Sports Page Atlanta

Former Georgia Tech golfer Stewart Cink did it.  After several top-10 finishes this season including 2 runner-ups, Cink put it together and won.  It was the 2nd time he has won The Travelers Championship (although it was called Canon Greater Hartford Open back in 1997).

Cink has 5 career PGA Tour wins…

1997 - Canon Greater Hartford Open

2000 - MCI Classic

2004 - MCI Heritage

2004 - WGC NEC Invitational

2008 - Travelers Championship

He also 3rd on the PGA money list right now behind two no-name guys named Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (I hear, Tiger might miss the rest of the season… I think it has been on the news once or twice this week). 

The AT&T Classic or the BellSouth Classic or whatever you call it is no more. The PGA Tour has decided to take the tournament away due to a lack of finding a tournament sponsor (I know what you are all saying…. hmmm, what about the Sports Page Atlanta Classic from SugarLoaf… right now our funds can’t support it, but maybe).

Like we said a few months back, the tournament has had some great moments. This year Ryuji Imada won in a playoff over Kenny Perry to make up for when he lost in the playoff the year before against Zach Johnson. Mega-stars Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won there. Former greats David Duval and John Daly have won there, too. So have legendary golfers such as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Byron Nelson.

The PGA Tour will still come to Atlanta for The Tour Championship at the end of the season and there is a small tournament down the road in Augusta as well played in April… I think.

With the big win at the AT&T Classic, Ryuji Imada has climbed in many charts… he is currently 4th on the PGA Tour money leaders, earning an impressive $2.2 million. He is also 3rd on the season FEDEX points…

But here are a list of golfers with the most top-10 finishes this season. It is a pretty impressive list…

• Stewart Cink: 6 top-10s (o wins)
• Tiger Woods: 5 (3)
• Stuart Appleby: 5 (0)
• Ryuji Imada: 4 (1)
• Phil Mickelson: 4 (1)
• Boo Weekly: 4 (1)
• Jim Furyk: 4 (0)
• Vijay Singh: 4 (0)
• Justin Leonard: 4 (0)
• Brandt Snedeker: 4 (0)

Former Georgia Bulldog Ryuji Imada won on the first playoff hole of the AT&T Classic to win his first ever PGA Tour event. Last year he lost in a playoff at this event, so this is extra special for him.

For his efforts he collects $990,000. Here is a final look at how all the former Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets did…

*** Georgia Bulldogs

Ryuji Imada: -15 (67) 1st place… led the tournament in putts per round… (drive for show and win for dough)

Justin Bolli: -12 (69) T-5th place… 21 birdies good, 11 bogeys bad… $200,000+ i’ll take it

Chris Kirk: -2 (75) T-52nd place… sunday was only round he finished over par

Bubba Watson: -9 (70) T-11th place… 2 pars on front 9 (also 5 birdies, 2 bogeys)

*** Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Stewart Cink: -9 (69) T-11th place… tough 7-8-9 (all bogeys)

Matt Kuchar: -8 (71) T-20th place… #18 this tourney (par, birdie, birdie, eagle)

Troy Matteson: -3 (72) T-44th place… #5 this weekend (triple bogey on saturday and a double bogey on sunday)

Larry Mize: -3 (71) T-44th place… not great, not bad, just solid solid solid

Charles Howell III is leading the AT&T Classic after 3 rounds.  The Augusta, Georgia, native should have went to Georgia or Georgia Tech, but no he went to Oklahoma State so I am done talking about him.  So here is a look how the Georgia and the Georgia Tech alumnus are doing…

*** Georgia Bulldogs

Justin Bolli: -9 (68) 8th place… hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation in the 3rd round

Ryuji Imada: -10 (66) T-6th place… 0 bogeys in last 2 rounds

Chris Kirk: -5 (71) T-25th place… has made $14,000 this season on the Nationwide Tour… I think he will make a little more this weekend

Bubba Watson: -7 (68) T-14th place… 11 birdies and just 1 bogey in last 2 rounds

*** Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Stewart Cink: -6 (71) T-18th place… eagle on 18 was a good way to end round three

Matt Kuchar: -7 (69) T-14th place… just one bogey each round

Troy Matteson: -3 (72) T-37th place… triple-bogey on 5… not too good

Larry Mize: -2 (7) T-49th place… after 7 bogeys in first 2 rounds, just 1 on Saturday 

The AT & T Classic is at its halfway point and Jonathan Byrd is your leader after shooting his 2nd straight 66.  But once again Byrd went to Clemson and yes there are a lot of Clemson people from Atlanta but I am only showing how the Georgia Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are doing…

*** Georgia Bulldogs

Justin Bolli: -5 (66) after shooting a 66 on friday he is tied for 10th heading into the weekend… finishing birdie, birdie, eagle is not a bad way to finish

Paul Claxton: +3 (74) missed cut… for the 2nd straight day he double-bogeyed hole #5

Ryuji Imada: -4 (69) after 3 bogeys and a double on thursday… a bogey-free day on friday

Chris Kirk: -4 (71) his 11 birdies after 2 rounds is tied for the 4th most of the tourney

Scott Parel: +9 (75) missed cut… 2 double bogeys on thursday and 0 on friday, but it wasn’t good enough

Bubba Watson: -3 (66) like I predicted yesterday, he did much better… 6 birdies, 0 bogeys… I’d say that is much better

*** Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Ramon Castro: +3 (73) missed cut… double-bogey #5 on thursday, but birdied it on friday… nice improvement

Stewart Cink: -5 (71) can’t figure out hole #1… he’s bogeyed it both rounds

David Duval: +11 (77) missed cut… 7 bogeys on thursday, only 2 and a double on friday

Matt Kuchar: -4 (69) only 1 bogey each round

Troy Matteson: -3 (70) could have been better if he did not bogey-bogey on 17 and 18

Larry Mize: Even (73) alternated bogeys and birdies from holes 3 through 6 on friday

Nicholas Thompson: +9 (74) missed cut… the 2 holes he double-bogeyed on thursday, he parred on friday

Here are how the locals are doing at the AT & T Classic…

(the leader is Kenny Perry -9, but he went to Western Kentucky, so that doesn’t count…. sorry Hilltopper fans)

*** Georgia Bulldogs

Justin Bolli: +1 (73) 2 birdes, 3 bogeys and everything else par par par

Paul Claxton: +1 (73)  2 double bogeys on the front 9 hurt, -3 on back 9 was good though

Ryuji Imada: -1 (71) up and down all day…. 8 pars, 6 birdies, 3 bogeys and a double???

Chris Kirk: -3 (69) birdied first 3 holes and 4 out of the first 6

Franklin Langham: withdrew which is good…. he was +22 after 17

Scott Parel: +6 (78)  2 double bogeys hurt

Bubba Watson: +3 (75) expect a much better 2nd round

*** Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Ramon Castro: +2 (74) no bogeys, but he did have 2 double bogeys

Stewart Cink: -4 (68) 6 birdies on the day

David Duval: +6 (78) a triple bogey on 14, that hurts

Matt Kuchar: -1 (71) pretty error-free golf… just one bogey

Troy Matteson: -1 (71) bogeyed 3,4,5 but smooth sailing after that

Larry Mize: -1 (71) hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation

Nicholas Thompson: +7 (79) not a good turn, double-bogeys on 9 and 10 

As I mentioned below, a lot of big time winners of the AT&T Classic (formely the BellSouth Classic, formely the Atlanta Classic and so-on and so-on).

I also mentioned if you are a fan of Georgia or Georgia Tech golf there are a lot of people you can be watching…

The three most famous ones are probably David Duval, Stewart Cink and Larry Mize. These former Yellow Jackets have had great pro careers. Duval was the 1999 winner at the BellSouth, Cink has 6 top-10 finishes on the course, while Mize has had two 2nd place finishes here, back in 1987 and in 1990.

Ryuji Imada got everyone excited last year when he lost in a playoff to Zach Johnson who just got off a win at the Masters. Ever year Imada improves at this course. In 2005 he finished 15th, in 2006 he finished 10th and last year 2nd. In 12 Tournaments this year, the former Georgia Bulldog has 2 runner-ups and is 22nd on the PGA Tour money list.

Another former Bulldog is Bubba Watson. He is a big-time crowd pleaser while his pink driver and his booming drives. Watson is the leader once again averaging over 310 yards a drive.

Here are the former Georgia Bulldogs that are playing…

• Justin Bolli
• Paul Claxton
• Ryuji Imada
• Chris Kirk
• Franklin Langham
• Scott Parel
• Bubba Watson

Here are the former Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets that are playing…

• Ramon Castro 
• Stewart Cink
• David Duval
• Matt Kuchar
• Troy Matteson
• Larry Mize
• Nicholas Thompson

Fresh off shocking the world by winning the 1997 Masters, Tiger Woods didn’t really light the world on fire the following year.

Tiger won just once in 1998 and it was right here in Atlanta. In his only appearance at the BellSouth Classic, Tiger won. He also picked up a paycheck for $324,000.

That year, Tiger played in 20 PGA Tour events, with that one win, two 2nd place finishes and two 3rd place finishes… he also withdrew earlier that year in Pebble Beach.

I think he did OK after that.

The PGA Tour is back in Atlanta this week as Duluth, Georgia hosts the AT & T Classic. The tournament has a good mix of top stars, rising stars and a few locals that you might have heard of.

1934 was the first time this event was played it was called ‘The Atlanta Open’ and Ky Laffoon was the winner.

The tournament stopped for awhile, came back, stopped again and so forth until 1967 when it was played every year since except for two when the city hosted big-time tournaments in the same year (such as The Players Championship in 1974 and the US Open in 1976)

But here’s a list of golfers that you might have heard of that have won this tournament.

1945 - Byron Nelson won… in that magical year, Lord Byron won 18 tournaments including 11 straight

1973 - Jack Nicklaus won… two years earlier he lost in a playoff to the world famous Gardner Dickinson

1975 and 1977 - Hale Irwin won… he won 20 PGA Tour events including 3 majors

1981 - Tom Watson… the 8-time major winner also finished 2nd in Atlanta in 1978 to Jerry Heard

1984 and 1992 - Tom Kite… he won 19 PGA Tour events and had an appearance on ‘The Simpsons’

1994- John Daly… no word if he stopped by any of the Atlanta area Hooters after

1998 - Tiger Woods… this was his only time playing this tournament, but hey a win is a win

1999 - David Duval… 2nd place that year was another Georgia Tech golfer Stewart Cink

2000, 2005 and 2006 - Phil Mickelson… in the first one, he defeated Jack’s son Gary Nicklaus in a playoff and the last one, he won by 13 strokes

2002 - Retief Goosen… the following week, he finished 2nd in The Masters

2004 and 2007 - Zach Johnson… the man has won only 3 PGA Tour events, the other being the 2007 Masters