By Mike Blum
More than three months after the tournament began, Sonny Skinner claimed the 2009 E-Z-GO Georgia PGA Championship, edging out Craig Stevens by one stroke at Sea Island Golf Club’s Retreat Course.
The tournament was originally scheduled for Aug. 31-Sept. 2, but heavy rain that arrived midway through the second round halted the event at that point. With only half the field having completed their second rounds and the tournament unable to resume that week, the Georgia PGA made the decision to cancel all that day’s play and resume Dec. 9, with the event reduced to 36 holes.
Skinner, an instructor at River Pointe in Albany, shared the first round lead with Stevens, with both players shooting 66 in August. Skinner came back the next morning with a 65, giving him an 8-stroke lead over his next closest competitor who finished 36 holes.
Stevens, who had an afternoon tee time the second day, was early in his round when the rains came and washed out play for the day and the remainder of the week.
When the tournament resumed Dec. 9, conditions were considerably different from what they had been more than three months earlier and the scores reflected it. Only one player broke 70 on the day and Skinner was part of a small group to break par, carding a 1-under 71.
Skinner birdied the par-5 first hole at Retreat and led the final round for all but one hole, falling into a tie with Stevens when he took his lone bogey of the day on a three-putt at the 13th.
But Stevens found trouble off the tee at the 14th and made bogey, and the two players parred in from there, with Skinner retaining his one-stroke margin down the stretch.
Skinner finished at 7-under 137 for the tournament, with Stevens, an instructor at Cobblestone GC, next at 138 after a closing 72.
Marietta CC Director of Golf Stephen Keppler shot 68, the low round of the day, to tie for third at 140 with Orchard Hills head professional Wyatt Detmer, who posted a pair of 70s.
Jeff Hull, an instructor at the UGA course in Athens, was fifth at 141 after a final round 73, with 2009 Georgia PGA Player of the Year Tim Weinhart among a group tying for sixth at 142.
“I don’t think I was owed it, but I definitely deserved it,” said Skinner a few days after his victory.
Skinner said he “didn’t have a problem” with the decision to postpone the finish of the tournament. “I can see the reason for not having a one day tournament. Fortunately it all worked out. I have no complaints.”
It was just the second win in a Georgia PGA event for Skinner since he ended his career as a full time tour player several years ago. He won the Match Play Championship in 2006 en route to earning Player of the Year honors, and has been a consistent contender in Section events the last four years.
“This meant a bunch to me,” Skinner said of his victory in the Section Championship. “I’ve never been one to win a lot of tournaments. I’ve won some, but not much in the section.”
Skinner won twice on what was then the Hogan (now Nationwide) Tour in 1993 and ’94. He spent four years on the PGA Tour in the 1990s and more than a decade on the Nationwide Tour.
Most of Skinner’s tournament play in recent years has come in PGA events, and he has enjoyed success at the national level. He was second in the 2008 PGA Professional National Championship at Reynolds Plantation, earning him a spot in the PGA Championship that year. Skinner recently scored his second win in the PGA Tournament Series, an annual group of events played over the winter at the PGA’s complex of courses near its headquarters in south Florida.
One week before his win in the Section Championship, Skinner won the season opener of the 2009-10 PGA Tournament Series, shooting 65-67—132 to win on the Wanamaker Course at PGA GC. Skinner also won the season opener on the series in 2006.
“I came down here and just started making birdies,” said Skinner, who notched 14 during his two rounds in his PGA victory.
A week later, Skinner managed just two birdies in his round at the Retreat Course, both coming on par 5s. With Stevens making a few early bogeys, Skinner moved three strokes ahead of him. But three birdies in a four-hole stretch pulled Stevens, the 2001 Georgia PGA champion, within one of the lead.
The only other person to challenge Skinner and Stevens the final day was defending champion Clark Spratlin of Blue Ridge River & GC, who began the day three strokes off the lead. With five birdies on his first 10 holes, Spratlin briefly tied Skinner for the lead, but he struggled the rest of the way and finished with a 74 to place ninth at 143.
Keppler, who won the event three times in the 1990s, recorded seven birdies in the final round. But he was never a serious factor, moving up to a tie for third with consecutive birdies at 15, 16 and 17.
Hull, the 2004 champion, came into the tournament with a remote chance of overtaking Weinhart for Player of the Year honors, but was unable to make a move, managing just one birdie on the day.
Weinhart, an instructor at St. Marlo and the 2005 Section champion, earned Player of the Year honors for the fifth time with a pair of 71s for his 142 total. Also tying for sixth was Greg Lee of Chicopee Woods, the 2006 champion, who shot 33 on his final nine for a 70 on the day.
Joining Weinhart and Lee in the tie sixth at 142 was Rivermont head professional Matthew Evans, who recovered from a near disastrous start to finish with a 71. Thanks to a triple bogey at the second hole, Evans was 4-over after six, but enjoyed a four-hole stretch in the middle of his round where he went birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie.
Tying for 10th at 144 were Brian Dixon of Fox Creek and Roger Mack of Barnsley Gardens, who was unable to take advantage of his second chance opportunity. Mack shot a 67 in the opening round, and his 77 the next day was washed out, leaving him just one shot out of the lead when the tournament resumed. But Mack shot another 77 to fall out of contention.
The player most negatively impacted by the alteration of the tournament schedule was Brookfield CC instructor Michael Parrott, who shot 70-69—139 and was second in the clubhouse behind Skinner when the early September rains came. Parrott was unable to return for the re-scheduled final round and had to withdraw.
The tournament was presented by Ashworth, Heritage Gifting and the PGA Tour.
The victory was the third in a week for Skinner, who also teamed up with John Godwin to win the Traynor Golf Collection Pro-Pro Championship, played the two days before the conclusion of the Georgia PGA Championship.
Skinner and Godwin, who teaches at Godwin Creek in Columbus and works with U.S. Kids Golf, teamed up for a 127 total in the Pro-Pro Championship, which was played at Jekyll Island GC. They shot 63 the first day at Pine Lakes and a 64 on the Oleander Course.
Taking second 129 were Jason Chick and Peachtree GC assistant Brian Corn. Champions Tour player Tim Simpson and John Tillery of Milledgeville CC were third at 130.
Tying for fourth at 131 were defending champions Patrick Richardson of the Wilmington Island Club and Richard Hatcher of Ansley GC. Other teams tying for fourth were Stephen Keppler and Alec Bargeron of Marietta CC; Eric Reaves of Healy Point and Ben Schwaderer of Mirror Lake; and Chris Nicol of Towne Lake Hills and Paul Carey, who shot 62 to lead after the opening round.
Russ Davis of Cherokee CC and John Nigh of Indian Hills were the Senior Division winners at 131.
The tournament was presented by Mizuno and E-Z-GO.
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