The Champions Tour returned to the Atlanta area for the first time in 13 years for its inaugural Greater Gwinnett Championship. Before the field of former Masters champions, tournament winners and golf legends tee off, the course holds a two-day Pro-Am that offers unforgettable experiences to locals and scratch golfers alike. In a Pro-Am, one golf professional is grouped with four local golfers and the lowest group score is taken each hole. The professionals play from the elongated champions tee box and the amateurs play from the member’s tees while also receiving strokes depending on their handicap.
For the first day of the Pro-Am, I trailed pro John Huston’s group which included Sandor Grosz, Greg Chestnut, Eric McKenna and Charles Rosenberg. The 51-year-old Huston played golf at Auburn University for a year after junior college. As a pro, Huston has seven PGA tour wins and tied for third place at the 1990 Masters. Huston won his first Champions Tour event, at the 2011 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open just 25 days after turning 50.
I walked the scenic 18-hole course with this group as they took to TPC Sugarloaf and chronicled the round.
1:07 P.M.
The group starts on the back nine on No. 10 of the Meadows Course. Huston, who is considered one of the fastest golfers on the tour, wastes little time before smashing his drive down the middle on the opening par 5. The four amateurs head up 40 yards to their tee box. They all keep it in play, but this would be Huston’s hole.
1:15 P.M.
After waiting for his new teammates to find their tee shots, Huston sticks a fairway wood within 12 feet from the flag and has a putt for eagle. The ball stops just two inches short of the cup on the eagle attempt and the group moves to 1-under.
1:28 P.M.
This par 3 is surrounded by water, but miraculously the bunkers and rock beds kept everyone in play. Huston was the closest to the pin, but can’t convert the birdie and they tap in for par.
1:38 P.M.
The group has a rough time on the par 4 12th. The pro has a fringe putt for birdie, but rolls it past the flag, leading to an eventual bogey. Sandor comes in at bogey for a net-par, keeping the group from losing any strokes.
1:58 P.M.
The 13th hole is one of the easiest holes on the course, but McKenna still receives a stroke with his handicap. McKenna drives it into the front bunker that protects this short 295-yard par 4. The pros will clearly be aiming for the green this weekend from their 310-yard tee box. The bunker has an eight-foot wall impeding the view of the green, and McKenna jokes, “You can break a leg stepping into this bunker.” Despite the challenge McKenna hits his best shot of the day and gets up and down for the birdie, a net-eagle. Huston applauds the sandy birdie.
2:25P.M.
Rosenberg gets two strokes subtracted from his score on No. 14 because it is the hardest handicap on the course. He came in at bogey after sinking a 12-footer, so the net-birdie moved the group further in the red. On the next tee box at the 15th, they switch their order and immediately catch fire.
3:07 P.M.
The new “batting” order of teeing off, as the group calls it, scored a pair of net two’s at 15 and 16. From the par 4 17th fairway, it was Rosenberg’s turn to hit the shot of the day and keep the superstitious group believing it was all about the order. From 210 yards out on the lengthy par 4, Rosenberg rolls it within six feet from the pin. He nails the birdie put and the handicap stroke gives the team a third net-two in a row to put on the scorecard.
3:31 P.M.
Huston keeps the front nine hot streak ablaze by tapping in for a birdie on No. 18. On this long par 5 closing hole, Huston was the only one to find the fairway off the tee box and the group needed his decades of professional experience to save the round. The Front 9 has the group at -9 as they head to the back 9.
3:40 P.M.
The group tees off on the back nine and the hot streak that began when the group put Chesnut as the leadoff man continues. The team moves to -10 after a birdie on No. 1 of the Stables Course.
4:00 P.M.
On No. 2, Grosz nearly holes out on the 150 yard par 3, rolling it just inches past from the cup after a generous kick off the fringe. Grosz is able to knock in his birdie putt for a net score of 1 on the hole. Huston stuck his tee shot within feet of the flag and sinks his birdie.“We don’t need two’s,” the group joked to Huston after the net 1 by Grosz.
4:22 P.M.
On the No. 3 tee box, Huston tells us he has played this course quite a few times and considers himself a local during his brief downtime with his busy tour schedule. It was evident on this well-protected par 4 that Huston went on to birdie.
4:30 P.M.
After teeing off as a collective -13 on the fourth hole, the tougher Stables Course would begin to cool them off. Huston cannot sink his birdie put and the group comes in at par, ending a streak of eight holes under par.
5:00 P.M.
The group reaches the green of the final par 5 of the day. The sixth hole has arguably the toughest green on the course. Huston decided to try and reach it in two shots, but he lands in the front bunker from 275 yards out. They eventually get in at par, and with three holes remaining, are stuck at -13. The marshall that walked with our group points out that the house on the left side of the fairway was that of Stewart Cink. The PGA prof played at Georgia Tech and won his first major at the Open Championship in 2009. Cink recently tied for 25th place (+2) at the Masters. Each hole seems to be surrounded by big name estates.
5:20 P.M.
The long par 4 proves to be too much. The guys changed up the order again, but decided after another par, to go back to the order that got them going earlier in the round.
5:32 P.M.
There are two holes left and the guys tee off on this long par 3. From 248 yards out, Huston gets within seven feet and holes his birdie attempt. The par three’s were Huston’s forte on Wednesday, as the pro went 2-under on them.
5:48 P.M.
On the final tee box, the long and windy ninth hole was a challenge for the group. At -14, we approach the green and see on the digital scoreboard behind it that there has been a -17 turned in already. Huston and Grosz both have putts to move the group within two strokes at -15, but Grosz narrowly misses and Huston pulled his putt to miss badly left.
6:05 P.M.
The group turns in a -14 at the clubhouse and are in a tie for 6th place, with the second field of the Pro Am teeing off early Thursday morning. Huston thanks each one of them for a fun round, and they all wish him luck on the season.
6:25P.M.
We get back to the clubhouse and see Huston drop his bag off and hop in his black Maserati. Huston said he will play another practice round of 18 holes Thursday and would be ready to go when he tees off Friday for the Greater Gwinnett Championship.
The Pro Am was the perfect way to get the course and golf enthusiasts primed for the weekend action. The winner of the Pro Am will be crowned after the Thursday action.
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