2008 Mid-Amateur Championship

Jeff Knox Goes Wire-to-Wire; Wins Georgia Mid-Amateur Championship
Augustan captures first GSGA title with four-stroke victory

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EATONTON, Ga. – After four prior runner-up finishes in the Georgia Mid-Amateur, Jeff Knox of Augusta led wire-to-wire and was the only player under par in winning his first GSGA statewide individual title, defeating defending champion David Noll Jr. of Dalton by four strokes in the 2008 Championship at Cuscowilla on Lake Oconee. Knox, who led Noll by one going into the final round, extended his lead with a final-round 73 to finish at 3-under-par 207 for the 54-hole tournament.

Dave Womack of McDonough, playing with Knox and Noll in the final group, finished third at 213 with a final-round 74. Savannah's Danny Nelson placed fourth at 214, while Ryan Parnell of Atlanta took fifth at 216. Four players tied for sixth at 218 – Lee Gerdes of Macon, Bob Royak of Alpharetta, and Jack Larkin and Danny Whigham Jr., both of Atlanta. Rounding out the to p 10 at 9-over 219 were past champion Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Mike Cromer of Norcross and Matt Robbins of Cumming.

Birdies were hard to come by in the final round as swirling, gusty winds prevailed throughout the day and made the hole locations even more of a "Sunday test". No one in the 74-player field broke par, with Hanzel and Scott Davenport of Marietta both turning in the day's low round of 70.

The battle between three of the state's most accomplished mid-amateur golfers began early as Knox saw his one-stroke lead over Noll quickly vanish when he bogeyed the first hole. Both bogeyed the second, but Knox gained the stroke back when Noll bogeyed the par-3 third. Knox, who carded 65-69 in the first two rounds, moved to 5-under for the championship with his first birdie of the day on the 457-yard sixth hole, and maintained a two-stroke lead at the turn after both he and Noll bogeyed the ninth. Womack, meanwhile, turned at 2-over for the day and was five strokes back of Knox.

Noll, who carded a tournament-low 64 in the second round, never seemed to get on track Sunday, finding trouble both off the tee and on the quick greens. The 309-yard 12th hole doubled Knox's cushion, giving him a four-stroke lead after he birdied and Noll's errant tee shot resulted in a bogey. Although Knox went on to bogey No. 13, Noll could get no closer as he posted consecutive bogeys at 15 and 16 to boost Knox's lead back to five strokes. The championship seemed well in hand when Knox made a great par save at 17 -- chipping it in from a narrow sliver of fringe in between two deep greenside bunkers after putting his tee shot into a fairway bunker and narrowly missing a patch of tall native grass way left of the green with his second.

Knox then played conservatively on 18 and took a bogey, while Noll flew the green but got up and down for par to keep the final margin at four strokes.

In addition to his multiple runner-up finishes in the Mid-Am, Knox has also finished runner-up at the Georgia Amateur Championship three times (1998, 2006 and '07) and finished second in a playoff for the 2008 Georgia Four-Ball Championship last month (with Larkin). So it was meaningful moment for him when his good friend and GSGA president Seth Knight presented him with the trophy. "This championship really means so much to me," Knox said. "And it was even more special because I had the opportunity to play today with two champions themselves." Noll was the 2003 Georgia Amateur champion in addition to winning last year's Mid-Am, while Womack was the 2006 U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion.

The field of 144 was cut to the low 70 and ties for Sunday's final round, with the cut line falling at 14-over 154 and 74 players advancing.

Entries were open to male amateur golfers who are GSGA members and age 25 or older as of the start of the championship. Non-exempt players had to qualify into the championship through one of six 18-hole qualifiers held across the state.