University of Georgia golfers Harris English and Russell Henley are helping restore the importance of the Georgia Amateur Championship for their generation of competitors.

Instead of skipping the state's biggest amateur event to play in a national-level amateur tournament, the two were happy to show up last week at Idle Hour in Macon. Henley won it and English was second. Both have already promised to play in next year's Georgia Am at the Country Club of Columbus.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," English said. "You've got a lot of great players here, and you get to compete against these great mid-am players. The Players [Amateur] is a great tournament, but it's all college players; it's just like another college tournament."

Amateurs

British Amateur champion Reinier Saxton of the Netherlands will play in the 2009 Georgia Cup at the Golf Club of Georgia. Saxton won the 113th Amateur Championship last month at Turnberry. He will compete against the U.S. Amateur winner, who will be decided later this summer at the Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort. ... Georgia Tech's Chesson Hadley was seventh at the Players Amateur. The rising junior from Raleigh shot a final-round 60.

Colleges

Emory has named John Sjoberg as its assistant men's golf coach. Sjoberg has been the assistant professional at the Duke University Golf Club since 2005.

Professionals

Ryuji Imada has signed a sponsorship agreement through 2010 with Hitachi, including this week's British Open. It calls for the former Georgia star to wear the "Hitachi Inspire the Next" logo on his clothes.

Course news

The infrastructure at Lake Lanier Islands should be completed some time in August, which will make it easier for golfers to play at PineIsle. The course, built in 1974 by Gary Player and Ron Kirby, is in tremendous condition but has not gotten as much play because of the work being done in the area.

The Emerald Pointe course is currently being renovated by Billy Fuller and will get a new name when it reopens. All the greens have been redone and a new par 3 has been integrated into the routing.