2010 Four-Ball Championship

Spannuth and Murrell Come From Behind to Capture Four-Ball Championship
Winners erased a four-shot deficit in the final round to win by three shots

ALBANY, Ga. – Wes Spannuth of Brunswick and Corey Murrell of Kingsland shot a 9-under-par 63 in the final round and finished at 20-under 196 to win the 39th annual Georgia Four-Ball Championship by three shots over Valdosta's Nic Daugharty and Tifton's Casey Willis. The championship event took place at Doublegate Country Club, April 23-25.

Cartersville-duo Chase Jones and Jayce Stepp finished tied for third position at 16-under 200 with Kyle Harper of Hartwell and Greg Kennedy of Duluth. Adam Thomas of Baxley and his partner, Dave Womack of McDonough, finished tied for fifth with Steve and Carter Collins, a father-son tandem who posted three consecutive rounds of 67, the 2006 champions, Doug Hanzel of Savannah and Bob Royak of Alpharetta, and Jack Hall of Sea Island and Savannah's Danny Nelson. Spencer Davis and Craig Taylor, the leaders entering the final round, posted a two-over 74 in the final round to fall into a tie for ninth position overall with Kevin Jordan of Smyrna and Mark Strickland of Woodstock.

Going into the final round, Spannuth and Murrell found themselves four strokes off the leaders pace. After making birdie on the second hole of the day, the tandem strung together seven pars to make the turn at one-under.

"We just sort of scratched out a bunch of pars," Spannuth said of their front-nine performance. "We weren't really hitting the ball well at all. We knew that we had to turn it on during the back nine in order to have any chance at making a run at the title."

Spannuth and Murrell, playing in their first GSGA-sanctioned event together, did just that on the inward nine – connecting on a remarkable eight birdies, including one on each of their final four holes, to card 28 for the side and finish at nine-under-par for the day. The only hole that the team didn't birdie was the 444-yard 14th, where they made par.

"I couldn't believe what we were doing," Murrell explained of the duo's performance on the back nine. "It just seemed like every putt we stood over was makable. What a neat way to win!"

Doublegate Country Club played to 7,000 yards for the final round.

The field of 58 teams was cut to the low 40 and ties after 36 holes, with the cut falling at one-under-par 143 and exactly 40 teams advancing to the final round.

Entries were open to two-man teams of male amateur golfers who are GSGA members.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 350 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.

Final Results

1 Corey Murrell, Kingsland 65 68 63 196 -20
Wes Spannuth, Brunswick
2 Nic Daugharty, Valdosta 64 68 67 199 -17
Casey Willis, Tifton
T3 Chase Jones, Cartersville 68 65 67 200 -16
Jayce Stepp, Cartersville
T3 Kyle Harper, Hartwell 66 67 67 200 -16
Greg Kennedy, Duluth
T5 Adam Thomas, Baxley 66 69 66 201 -15
Dave Womack, McDonough
T5 Carter Collins, Statesboro 67 67 67 201 -15
Steve Collins, Claxton
T5 Doug Hanzel, Savannah 68 66 67 201 -15
Bob Royak, Alpharetta
T5 Jack Hall, Sea Island 65 70 66 201 -15
Danny Nelson, Savannah
T9 Kevin Jordan, Smyrna 68 70 65 203 -13
Mark Strickland, Woodstock
T9 Spencer Davis, Albany 64 65 74 203 -13
Craig Taylor, Albany
11 Ryan Chitwood, Alto 71 67 66 204 -12
Seth Parmer, Bowdon
T12 Madden Hatcher III, Columbus 67 69 69 205 -11
Wright Waddell, Columbus
T12 Jeff Knox, Augusta 69 66 70 205 -11
Jack Larkin, Atlanta
T12 Doug Green, Cumming 68 68 69 205 -11
David Noll Jr., Dalton
T12 Paul Kocsis, Fayetteville 69 62 74 205 -11
Jody Travis, Peachtree City
T12 Bobby Brent III, Columbus 68 68 69 205 -11
Boo Miller, Columbus
T17 Tim Crawford, Waycross 68 68 70 206 -10
Robbie Williams, Blackshear
T17 Cole Tidwell Jr., Macon 71 66 69 206 -10
John Walker IV, Macon
T19 Phil Hardin, Macon 69 71 67 207 -9
Hal Johnson, Macon
T19 Cates Culpepper, Columbus 71 68 68 207 -9
Robert Swift, Columbus
T19 Blake Clanton, Albany 70 68 69 207 -9
Dwayne Hale, Albany
T19 William Degenhart, Savannah 68 66 73 207 -9
Walter Hagan III, Savannah
T23 Chad Branton, Cartersville 69 71 68 208 -8
Cres Dodd, Calhoun
T23 Sam Hogan, Valdosta 68 71 69 208 -8
Greg Reid, Valdosta
T23 Brian Davidson, Baldwin 70 68 70 208 -8
Scott Pitts, Cornelia
26 Hap Fleming, Kennesaw 71 69 69 209 -7
Jason Myers, Kennesaw
T27 Chris Hall, Kennesaw 68 74 68 210 -6
Donny Phillips Jr., Suwanee
T27 Joey Nagy, Buena Vista 72 69 69 210 -6
Matt Nagy, Buena Vista
T29 Matt Owens, Atlanta 70 69 72 211 -5
Clint Smith, Demorest
T29 John Belicka, Woodstock 72 71 68 211 -5
Winston Morris, Marietta
T29 Jason Hall, Eatonton 71 70 70 211 -5
Scott Randolph, Eatonton
T32 Jeff Belk, Marietta 70 72 70 212 -4
Erik Martin, Alpharetta
T32 David Maddox, McDonough 69 74 69 212 -4
Michael Standard, McDonough
T32 Stan Jones, Dacula 69 70 73 212 -4
Jordan Mitchell, Atlanta
T35 Hector Cora, Atlanta 71 71 71 213 -3
Jorge Cora, Atlanta
T35 Bob McDonnell, Suwanee 69 70 74 213 -3
William Mitchell, Roswell
T35 Bruce Bird, Greensboro 71 70 72 213 -3
Mel Mendenhall, Marietta
38 Stacy Anderson, Blackshear 71 70 73 214 -2
David Bennett III, Waycross
T39 Bart Middlebrooks, Columbus 73 70 74 217 1
Clay Shaw, Marietta
T39 Randy Bowman, Summerville 70 73 74 217 1
Brent Sizemore, Calhoun