25 Golfers Even Par Or Better On Day One

COLUMBUS, Ga. - Michael Green of Augusta carded a pair of 33s for a 5-under-par 66 and a one-stroke lead over past champion David Noll Jr. of Dalton in the opening round of the 88th annual Georgia Amateur Championship, taking place at Country Club of Columbus, July 9-12.

Green, who started Thursday’s round on No. 10, turned at 2-under with birdies on No. 11 and 17.  On the front side, he carded five birdies but also suffered a double bogey on the 178-yard, par-3 eighth hole.

Noll, who won the 2003 Georgia Amateur, enjoyed a bogey-free day with four birdies (holes 4, 8, 11, 18) for his 67.  Noll also won the 2007 Georgia Mid-Amateur championship on this same track at Country Club of Columbus.

Five players are tied for third at 3-under 68, including 2007 champion Harris English of Thomasville, Jason Personette of Atlanta, John Stembridge of Norcross, Robert Sheats of Atlanta and Casey Willis of Tifton. Defending champion Russell Henley of Macon is among five players tied for eighth at 69, along with Brian Carter of Evans, Adam Cooper of Columbus, reigning Georgia Mid-Amateur champion Jeff Knox of Augusta and Mark Lyons of Mableton.

Country Club of Columbus, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2009, is playing to 6,515 yards and a par 71.

The Georgia Amateur Championship is conducted by the Georgia State Golf Association and brings together 156 of the state’s best male amateur golfers for the prestigious state title first won by Bobby Jones in 1916.

The Championship format is 72 holes of stroke play over four days. After 36 holes of play, the field will be cut to the low 70 players and ties and anyone within 10 strokes of the leader.

An online leader board, featuring all competitors’ complete scorecards, is currently available at http://www.gsga.org.  During Friday’s second round, scores will be updated after nine holes and as each golfer finishes his round.  The weekend rounds will feature live, hole-by-hole scoring for several of the leading groups as well as nine-hole updates for all the other groups.

Founded in 1916, the Georgia State Golf Association (GSGA) received its official charter on June 24, 1924.  Since that date, the GSGA has grown to one of the largest state amateur golf associations in the country, with over 355 member clubs and 85,000 individual members.  With a mission to promote and preserve amateur golf in the state of Georgia, GSGA offers a computerized handicapping service, course rating and measuring, and annually conducts a full schedule of statewide competitions for men and women of all age groups.  Other services include a summer-long junior sectional program, award-winning Golf Georgia magazine, membership recognition and rewards programs and a charitable foundation administering two college scholarship programs.

Georgia State Golf Association
88th Annual Georgia Amateur Championship
Country Club of Columbus
July 9-12, 2009

First Round Results
Par 71

Rank   Player Name   To Par Score
1     Michael Green, Augusta -5     66
2     David Noll Jr., Dalton -4     67
T3     Casey Willis, Tifton   -3     68
T3     Harris English, Thomasville   -3     68
T3     Jason Personette, Atlanta     -3     68
T3     John Stembridge, Norcross     -3     68
T3     Robert Sheats, Atlanta -3     68
T8     Adam Cooper, Columbus   -2     69
T8     Brian Carter, Evans   -2     69
T8     Jeff Knox, Augusta     -2     69
T8     Mark Lyons, Mableton   -2     69
T8     Russell Henley, Macon   -2     69
T8     Seth Brandon, Dalton   -2     69
T14   Chris Waters, Evans   -1     70
T14   J.P. Putnam, Woodstock -1     70
T14   Lee Knox, Augusta     -1     70
T14   Matthew Hayes, Marietta -1     70
T14   Sam Braver, Roswell   -1     70
T14   William Mitchell, Roswell     -1     70
T20   Benjamin Greene, Duluth Even   71
T20   Jeff Weir, Covington   Even   71
T20   Joe Young, Cochran     Even   71
T20   Mark Strickland, Woodstock     Even   71
T20   Patrick Kenney, Acworth Even   71
T20   Taylor Hall, LaGrange   Even   71
T26   Bill Bazzel, Atlanta   1     72
T26   Bill Jones, Covington   1     72
T26   Brent Whitehead, Marietta     1     72
T26   Cameron Hooper, Greensboro     1     72
T26   Dave Womack, McDonough 1     72
T26   Jacob Keen, Lilburn   1     72
T26   Michael Hicks, Newnan   1     72
T26   Randy White, Canton   1     72
T26   Scott Melton, Ringgold 1     72
T26   Shawn Yim, Buford     1     72
T26   Sterling Hale, Atlanta 1     72
T26   Taylor Smith, Mansfield 1     72
T26   Wright Waddell, Columbus     1     72
T26   Zach Estep, Lawrenceville     1     72
T40   Alex Frankel, Atlanta   2     73
T40   Bubba Gallops, Columbus 2     73
T40   Chesley Gunn, Chula   2     73
T40   Coleman Tidwell, Macon 2     73
T40   Fred Rescigno, Lawrenceville   2     73
T40   Hunter Downs, Marietta 2     73
T40   Jay Moseley, Bainbridge 2     73
T40   John Walker, Macon     2     73
T40   Mel Mendenhall, Marietta     2     73
T40   Patrick Garrett, Powder Springs 2     73
T40   Tom Contrucci, Marietta 2     73
T40   Tra Dykes, Columbus   2     73
T52   Benjamin Kishigian, Warner Robins     3     74
T52   Bill Bergin, Atlanta   3     74
T52   Blake Darnell, Cartersville   3     74
T52   Brent Paul, Midland   3     74
T52   Jacob Tilton, Evans   3     74
T52   Jeff Belk, Marietta   3     74
T52   Jim Heard, Roswell     3     74
T52   John Belicka, Woodstock 3     74
T52   Michael Raines, Acworth 3     74
T52   Trent Erb, Atlanta     3     74
T52   Tyler Erickson, Bonaire 3     74
T52   Wade Binfield, Fayetteville   3     74
T64   Alex Boyd, Greensboro   4     75
T64   Alex Jones, Woodstock   4     75
T64   Brendan Gillins, Savannah     4     75
T64   Cason Hammock, Columbus 4     75
T64   Chase Parker, Augusta   4     75
T64   Doug Hanzel, Savannah   4     75
T64   Erik Martin, Alpharetta 4     75
T64   Jay E. Rowe, Savannah   4     75
T64   Mitch Greer, Perry     4     75
T64   Ryan Blackburn, Evans   4     75
T64   Ryan Parker, Lake Park 4     75
T64   Scott Davenport, Marietta     4     75
T76   Cory Crump, Peachtree City     5     76
T76   Davis Parker, Augusta   5     76
T76   Ian Cutting, Fayetteville     5     76
T76   Jack Larkin, Atlanta   5     76
T76   Jamie Kishida, Duluth   5     76
T76   John Foster, Woodstock 5     76
T76   Mac McKnight, Columbus 5     76
T76   Mike Cromer, Norcross   5     76
T76   Neal Quirk, Atlanta   5     76
T76   Nicholas Fowler, Atlanta     5     76
T76   Randy Donahoo, Kennesaw 5     76
T76   Ryan Zebeau, Cedartown 5     76
T76   William Meason, Alpharetta     5     76
T89   Bart Middlebrooks, Columbus   6     77
T89   Bill Hooks, Cairo     6     77
T89   Blaine Woodruff, Acworth     6     77
T89   Cameron Hood, Duluth   6     77
T89   Chad Griffith, LaGrange 6     77
T89   Charlie Whittington, Columbus   6     77
T89   Drew Hanzel, Savannah   6     77
T89   Hudson Keener, Dalton   6     77
T89   John Edge, Atlanta     6     77
T89   Jonathan Klotz, Columbus     6     77
T89   Matt Owens, Atlanta   6     77
T89   Scott Wolfes, St. Simons Island 6     77
T89   Will Jones, Rome     6     77
T102   Andrew Bai, Cumming   7     78
T102   Bill Ploeger, Columbus 7     78
T102   Bobby Thomas, Columbus 7     78
T102   Brendan Williams, Atlanta     7     78
T102   Chase Miller, Rocky Face     7     78
T102   Clarke Hendrick, Moultrie     7     78
T102   Kristan Brown, Cumming 7     78
T102   Terry Mitchell, Chatsworth     7     78
T102   Thomas Holmes, Macon   7     78
T102   Will Snipes, Rocky Face 7     78
T112   Adam Cohan, Savannah   8     79
T112   Bill Roberts, Pine Mountain   8     79
T112   Brian Ferris, Atlanta   8     79
T112   Cater Pierce, Macon   8     79
T112   Eric Brown, Smyrna     8     79
T112   Garrick Stiles, Statham 8     79
T112   Henry Mabbett, Griffin 8     79
T112   Jamie Ward, Tybee Island     8     79
T112   Jason Cohan, Savannah   8     79
T112   Kirk Whitehead, Marietta     8     79
T112   Kyle Harper, Hartwell   8     79
T112   Pierce McNamara, Roswell     8     79
T112   Ryan Cannon, Suwanee   8     79
T112   Tevis Upton, Acworth   8     79
T126   Bryson Worley, Gainesville     9     80
T126   Dean Hester, Dublin   9     80
T126   Jay Childs, Kennesaw   9     80
T126   Joe Todd, Augusta     9     80
T126   John Skeadas, Savannah 9     80
T126   Matt Oxford, Rocky Face 9     80
T126   Ryan Wilson, Pooler   9     80
T126   Tommy Boudreau, Atlanta 9     80
T126   West Streib, Atlanta   9     80
T126   Wills Smith, Savannah   9     80
T136   Ben Wolfe, Duluth     10     81
T136   Bill Brown, Dublin     10     81
T136   Christopher Brown, Acworth     10     81
T136   Gus Wagoner, Duluth   10     81
T136   Jackson Moore, Marietta 10     81
T136   Jefferson Murray, Augusta     10     81
T136   Rhoades Sturkie, Columbus     10     81
T143   Brant Patton, Evans   11     82
T143   Seth Reeves, Duluth   11     82
T143   Steve Gonzalez, Cumming 11     82
T143   Ted Moon, Lilburn     11     82
T143   Ty Howze, Hahira     11     82
148   Brian Kovalcik, Dacula 12     83
T149   Brent Modak, Atlanta   13     84
T149   Jordan Hall, Tifton   13     84
T151   Austin Trammell, Canton 15     86
T151   Bubba Kizer, Alpharetta 15     86
T151   Collin Ho, Albany     15     86
T151   Jamie Felder, Grovetown 15     86
155   Stephen Giddens, Duluth 18     89
156   Ollie Schniederjans, Powder Springs   WD