The Georgia Amateur Championship will be determined Sunday morning. But the finalists remain undecided after a pair of late-afternoon thunderstorms prevented completion of the semifinals matches.
The two semifinals were in progress when officials sounded the horn to cease play at 5:43 p.m. Hard rain and lightning descended on the Capital City Club’s Brookhaven course, and play was unable to resume. There had been a 95-minute delay earlier.
The incomplete semifinals matches will re-start at 7:30 a.m., with the final to begin at 9 a.m.
“We’re disappointed we didn’t get it in,” Georgia State Golf Association executive director Matt Williams said. “We’ve been fortunate to have great weather all week, but golf is an outdoor sport and this is part of it.”
The GSGA is celebrating its 100th anniversary by visiting the same site and using the same match-play format from its inaugural event, which was won by 14-year-old Bobby Jones.
In the semifinals matches, Spencer Ralston of Gainesville is two-up on Luke Schniederjans of Powder Springs with three holes remaining and Colin Bowles of Albany is three-up on Kris Mikkelsen of Atlanta with five holes left.
Ralston, who will play for the University of Georgia in the fall, and Schniederjans, who will play at Georgia Tech, were all square through the first nine holes. Schniederjans birdied the 10th hole to go one-up, only to have Ralston come back to win No. 12-14.
Bowles is a 16-year-old transplant from West Virginia who moved here when his father was hired to run River Pointe Golf Club in Albany. He won the first two holes and never trailed against Mikkelsen, 36, a former Georgia Tech All-American and now chief operating officer at a large commercial real estate lending company. If Bowles wins the title, he would become the second-youngest winner.
The four quarterfinals matches were completed with no trouble.
Ralston reached the semifinals by defeating Atlantan Chris Harris, who plays at Rhodes College, 3 and 2. Ralston was 4 up after a birdie at 10 and closed the match with a par at No. 16.
Bowles defeated Tim Arnoult Jr. of Roswell, a reinstated professional turned insurance executive, 3 and 2. The match was even through 11 holes, but Bowles won the next two holes and close it with a birdie at No. 16.
Mikkelsen dominated Georgia Tech signee Tyler Joiner of Leesburg in a 5 and 4 win. The match was all-square after eight, when Mikkelsen won five of the next six holes.
Schniederjans eliminated defending champion Dru Love of St. Simons Island. Schniederjans was two up with three holes left, but Love won two straight holes and the match went to extra holes. Schniederjans won it on the 19th hole with a 10-foot birdie.
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