Jake Peacock will try to make history when he defends his title at the 104th Georgia Amateur Championship, which begins Thursday at the Atlanta Country Club.
Peacock has won the state’s most prestigious amateur event for the past two years, the first to do so since current PGA standout Russell Henley went back-to-back in 2008-09.
He is trying to join Georgia Golf Hall of Famer Arnold Blum of Macon (1950-52) as the only player to three-peat. Peacock would become the first player to win three consecutive under a stroke-play format. Blum’s victories occurred when the event was contested as match play.
Peacock took the 2023 championship at Rivermont Golf Club in Johns Creek by emerging from a pack on the final nine. There was more drama in 2024 at Augusta Country Club, where he made a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole to break the heart of Brycen Jones.
Peacock, a Milton native who graduated from Cambridge High School, is No. 33 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the highest-ranked player in the field. He completed his senior season at South Florida by winning the American Athletic Conference title for the second consecutive year to earn back-to-back AAC Player of the Year awards.
Peacock finished No. 19 in the PGA Tour University standings. That earned him status on the PGA Tour Americas for the rest of the season and through next year’s Latin America Swing, as well as an exemption into the second stage of Q-School.
Peacock and the other 143 players in the field will find some new wrinkles in this year’s Georgia Am.
It is being hosted for the first time by Atlanta Country Club, and it was moved up by a month to beat the typically oppressive summer heat. The winner will earn an exemption into the U.S. Amateur in August at the Olympic Club.
The Atlanta Country Club is emerging from a period of self-imposed inactivity to get back in the business of hosting big events. The Cobb County course was the site of the PGA Tour’s Atlanta Golf Classic from 1967-96. It hosted the first Players Championship in 1974. Great players such as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin and Tom Kite have won there. World Golf Hall of Famer Larry Nelson won there twice and still lives on the course.
“We’re excited about it,” Atlanta Country Club president Darren DeVore said. “Atlanta Country Club has a really storied history, and for us to reintroduce Atlanta Country Club to the golfing world with the Georgia Amateur this summer is something we’re really excited about.”
Atlanta Country Club underwent a renovation and restoration that was completed in 2024. The club decided to replace the 60-year-old irrigation system that was clogged or had crumbled but, after digging into the details, decided to be more aggressive and take care of a checklist of additional items, including bunkers, that needed to be handled.
Accomplished architect Beau Welling was called in to oversee the project. His touches can be seen throughout the course, although only a couple — the par-3 third and the par-5 11th — underwent complete makeovers.
“I would tell you that we probably took for granted how good our golf course was prior to the renovation,” said Scott Schroeder, the club’s longtime PGA professional. “And it’s just even that much better, which is saying something.”
The biggest investment was a state-of-the-art hydronics system installed under each green, which keeps them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It allowed the club to keep its beloved bent-grass putting surfaces, which can be difficult to maintain during the summer heat and humidity.
The course, which will play 7,101 yards to par 72, will place a premium on ball striking, with competitors risking a big number if they miss a green or play to the wrong side.
“It’s really a second-shot golf course,” said Jeff Fages, the Georgia State Golf Association’s senior director of rules and competitions. “The green complexes have a lot of personality and character. If you’re striking the ball well, I think there’s going to be an opportunity to score, but if your ball striking is not on point, there are opportunities for big numbers.”
It is conceivable the tournament could be decided on the 18th, a 498-yard par-5 that doglegs around a pond. That green has been the scene of many dramatic finishes. In 1970, Tommy Aaron won his first PGA Tour event there when Tom Weiskopf hit his drive in the water. In 1988, Nelson birdied the final hole to hold off Paul Azinger.
The second-shot nature of the course also might open the door for a mid-amateur player to win the event for the first time since Dalton’s David Noll won his second Georgia Am in 2011. A college player has won each year since.
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