Sonny Skinner, the PGA professional at River Pointe Golf Club in Albany, filled in one of the few missing pieces of his distinctive resume when he won the Atlanta Open on Tuesday for the first time.
Skinner, a four-time national PGA Senior professional of the year, shot a 9-under 135 and beat Bradley Smith of Eagle’s Landing Country Club by one shot. Skinner shot rounds of 65-70 and did not make a bogey over 36 holes at White Columns Country Club in Alpharetta.
The low amateur was Bob Royak, the 2007 Atlanta Open champion, who tied for fifth place. Defending champion Hank Smith of Frederica Golf Club tied for 29th.
Georgians in Palmer Cup victory: The trio of Georgia's Lee McCoy and Georgia Tech's Ollie Schniederjans and Anders Albertson were instrumental in helping the United States beat Europe 18-12 and reclaim the Palmer Cup in Chicago last weekend.
Schniederjans went 3-1 and won both his singles matches, including a 2-and-1 victory of No. 1-ranked Jon Rahm. McCoy was 1-2-1 and Albertson was 2-2. Georgia Tech’s Bruce Heppler was coach of the victorious U.S. team.
U.S. Open chatter: Schniederjans and McCoy are both in the field for this week's U.S. Open. Schniederjans is paired in the first round with two-time Open champion Lee Janzen and former British Open champion Darren Clarke. McCoy is playing with PGA Tour veterans Robert Streb and Kevin Chapell.
Gunn Yang, exempt based on his victory at last year’s U.S. Amateur Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club, will play the first two rounds with Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer, the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked players in the world.
“This is going to be awesome,” Yang tweeted.
Georgia Tech grad Cameron Tringale won’t be among the favorites to win the Open, but he gained plenty of notoriety by making a hole-in-one at the 226-yard par-3 ninth home at Chambers Bay during a practice round on Tuesday.
Mitsunaga wins again: It's been a good summer for Roswell's Rinko Mitsunaga.
Last month she teamed with Mika Liu to win the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball Championship. Last week she won the Georgia Women’s Match Play Championship at the Piedmont Driving Club.
Mitsunaga, who attends the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., beat Mercer signee Payton Schanen of Milton 3 and 2 in the championship match. Along the way she defeated reigning U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion Margaret Shirley and top-seeded Sydney Needham, both in 19 holes.
Etcetera
Tiffany Kang of Suwanee, a rising junior at South Forsyth High School, earned one of seven spots for the U.S. Girls Junior at the qualifier at Cartersville Country Club. … The Capital City team of head PGA professional Eric Reeves and assistant Brent Whitehead won the Georgia PGA’s Pro-Assistant Championship at Athens Country Club.
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