Wins playoff to claim final qualifying spot…
After making triple bogey early in the final round of the Georgia PGA’s qualifier for the PGA Professional National Championship, it appeared Tim Weinhart’s string of 14 consecutive appearances in the event was in serious jeopardy.
Weinhart, an instructor with Nuclear Golf, which is based at the Standard Club, has competed in the PNC every year since 2000, going on to compete in the PGA Championship five times. He had won the Georgia PGA PNC four of the last seven years, but has also had some close calls, qualifying on the number three times the first six years he advanced.
“I shot three-over the first day and I was four-over on the first three holes today,” Weinhart said after the final round. “I’m 44 and going back to Q-school, so perseverance is like my middle name. I knew I needed to play better.”
There were only six qualifying spots available from the tournament, played at Champions Retreat outside Augusta. Weinhart was outside the top six after the first round of the 36-hole event, falling well off the pace after his shaky start the second day.
“I knew it would be difficult,” said Weinhart, a 7-time Georgia PGA Player of the Year. “I played a lot of good golf after that, but it was stressful.”
Weinhart was 2-under on the day after his rocky start, but was still outside the top six late in the round. He birdied the short but treacherous 15th hole, the sixth hole on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Bluff nine, to get back to 2-over for the day and 5-over for the tournament, but still needed some help.
Fortunately for Weinhart, Champions Retreat played long and difficult, and most of the players who began the day ahead of him were encountering problems on the Gary Player and Nicklaus nines, which were used for the tournament with the Arnold Palmer-designed nine undergoing bunker renovation.
When the final group concluded its round, Weinhart was tied for the sixth qualifying spot with Dano Korytoski and Jason Ballard, who went to a playoff to determine the final qualifier.
Weinhart reached the green on the par-5 18th in two, but three-putted from long range for par. Korytoski made his par putt after running his birdie try well past the hole, while Ballard and Weinhart both narrowly missed their birdie putts to send the playoff to a second hole.
Both Korytoski, an assistant at Orchard Hills, and Ballard, an assistant at Augusta National, missed short par putts on the 18th. Weinhart had just a tap in to win after his third shot from a greenside bunker slid past the hole and he missed his birdie effort.
Weinhart admitted he thought about the possible end to his streak of PNC appearances “a lot. That’s a big deal.”
He was also thinking about capturing Player of the Year honors for the eighth time, but needed to win the PNC qualifier. Those hopes were pretty much gone after his triple bogey on the third hole of the Player nine, and he wound up 2nd in the final standings for 2013 behind Craig Stevens, who claimed the honor for the second straight year and the fourth time overall.
Weinhart is hoping to qualify for a sixth PGA Championship next year at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky., the course where he made his first splash on the national club professional scene in 2002. He shot a final round 67 to tie for fifth in the PNC that year to earn his first PGA Championship appearance.
The 2014 PGA PNC will not be played until late next June in Myrtle Beach, with Weinhart’s more immediate concern the first round of Web.com Tour qualifying, scheduled for late October in Pensacola. Weinhart made it to the finals of Q-school once to earn limited Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour status for 2007.
Five other players with the experience of competing in the PNC will join Weinhart and PNC “rookies” Todd Ormsby and Charlie King in next year’s field.
Both Stevens and Skinner were already exempt into the PNC, with Skinner tying for 5th in the Georgia PGA PNC and Stevens 11th.
Towne Lake Hills assistant Bill Murchison, who will join Weinhart in Pensacola for the first stage of Q school, will make his fourth straight appearance in the PNC. Murchison, who was 2nd in the Georgia PGA PNC qualifier in 2011, got into the 2012 PNC as an alternate, and notched a top-10 finish to qualify for the PGA Championship later that summer at Kiawah Island.
Murchison had the low score of the second round – a 2-under 70 – to finish 2nd behind Ormsby at 1-over 145, two off the winning score. Murchison suffered his only bogey of the day on the short par-4 14th, and was fortunate to escape with that. He pulled his lay-up with an iron into the woods, but a friendly tree deflected his errant tee shot back into the fairway. Murchison barely cleared a creek fronting the green with his second shot and was unable to save par, with the bogey proving to be inconsequential.
Chicopee Woods assistant Greg Lee and Augusta CC head professional Tommy Brannen both came up with a pair of late clutch birdies to qualify. Lee birdied 14 and 15 and shook off a short missed par putt on 16 to shoot 72 and place 4th at 147.
Lee has qualified for the PNC 10 times since 2000, winning the Section’s qualifier in 2004 and placing 4th or better four times since 2007. He came within a shot of qualifying for the PGA Championship in 2004.
Brannen will be one of four seniors among the Georgia PGA contingent at the PNC, qualifying for a second straight year. This will be his 11th appearance in the PNC, and he remains the last Georgia PGA member to make the cut in the PGA Championship, tying for 38th in 1988. Birdies at 14 and 16 put Brannen in position to qualify, but he thought his chances were dashed when he lipped out a birdie chip on the 18th hole.
Weinhart, Brannen, Murchison and Lee all shot 75 in the first round and were tied for 11th when they teed off the second day. Of the top 10 players after the first round, only Ormsby shot better than 75, following his opening 70 with a 73. King was the only other player in the first round top 10 to qualify, shooting a 75 to take 3rd at 146.
Ballard, who lost a playoff to Korytoski for first alternate, shot a 77 the second day, with Korytoski making birdie on the 18th hole for a 76 to earn a spot in the playoff. Ballard was even par after 11 holes in the second round, but was 5-over the last seven holes. Korytoski rebounded after a pair of double bogeys on the opening nine.
Jordan Arnold, Clark Spratlin, Brian Dixon, Thomas Mitchell and Victor deSola all shot between 71 and 74 the first day, but Dixon’s 79 was the low score among the five the second day. Josh Williams of Savannah GC and Phil Taylor of Ansley GC were both 2-under on their second rounds and inside the number for advancing, but both struggled on the closing holes and finished two shots out of the playoff for the final spot.