Sports

GSGA Women’s Team Championship wraps in Albany

• For the first time, Doublegate Country Club hosts the GSGA Georgia Women’s Team Championship, as several local players finish near the top.

Danny Aller

ALBANY — Beth Williams of Atlanta and Tracy Marshall of Canton carded a four-under par 68 in the final round in Flight 1 to hold off three other teams and capture the Georgia Women’s Team Championship, which concluded Tuesday at Doublegate Country Club.

Marilyn Nolan-Johnson of Marietta and Ginette Spinucci of Stone Mountain, the defending champions, finished tied for runner-up honors with Atlanta’s Betsy Butler and Statham’s Phyllis Foisy and Alpharetta’s Kristin Gheesling and Susan Svensson of Smyrna at 147.  The three runner-up teams finished nine strokes behind Williams and Marshall, which lead after Round 1 by six strokes.

“This was the first time that I have participated in this event,” Marshall said.  “Everyone did such a great job running the tournament and it was really fun to be a part of it.”

Doublegate pro Ed Everett agreed.

“The GSGA does a great job running the event,” Everett said. “I think we did a nice job of keeping the greens in great shape and the tournament went really well.”

Locally, there were several Albany-area golfers competing in the event. The highest finish belonged to Albany’s Cissy Smith and Joyce Gaines, placing first in Flight 5. In sixth place in the same division were Albany residents Becky Glaz and Jane Braun.

In the second-most difficult group, Flight 2, Albany Women’s City Amateur champ Helen Kirbo, who also won the Doublegate Club Championship recently, finished tied for fifth with her partner, and fixture in the Albany golf community, Nancy Abraham. Abraham is  the former Darton athletic director and was the captain for Team Georgia during its recent GSGA Florida-Georgia Women’s Team Matches victory. Together, the duo carded rounds of 78 and 72 to finish 6-over.

But the fifth-place finish paled in comparison to what happened to Kirbo during Monday’s opening round: a hole-in-one.

“That was my first one ever, so it felt great. And Nancy was screaming when it happened because you always like to see your partner get a hole-in-one in a tournament, right?” said Kirbo, who has been playing golf since the mid-1980s. “I saw it go over the hill and start to roll down, and I said, ‘Oh great — it’s gonna be short again.’ But then it just kept on rolling and it went in.”

Kirbo then paused before adding: “All my friends have made ’em, so it was about time I finally got one too.”

Equally notable in Flight 2, Albany’s Donna McMikle and Olivia Flanagan finished tied for second place after firing an 80 in Round 1 and 72 on Tuesday for an 8-over. That division was won by Columbus’ Karen Stewart and Midland’s Patty Hudspeth after the duo finished one stroke better at 7-over. In eighth place in the same group was Albany’s Glenda Eubanks and partner Nancy Ellanson, who finished 16-over.

Going back to the top tier group, alone in fifth place was Mary Helen McElreath of Augusta and Sandra Moody of Waynesboro. The duo carded a final-round 69 to finish at 149 for the championship. Athens residents Elaine Carsel and Nancy Hendrix tied with Jan Cross of Evans and Sherrie Tindle of Alpharetta for sixth position at 154. Finishing eighth was Alice Richardson and Belinda Marsh, both of Alpharetta, who carded a 75 during the final round to finish at 156.  Ninth place went to Newnan partners Cheryl Drewyer and Jodie Shepard. Maureen Daugherty of Roswell and Sue Guion of Alpharetta totaled a 170 and finished tenth.

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