These are good days for former Georgia great Vickie Goetze-Ackerman. On Jan. 1 she became the player president of the LPGA and last weekend she was inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.
Goetze-Ackerman played on the LPGA Tour for 18 seasons, retiring in 2009. She was a member of the LPGA’s executive committee from 2005-07 and was president in 2007. The player president role is a new position that was just created.
“I’m really excited about it,” Goetze-Ackerman said. “It’s going to be a pioneer year and since I’m not playing, I can really focus on developing relationships. I can spend time with the sponsors, the players, the staff and give back to an organization that means so much to me.”
Goetze-Ackerman will be a liaison between the players and the LPGA office. She will voice the concerns of the players to the staff, but added, “I’ll also be a voice back to the players about what we need to do to help the organization continue to grow.”
Goetze-Ackerman could play an important role in the continued revitalization of the LPGA Tour, which added four events to the schedule in 2012 and will have no more than two weeks between tournaments. There are still no tournaments scheduled for Georgia.
Joining Goetze-Ackerman in the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame at last week’s induction ceremony at the Atlanta Athletic Club were: Gene Sauers of Savannah, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour; Richard Crawford, who was successful as a player on the collegiate and professional levels and earned high marks as a club professional and instructor, most notably at Green Island Country Club in Columbus; and Alfred “Tup” Holmes of Atlanta, who was instrumental in helping make the city’s golf courses open to minorities.
This week on Tour
Tiger Woods will make his 2012 debut this week in Abu Dhabi, where the appearance money flows freely. He’ll make his PGA Tour debut at Pebble Beach on Feb. 9-12.
J.B. Holmes will make his first start of the season this week. The two-time tour winner and one of the heroes of the 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup team has been sidelined since undergoing brain surgery shortly after last summer’s PGA Championship.
Eyes also will be on Dustin Johnson, who played one round at the Humana Classic last week before withdrawing because of back pain. Johnson is coming back from off-season knee surgery.
Others making their PGA Tour debut this week are Ernie Els, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Geoff Ogilvy and Justin Rose.
Georgia report
Zach Johnson was low Georgian at the Humana Classic. The St. Simons resident didn’t play well on the final day and dropped six spots to tie for eighth at 19 under. Harris English of Thomasville, who opened plenty of eyes with a second-round 62, finished tied for 19th. Georgia Tech’s Matt Kuchar tied for 22nd thanks to a final-round 65 and former Bulldog and Atlanta resident Brendon Todd tied for 26th. Kevin Kisner, another ex-Bulldog, only tied for 66th, but made 34 of 35 putts inside 10 feet.
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