitting his second shot to the 15th just over the green and two-putting for his lone birdie coming in. Kyles parred seven of his last eight, hitting the 15th in two to give himself a decent look at eagle.
Kyles will be a senior this fall at Georgia State, but has seen very little action the past two seasons after cracking the starting lineup a few times as a freshman. Tuesday marked the first time he has been in a contending position in a tournament of consequence, and he acquitted himself well. He actually led by two shots at 7-under after back-to-back birdies at 5 and 6, but fell back into a tie when he bogeyed the par-3 eighth and Skinner made birdie on the hole. Dixon and Stachler made it a 4-way tie with birdies at the ninth.
Stachler will be a senior at South Carolina, and is returning to action after being sidelined for about nine months after undergoing hip surgery last summer. After starting as a sophomore for the Gamecocks, Stachler missed his entire junior season, returning to action in amateur tournaments in June.
Once he began playing again, his game quickly returned, with Stachler finishing second in the Southeastern Amateur at Country Columbus with an 11-under 273 total, two shots behind Mercer’s Stanton Schorr, a Columbus resident.
Stachler, who lives in north Fulton County, played on state championship teams for two different high schools, the first as a freshman at Milton in 2012. When Cambridge opened a short distance away, he was re-districted, and led the Bears to a title as a senior in 2015.
Like a number of players in the Berkeley Hills field, Stachler is also entered in the GSGA Championship, which begins Thursday at Athens Country. He will be joined in the state amateur by Kiles, Jacob Bayer, Spencer Ball and Bob Royak, who all had strong showings in the Berkeley Hills event.
Bayer and Ball both tied for seventh at 140, with Royak tying for 14th at 142. Bayer, a sophomore at Georgia Southern, won the Berkeley Hills tournament in 2016 while still in high school, and is a member at the club. He shot 69-71 and was leading the tournament at 6-under late in the opening round before playing his last three holes in 3-over.
Ball, from nearby Forsyth County and a junior at Mercer, won last month’s Yamaha Atlanta Open at Cherokee CC. He posted a pair of 70s with pars on his last seven holes Tuesday. Royak, an Alpharetta resident who won the Yamaha Georgia Senior Open earlier this year, shot 69-73—142.
The top three finishers among the Georgia PGA contingent are all seniors, with Skinner, the pro at Spring Hill in Tifton, second at 138 and James Mason third at 139 and sixth overall. Mason, who plays out of The Orchard in Clarkesville, scored birdies at holes 7, 8 and 11 to close within two shots of the lead, but parred in from there for a bogey-free 69, just one shot over his age.
Hank Smith of Frederica GC on St. Simons Island, shot a final round 67 to tie for seventh at 140. Gus Wagoner, an assistant at Capital City Club who won the Berkeley tournament as an amateur in 2013, led a group of players tying for 10th at 141. Wagoner shot 69-72 and was only two out of the lead after birdies at 15 and 16 before taking double bogey at the 17th.
A prominent group of Georgia PGA members tied Royak for 14th at 142. Among them were Woodmont, instructor Craig Stevens, who closed with a 67; former tour pro Paul Claxton, who has won four Georgia PGA events since last August and teaches at Brunswick CC; and Peter Jones of Cherokee CC, who was leading the Georgia PGA points list coming into the tournament.
There were four holes in one during the final round, two of them by Ansley GC Director of Golf Phil Taylor, who aced the 14th and eighth holes. Jacob Tilton, an Ansley assistant, aced the short 11th and tied for 14th after a second straight 71, with amateur Butch Maxey also acing the 11th