MARIETTA, Ga. – The 2006 Georgia State Golf Association competitions season will soon get underway. The schedule, which runs March through November, features 18 statewide competitions, sectional qualifying for two state championships, four interstate team competitions and 17 qualifying rounds for USGA national championships.
This year marks the inaugural Georgia-South Carolina Girls’ Challenge Match. The match will place the top four finishers from each state’s Girls’ Championship against one another in a match play format. The event will take place July 29-30 at The Landings Club in Savannah, and will alternate between Georgia and South Carolina.
Once again, GSGA offers four events specifically for senior players. The third annual Senior Tournament, a Stableford scoring event, takes place at Orchard Hills Golf Club in Newnan, May 9-11. Originally called the Senior Challenge, this year’s event will feature a Super Senior Division for players age 65 and older who do not wish to participate within the regular senior field. The Senior Women’s Championship also makes a change this year, expanding its field to 144 players. The championship will take place August 21-22 at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain. Cherokee Town and Country Club in Atlanta plays host to the Senior Championship, August 29-31. The Senior Four-Ball Championship, the final GSGA competition of the season, is scheduled for November 15-17, returns to Okefenokee Country Club in Blackshear and Lakes at Laura S. Walker in Waycross.
The Georgia Amateur Championship returns to Rome’s Coosa Country Club July 13-16 for a record-tying seventh time and first time since 1996. The 2006 event marks the 85th annual Amateur Championship, which began in 1916 and was first won by 14-year-old Robert T. "Bobby" Jones, Jr. Qualifying for the Amateur Championship will be held at 10 sites across the state beginning on June 5 at Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth, Houston Lake Country Club in Perry, and at host-site Coosa Country Club.
The Georgia Mid-Amateur Championship celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2006 at Cartersville Country Club, May 19-21. Cartersville last hosted an event in 1997 when it held the Georgia Junior Championship. This year, 18-hole qualifying rounds for the Mid-Amateur will be held at six locations statewide from April 2-24.
The 41st annual Georgia Junior Championship, which traditionally features the top juniors from around the state, will take place at The Landings Club in Savannah, June 19-21. The 27th annual Georgia Girls’ Championship takes place concurrently at Laurel Springs Golf Club in Suwanee.
The first women’s event of 2006, the Georgia Women’s Match Play Championship, returns to Sunset Hills Country Club in Carrollton, April 12-14. Laura Coble of Augusta has dominated this event, capturing five straight and six of the last seven titles. The GSGA’s longest-running women’s event, the Greater Atlanta Women’s Amateur Championship, will be contested for the 37th time, May 22-24. The championship moves to Atlanta National Golf Club in Alpharetta for the second time in the event’s history. Atlanta National hosted the Championship in 1992.
Florida will host the 26th annual Georgia-Florida Women’s Team Matches with the date and site still to be determined. The two states compete in four-ball and singles match play, scored in a Nassau format. Florida owns a 13-12 lead in the series, but Georgia has won five of the last seven matches. Another interstate event is the Georgia-South Carolina Junior Challenge Match, pitting the top eight juniors from each state (based on finish in their respective Junior Championships) in a two-day, match-play competition.
The biennial Southeastern Challenge Match resumes in 2006, scheduled for October 14-15 at Hawk’s Ridge Golf Club in Ball Ground. A team of amateurs, representing Georgia, competes against amateurs from Florida and Alabama in foursomes and four-ball matches. Team Georgia has won the last three Challenge Matches and is looking to become the first team in the event’s history to capture four straight titles.
For the third year, GSGA is accepting entries online through its web site, www.gsga.org. Entries are currently open for the season’s first competition, the Georgia Four-Ball Tournament, which takes place in Valdosta, March 24-26.
Complete competitions details, including entry fees/requirements, opening/closing dates and USGA qualifying, are also available on the GSGA web site, www.gsga.org.
In addition to competitions, the GSGA provides computerized handicapping, course rating and measuring, a summer-long junior sectional competitions program, Golf Georgia magazine and two college scholarship programs.
Georgia State Golf Association
2006 Competitions Schedule
Four-Ball Tournament March 24-26 Valdosta CC/
Kinderlou Forest GC, Valdosta
Women’s Match Play Championship April 12-14 Sunset Hills CC, Carrollton
Four-Ball Championship April 28-30 Wilmington Island Club, Savannah
Senior Tournament May 9-11 Orchard Hills GC, Newnan
Mid-Amateur Championship May 19-21 Cartersville CC
Mid-Amateur Qualifying Rounds:
Southeast April 2 The Landings Club, Savannah
Northeast April 10 Chicopee Woods GC, Gainesville
West April 10 CC of Columbus
Middle April 10 Southern Hills GC, Hawkinsville
Atlanta South April 11 Orchard Hills GC, Newnan
Atlanta North April 24 Cartersville CC
Greater Atlanta Women’s Am. Champ. May 22-24 Atlanta National GC,
Alpharetta
Junior Championship June 19-21 The Landings Club, Savannah
Girls’ Championship June 19-21 Laurel Springs GC, Suwanee
Top 60 Women’s Classic June 28-29 Barnsley Gardens, Adairsville
Amateur Championship July 13-16 Coosa CC, Rome
Amateur Qualifying Rounds:
Atlanta Northeast June 5 Berkeley Hills CC, Duluth
Northwest June 5 Coosa CC, Rome
Middle June 5 Houston Lake CC, Perry
Atlanta South June 6 Canongate at Heron Bay, Locust Grove
Southeast June 6 The Ford Plantation, Richmond Hill
West June 7 Green Island CC, Columbus
Atlanta Northwest June 12 Pinetree CC, Kennesaw
Northeast June 19 Jennings Mill CC, Bogart
Southwest June 23 Doublegate CC, Albany
East June 26 Augusta CC
Junior Sectional Challenge Match July 24-25 Fields Ferry GC,
Calhoun
GA-SC Junior Challenge Match July 29-30 TBA, Georgia
GA-SC Girls’ Challenge Match July 29-30 The Landings Club, Savannah
GA-FL Women’s Team Matches TBA TBA, Florida
Senior Women’s Championship Aug. 21-22 Callaway Gardens, Pine
Mountain
Senior Championship Aug. 29-31 Cherokee T&CC, Atlanta
Public Links Championship Sept. 16-17 Stonebridge GC, Rome
Atlanta Amateur Match Play Champ. Oct. 5-8 White Columns CC,
Alpharetta
Southeastern Challenge Match Oct. 14-15 Hawks Ridge GC, Ball Ground
Women’s Team Championship Oct. 17-18 The Hampton Club, St. Simons
Island
Team Championship Oct. 28-29 The Georgia Club, Statham
Senior Four-Ball Championship Nov. 15-17 Okefenokee CC, Blackshear/
Lakes at Laura S. Walker, Waycross
Contact:
Eric Cheek
(706) 340-3338
echeek@gsga.org
