Craig Stevens continues to pile up the victories in the PGA Georgia Section.
Stevens, the PGA teaching professional at Brookstone Country Club in Acworth who is affectionately known as “Lumpy,” won the Georgia PGA Championship for the third time.
The section’s 2012 player of the year, Stevens closed with a 67 at the Sea Island Golf Club’s Retreat Course to finish at 8-under 208 last week. That was good for a one-shot win over Tim Weinhart of Nuclear Golf at the Standard Club. Stephen Keppler of Marietta Country Club was two shots back. Defending champion Sonny Skinner of River Point Golf Club in Albany finished seventh.
Stevens, 52, is currently in first place on the points list for Georgia Section player of the year. He’s won 16 major Georgia PGA section tournaments, including the Georgia Senior Open earlier this summer. He also won the Georgia PGA Championship in 2001 and 2010. Stevens has qualified to play in the PGA Championship three times, the Senior PGA Championship once and this summer qualified for the U.S. Senior Open.
PGA Juniors at Sugarloaf: Six teams of junior golfers (13 and younger) will compete at TPC Sugarloaf this weekend for the PGA Junior League Championship. Teams from Georgia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Texas, California and Indiana make up the field.
The Georgia team is from Hamilton Mill Golf Club in Dacula with PGA professional Chuck Scoggins serving as captain and Ricky Wisniewsky the assistant. Team members are Jordan Rodriguez, Stephen Foernsler, Luka Karaulic, Tommy Su, James Walton, Andy Mao, Erik Forberg, Brandon Cho, Alex Grier and Tess Davenport.
Teams play a series of nine-hole matches in a two-person scramble format. Coaches can substitute players every nine holes, which enables all players to participate. California won the 2012 title.
Hall laps field at Senior Am: Jack Hall of Sea Island overpowered the field to win the Georgia State Golf Association's Senior Amateur Championship. Hall had rounds of 69-64-69 to finish at 14-under 202 at the Landings Club's Deer Creek Course in Savannah. He was the only player in red numbers at the end of 54 holes. Doug Hanzel of Savannah finished second at even-par 214.
College season opens for Tech, UGA: The college season starts in full force this week with the 25th annual Carpet Capital Collegiate at the Farm in Dalton. The field includes host No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 11 Georgia and Kennesaw State, as well as No. 3-ranked Texas, No. 16 Auburn and No. 24 North Florida. Others include Clemson, North Carolina, Wake Forest, LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee, Middle Tennessee and Chattanooga.
Georgia Tech returns the key members of the team that reached the NCAA semifinals: Ollie Schniederjans, Anders Albertson, Seth Reeves, Richard Werenski and Bo Andrews. All five qualified for the U.S. Amateur. Georgia returns veterans Michael Cromie, Nicholas Reach and Sam Straka, as well as an outstanding freshman class that includes Parker Derby of Columbus, Greyson Sigg of Augusta and Jaime Lopez Rivarola of Argentina.
Georgia State, led by Jonathan Grey, a freshman All-American last year, starts its season Sept. 22. The Panthers will host their own tournament Oct. 13-15 at Berkeley Hills.
Georgia has teams ranked in all divisions by GolfWorld. In NCAA Division II, Columbus State is No. 7, Georgia College is No. 16 and Armstrong Atlantic is No. 20. In NCAA Division III, Oglethorpe is No. 2, Emory is No. 7 and LaGrange is No. 19.
Etc.: Two-time Georgia Open winner Margaret Shirley of Roswell was medalist at the U.S. Women's Mid-Am qualifier at Rivermont. The former Auburn star shot 73 to earn one of three places at the championship in Asheville, N.C., in October. Mercedes Huarte of Suwanee earned a spot and Brenda Pictor of Marietta is first alternate. … Stephen Hall and Chris Carr shot 62-66 and won the 46th annual DeKalb Cup over the Labor Day weekend at the Mystery Valley Golf Club. … The PGA Tour takes this week off before returning for round three of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the BMW Championship in Chicago. The top 70 on the points list will compete in Chicago, with the top 30 moving on to the Tour Championship at East Lake on Sept. 19-22.
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