Published: May 13, 2008 06:57 pm            

GSGA Accepts 694 Entries for 87th Annual Georgia Amateur Championship

MARIETTA — The Georgia State Golf Association has accepted 694 entries for the 87th annual Georgia Amateur Championship, which takes place July 10-13 at Idle Hour Club in Macon.

The entry period was open March 26 through May 7 for male amateur golfers who are GSGA members. The championship field of 156 will be determined through a series of ten 18-hole qualifiers which take place across the state between June 2 and 23. Thirty players who entered the Championship are exempt, leaving 664 players to compete for the remaining 126 spots in the field. See list of qualifying dates and sites below.

The format of the Championship is 72 holes of stroke play, 18 each day. The field will be cut to the low 70 and ties after 36 holes.

Idle Hour Club is hosting the Georgia Amateur for a record-tying seventh time, joining only Coosa Country Club in Rome and The Savannah Golf Club. Georgia golf legends such as Watts Gunn of Atlanta (1923), Jennings Gordon of Rome (1940), E. Harvie Ward of Atlanta (1953), Toby Browne of Savannah (1968) and Allen Doyle of LaGrange (1978) previously hoisted the Georgia Amateur trophy at Idle Hour. The last time the club hosted in 1997, Tim O’Neal of Savannah captured the title before embarking on a professional career.

Idle Hour, which was established in 1912, recently completed some renovations which lengthened the golf course. It now measures 6,671 yards from the back tees.

“I’m really excited to be going back to Idle Hour for the Georgia Amateur,” said Layne Williams, GSGA’s senior director of Rules and Competitions, now in his 21st year with the Association. “I’m sure the players are excited as well, as evidenced by the number of entries we received. This is going to be a strong field and the players will find a challenging test of championship golf when they arrive at Idle Hour.”

Defending champion Harris English headlines the list of entries into the Championship. Last year at Ansley Golf Club-Settindown Creek in Roswell, the 17-year-old English shot 72 in the final round and held on as the leaders fell back from a five-stroke advantage to win the 86th annual Championship. English’s even-par 288 for the tournament bested three players tied for second — Jeff Knox of Augusta, Robert Sheats of Atlanta and Mark Strickland of Woodstock — by one stroke. English, now a University of Georgia golfer who was recently named SEC Freshman of the Year, became the youngest champion since Atlanta golf legend Charlie Yates captured the 1931 Georgia Amateur.

The GSGA Championship Committee granted three special exemptions into this year’s championship to Russell Henley of Macon, Jack Larkin of Atlanta and Dave Womack of McDonough. Henley is a former Georgia Junior Champion and GSGA Junior Player of the Year who is a teammate of English at the University of Georgia. Now wrapping up his freshman season, Henley was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, earned second-team All-SEC honors and finished fourth at the SEC Championships, the highest showing by a rookie.

Larkin was the 1979 U.S. Junior Amateur Champion who went on to play college golf at the University of Georgia. Since then he has had numerous strong showings in GSGA and USGA championships, including winning the Georgia Public Links title in 1996 and 2001 and posting several top-10 finishes in the Georgia Mid-Amateur Championship. Most recently he teamed up with Knox to finish as runners-up (following a playoff) at the 2008 Georgia Four-Ball Championship.

GSGA members who are exempt in the current year for any USGA national championship also receive a special exemption into the Georgia Amateur. Womack, who captured the 2006 U.S. Mid-Amateur title, is exempt into that Championship for the next 10 years and therefore earns a pass into the Georgia Amateur as well.

The Georgia Amateur Championship is GSGA’s oldest and longest-running competitive event. It is believed that the Georgia State Golf Association was formed in 1916 at the conclusion of the inaugural Georgia Amateur, which was held at Capital City Club in Atlanta and won by 14-year-old Bobby Jones.

The GSGA received its official charter on June 24, 1924. Since that date, is has grown to one of the largest state amateur golf associations in the country, with over 365 member clubs and 85,000 individual members. With a mission to promote and preserve amateur golf in the state of Georgia, GSGA offers a computerized handicapping service, course rating and measuring, and annually conducts a full schedule of statewide competitions for men and women of all age groups. Other services include a summer-long junior sectional program, award-winning Golf Georgia magazine, membership recognition and rewards programs and a charitable foundation administering two college scholarship programs.



Georgia Amateur Qualifying Dates/Sites

June 2 Fields Ferry Golf Club, Calhoun

June 3 Country Club of Columbus

June 9 Idle Hour Club, Macon

June 10 Orchard Hills Golf Club, Newnan

June 11 The Club at Savannah Harbor

June 12 Glen Arven Country Club, Thomasville

June 16 Berkeley Hills Country Club, Duluth

June 18 Big Canoe Golf Club

June 23 Goshen Plantation Golf Club, Augusta; Jennings Mill Country Club, Bogart

Qualifiers/alternates’ names and scores will be posted at www.gsga.org within 24-48 hours after each qualifier.

        

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