World renowned architect Bob Cupp leads a group of four men who have been chosen as the Class of 2014 for the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.
Cupp will be joined by retired Atlanta Athletic Club general manager Chris Borders, Marietta Country Club professional Stephen Keppler and accomplished amateur Frank Eldridge of Valdosta. The induction will be Jan. 18, 2014, at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
Cupp becomes the first architect to be chosen for the Georgia hall. The longtime Atlanta resident was senior designer with the Jack Nicklaus group for 15 years before starting Cupp Design in 1984. Among his signature courses are Pumpkin Ridge, Old Waverly, Liberty National, Hawks Ridge, Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek and Marietta Country Club. His courses have hosted more than 50 national and international events, including seven majors.
Keppler, a London native, represented Great Britain in the 1983 Walker Cup matches. He was head professional at Summit Chase in Snellville for eight years and has been director of golf at Marietta Country Club since 2000.
Keppler may be best known for nearly winning the PGA Tour’s BellSouth Classic in 1995, but has been one of the best players in the Georgia PGA. He won 15 section events, including back-to-back Georgia Opens in 1994-95, and was the section’s player of the year for four straight years (1993-96).
Borders spent the last 24 years of his career at the Atlanta Athletic Club and hosted the 1990 U.S. Women’s Open, the 2002 U.S. Junior Amateur and the 2001 and 2011 PGA Championships. He oversaw extensive renovations to the club’s two golf courses and clubhouse and was instrumental in creating the club’s Bobby Jones Room, which is filled with memorabilia from the amateur’s career. The Club Managers Association of America awarded him their manager of the year award in 1992.
Eldridge played at Georgia and helped the Bulldogs win three straight SEC titles from 1957-59. He won the 1959 Southeastern Amateur and won the Jack Oliver Invitational seven times.
On the tours: Billy Horschel's victory last week in New Orleans means that six of the 10 players on the 2007 Walker Cup team have won on the PGA Tour. The Florida grad joins Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Chris Kirk, Webb Simpson and Kyle Stanley as event winners. That Walker Cup team also included Jamie Lovemark and Colt Knost, who have both won on the Web.com Tour, and Jonathan Moore, who is playing the Asian Tour. …
Horschel is the fifth winner in his 20s on the PGA Tour this year, joining Johnson, Macon’s Russell Henley, Michael Thompson and Augusta’s Scott Brown. Horschel has made the cut in 23 consecutive starts, the longest current streak on tour. …
Lucas Glover could be ready to break out at this week’s Wells Fargo Championship, the site of his last victory in 2011. He did not three-putt once last week while tying for fourth at New Orleans, his second top-10 of the season. He made 24 birdies and has shot par or better in 25 of his last 28 rounds. …
Expect to see more of Chinese 14-year-old Guan Tianlang. He’s been given a sponsors exemption to play in the Byron Nelson Championship. He was low amateur at the Masters and last week made the cut at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. … A sore wrist caused Dustin Johnson to withdraw from this week’s Wells Fargo Championship. That decision allowed former Georgia Tech standout Paul Haley II to get into the field. Haley has made the cut in seven of eight events in his rookie season on tour. … UGA grad Erik Compton threw out the first pitch at the Charlotte Knights game on Tuesday.
Etc.: Jack Hall of Sea Island and Danny Nelson of Savannah won the Georgia State Golf Association's Four-Ball Championship at Champions Retreat in Evans. They finished at 16-under 200 and scored a three-stroke win over Bob Royak and Robert Sheats of Atlanta. Hall and Nelson also won the event in 2005 at Georgia National.
