Sports

Albany tandem lone locals at Georgia Four-Ball Championship

• Longtime fixture in the Albany golfing community, Dan Rhoads, and ex-Albany resident Jarrod Prickett will team up for the 37th Georgia Four Ball Championship, which begins today in Macon.

Danny Aller

ALBANY — Last year, Southwest Georgia had a host of amateur golfers competing for the Georgia Four-Ball Championship title.

This year, the task falls solely on the shoulders of Albany’s Dan Rhoads and Jarrod Prickett.

And the duo takes aim at bringing the crown back today as the 37^th edition of the tournament starts at the Brickyard at Riverside in Macon.

“The course looks to be in pretty good shape,” said Rhoads as he and Prickett squeezed in a practice round late Thursday afternoon, talking to The Herald from Hole No. 10. “We’re out here right now, seeing what it’s made of. I played the course in March, and the greens certainly seem to be a lot better.”

The longtime Albany native Rhoads and Prickett, who grew up here and graduated from Albany High before attending the University of Georgia and eventually making his home in Athens, did not play together last year, but when Prickett’s partner for the last four events — Albany’s Spencer Davis — wasn’t able to make it this year, he and Rhoads decided to team up and tackle Brickyard.

“This is a great course to have the event on,” said Prickett, who added that he and Rhoads were about even par during their practice round, though both feel a score of 8-under will likely be needed to win. “And with me and Dan not having played together before, it should be a challenge.”

The Georgia Four-Ball, which lasts through Sunday, takes the top 80 amateur teams in the state with qualifying scores (a maximum handicap differential of six strokes). There will be 18 holes of four-ball stroke play each day, and that will be cut to the low 40 teams and ties after 36 holes.

Making just its second appearance in the 37-year history in Macon, the Georgia Four-Ball Championship was won in 2007 by Brian Davidson of Baldwin and Scott Pitts of Cornelia when they scored a birdie on the second playoff hole to defeat four-time champions Carter Mize and Wright Waddell of Columbus at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta.

Rhoads and Prickett, neither of whom has ever finished higher than 15th, hope to be able to add their names to that list by Sunday.

“There’s no question about it: This is the best amateur golf tournament each year in the state — it’s the one you want to win,” Rhoads said. “At the very least, it’s a great one to see where you stack up against the rest of the best.”

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