If only all Georgia/Georgia Tech confrontations were as gentlemanly as Wednesday’s match between Bo Andrews and Chris Waters.
Not a single woof nor snide whisper about Tech’s academic rigors was heard from the small gallery when they teed off. It was just a clean, old-fashioned golf match.
And afterward, when recent Tech grad Andrews had secured a 5-and-4 victory over 27-year-old Georgia man Waters, they shook hands and politely went their own ways. One back home to Buckhead, the other to Thursday’s Round of 32.
“I had three three-putts and I was 3 down, so I was giving it all away on the greens,” lamented Waters, an accountant in Atlanta. He won the first two holes of the match and then watched it slip away. “I started forcing it a little bit at the end, trying to make some shots back at that point and it bit me a little bit. But I still had a great time.”
An Atlanta Athletic Club member, Andrews gets to hang around at least for one day more and play his home course. He certainly seems in sync with the personality of the place — witness his approach when he arrived Wednesday and noted a freshening breeze.
“I’ve seen that wind and I know how hard some of the holes can play and I kind of told myself that pars are going to be pretty good,” Andrews said. He won the last five holes of the match with pars and Waters began pressing.
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