MARIETTA, Ga. – The Georgia State Golf Association has announced the 16-member Amateur team that will participate in the 37th Billy Peters Cup Matches, to be held October 18-19 at Capital City Club-Crabapple in Woodstock.
This biennial event is a team match-play competition pitting amateurs representing the GSGA against a team of professionals from the Georgia Section PGA. The GSGA team is comprised of the state’s top amateur golfers, including four seniors, from the past two years as determined by the Association’s Championship Committee.
Reigning GSGA Men’s Player of the Year and 2008 Tommy Barnes Award winner David Noll Jr. headlines the GSGA team. Noll is appearing on the team for the fourth-consecutive time, and has never been on the losing side of the Matches. One of the most consistent performers in the annual Georgia Amateur Championship this decade, Noll won the 2003 title and has finished no worse than sixth in each of the last five Championships, including runner-up finishes in 2005 and this year.
GSGA players who have the most experience in this event are Jeff Belk of Marietta and Greg Kennedy of Duluth. Both Belk and Kennedy are making their fifth appearance in 2009; Belk in his fifth-straight.
The 2007 Tommy Barnes Award winner, Mark Strickland of Woodstock, returns to the team for the third-straight time. Billy Mitchell of Roswell, Dave Womack of McDonough and Bob Royak of Alpharetta are all making their second appearance. Mitchell and Royak were on the victorious 2007 team, while Womack was a member of the winning 2005 squad.
GSGA welcomes six new players to the team in 2009, including Rob Butler of Atlanta, Adam Cooper of Columbus, Josh Gregory of Augusta, Kris Mikkelsen of Atlanta and John Walker of Macon.
Heading up the GSGA’s senior contingent is another new face to the Billy Peters Cup squad, Jimmy Thomas of Johns Creek, who captured the Georgia Senior Championship this past August. Four-time Senior Champion Spencer Sappington of Milton, who finished runner-up to Thomas at this year’s Championship, makes his fourth-straight appearance on the team. Chris Hall of Kennesaw and Doug Hanzel of Savannah will also be playing as seniors on this year’s team. Both Hall (1989, 2005, ’07) and Hanzel (2005, ’07) have previous Billy Peters Cup experience.
The Billy Peters Cup Matches, formerly known as the GSGA-GPGA Challenge Cup, had its name changed in 2007 to honor Peters’ contributions to the game.
Peters, a former president of the Georgia State Golf Association and honorary vice president of the Georgia Section PGA, was inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in 1993.
In 2007, the Georgia State Golf Association amateurs won 10 of 16 singles matches on the final day of competition to claim victory over the professionals for their third-consecutive win in this event. The Georgia Section PGA leads the all-time series 19 ½ – 15 ½ in an event that dates back to 1962. The Matches were held annually until 1987, then became a biennial event in 1989.
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.
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