Much of the attention this week at the Nationwide Tour's Stadion Classic at UGA will be focused on the University of Georgia connections. But there are plenty of other players in the field who have a connection to the state, among them Ringgold native Luke List, who is fresh off his first Nationwide victory.
The long-hitting Vanderbilt graduate and runner-up for the 2004 U.S. Amateur won the South Georgia Classic last week in Valdosta. List, who averaged 329 yards off the tee, closed with a 68 at Kinderlou Forest and won by two strokes. The win jumped List all the way to No. 2 on the Nationwide money list and virtually assures him of a place on the 2013 PGA Tour.
“Hopefully this will be a turning point for me and I can get a few more this year,” List said.
Other local players in the Stadion Classic field include Nicholas Thompson and Paul Haley II from Georgia Tech, Aron Price from Georgia Southern, Josh Broadaway from Thomasville, Scott Dunlap from Duluth, Scott Parel from Augusta, John Kimbell from LaFayette and Marist High graduate Reid Edstrom. The field also includes Georgia PGA professionals Craig Stevens and Tim Weinhart, the reigning Georgia Section player of the year.
Fourteen players got in the Stadion field through a pair of Monday qualifiers. Among them was Kevin Tway, son of Wheeler High graduate and 1986 PGA Champion Bob Tway, who qualified at The Georgia Club. Peter Mainati of Dandridge, Tenn., and Ryan Blaum of Coral Gables, Fla., won the two qualifiers. The only Georgian to play his way into the field was Sung Back of Duluth.
The final two sponsor's exemptions went to Glenn Northcutt and Brent Witcher. Northcutt played at Auburn and will be making his Nationwide debut. Witcher, a Duluth native, played at Valdosta State, where he won the 2009 Jack Nicklaus Award given to the best Division II golfer.
On the Tours
The Wells Fargo Championship boasts one of the strongest fields in the non-major portion of the regular PGA Tour season, with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy all competing. World No. 1 Luke Donald is taking the week off prior to The Players Championship.
But many eyes are on defending champion Lucas Glover, who beat his Clemson teammate and fellow Sea Island resident Jonathan Byrd in a playoff a year ago. Glover is still coming back from a knee injury suffered when falling off a paddle board. He later tore a muscle in his rib cage at the Masters. Glover said he's "as healthy as I've been since the day I got hurt back in December." ...
Charles Howell III made his second hole-in-one of the season at the Zurich Classic. The Augusta native aced the ninth hole, a 204-yard par-3, with a 6-iron. Howell, who had a hole-in-one at the Honda Classic, now has five for his career. ...
Colleges
Georgia State's Charlotte Lorentzen has been chosen to compete as an individual at the NCAA championship for the second straight year. The senior from Denmark, the two-time Colonial Athletic Association player of the year, will play in the NCAA East Regional on May 10-12 at the Penn State Blue Course in State College, Pa. ... In Division II men's golf, Valdosta State will play in the NCAA South Regional and Georgia College, Georgia Southwestern, Armstrong Atlantic and Columbus State qualified to play in the Southeast Regional. West Georgia's Bryn Powers will compete as an individual.
About the Author
