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Albany's Abraham set to lead Team Georgia

• Former Darton College AD Nancy Abraham is selected to captain Team Georgia as the GSGA's Georgia-Florida Women's Team Matches get under way today.

Danny Aller

ATLANTA — Albany’s Nancy Abraham says she’s just happy to be included in prestigious annual Georgia-Florida Women’s Team Matches, the two-day event which gets under way today at picturesque Druid Hills Golf Club.

But in reality, Team Georgia is lucky to have her.

Abraham, the former Darton College Athletic Director and longtime fixture in the Albany golfing community, was selected as the honorary two-year captain of Team Georgia by the Georgia State Golf Association and leads a talented group of the state’s top 12 golfers into battle against their counterparts from Florida.

And for Abraham, who was asked to be the captain three years ago but had to decline because she was in the middle of retiring from Darton, there’s nothing like a second chance for a first time.

“I really regretted not being able to do it (in 2004) but it was just too hectic of a time, and I really hoped they would come back and ask again,” she said Wednesday by telephone from Atlanta. “Luckily, they did, and when I got the call this year and was asked, I said, ‘Oh my gosh, yes.’ I’m finally retired and I couldn’t think of anything more perfect to be a part of now that I finally had the time to do it.”

As the captain, Abraham doesn’t actually play in the event, but rather coaches Team Georgia, offering tips and deciding where each player will be seeded.

When The Herald caught up with Abraham on Wednesday, she had just finished watching the team’s final practice and was ready to give an overall evaluation of the talent Team Georgia had for the tournament, which rotates to a different course between Georgia and Florida each year. Florida won last year on its home turf.

“Florida’s strong every year, but this year I believe we have a really strong team,” said Abraham, whose fellow captain for Team Georgia is Brenda Pictor of Marietta. “And not only are these 12 (ladies) great golfers, but they’re also great people who want to win and I think they have an excellent chance to do so. We also have a lot of depth, so we’ll see what happens when we tee it up (today).”

Team Georgia’s 12 players were chosen based on individual merits and accomplishments from the 2006-2007 season and the team had to consist of at least two seniors. The “depth” Abraham speaks of is highlighted by reigning nine-time GSGA Women’s Player of the Year, Laura Coble of Augusta, participating in her 13th Georgia-Florida Team Matches event. Joining her will be the youngest of the group, 14-year-old Mariah Stackhouse of Riverdale. In April, Stackhouse cruised to the Georgia Women’s Match Play Championship, then turned around in June and won the Georgia Girls’ Championship, beating out Americus’ Kathryn Fowler, who finished second.

“Mariah just seems unbeatable at times,” Abraham said of the team’s teenage phenom. “The maturity she shows among this group of women is amazing. I mean, she’s driving 250-to-270 yards from the fairway. She’ll be one to watch, for sure.”

Not to be forgotten are the likes of Gainesville’s Lauren Darnell (Georgia Top 60 Women’s Classic champ); Greensboro’s Claudeen Lindberg (2006 GSGA Women’s Senior champ) and Ena Harvey (two-time GSGA Senior Women’s winner).

The opening-round format today will be six four-ball matches, before switching to 12 singles matches in the second round. The Nassau format will be used for scoring, with one point awarded to the winner of each nine, and to the winner of the overall match.

And while one might think Team Georgia has the advantage heading into today’s opening round in their backyard, Abraham says Druid Hills might be a typical “Georgia course” with plenty of hills, but at least one member of Team Florida has as much as experience playing on it as any from Team Georgia.

“Well, most of the women for us have played it before, but Florida’s Wendy Patterson probably has as much advantage as anyone,” said Abraham of Patterson, the former Georgia Amateur Champion who grew up playing on Druid Hills before moving to Florida. “It’s like her home field.”

In its 27th year, the interstate challenge matches began in 1981 with Georgia capturing the first three titles. But that achievement was countered in 1985 when Florida proceeded to reel off five in a row. Through the 1990’s, the two states would exchange victories with neither squad winning more than back-to-back titles. Georgia tallied three consecutive wins from 1999-2001, though, during the next five years, the hosting state’s team has recorded the victory.  Having won last year’s event, Florida will be attempting to win its first set of consecutive Matches since the 1997-98 contests, and leads the all-time series, 14-12. But Georgia, however, holds a record of 9-4 when playing in the Peach State.

When asked if there was any sense of urgency on Team Georgia’s part to ensure that Florida didn’t win the event back-to-back, Abraham didn’t seem interested in making predictions or seeking revenge, only saying, “I’ll just stick with what I’ve been telling everybody: ‘We’re just looking forward to (today) so we can show off the talented team we have this year.”

Abraham never had been a part of the event until this year — as a player or captain — although she has been a longstanding face of golf in Albany. The Augusta native was hired by Darton in 1974 as a physical education teacher, and one of her primary areas of focus was teaching golf to her students.

“I’d only planned to stay three years,” Abraham recalled, “and I ended being (in Albany) for 30.”

Eventually, she took over as the Cavaliers’ athletic director, which meant teaching golf took a back seat. So Abraham did the next best thing by joining the Georgia Women’s Golf Association as a board member for a four-year term, then rejoined the GWGA in 2004 when she retired from Darton.

Before she left, however, Abraham was the primary party responsible for the hiring of current Cavs golf coach, Dale Dover, who went on to win three consecutive NJCAA Division II National Championships, including last year’s.

“I remember stopping him in the parking lot of Stonebridge (Golf and Country Club) and telling him, ‘You need to apply for this job,’ ” she said. “And what a wonderful job he’s done.”

Abraham also runs a junior golf clinic every summer at Doublegate Country Club and has been a board member since 2004 of the First Tee of Albany, whose mission statement is to “impact the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf.”

All things considered, fellow First Tee board member Helen Kirbo said that when she found out that Abraham had been selected to captain Team Georgia, she couldn’t have imagined a more fitting choice.

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