Sports

Broadaway, Skinner look for success

• River Pointe golf pro Sonny Skinner and Albany native Josh Broadaway will play in this weekend’s Nationwide Tour event in Valdosta.

Scott Chancey

VALDOSTA — River Pointe Golf Club pro Sonny Skinner looks ahead to the Champions Tour while Albany native Josh Broadaway eyes the PGA.

When the Nationwide Tour’s South Georgia Classic begins today at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, both will be looking for something else — a victory on golf’s second-highest tier.

“I need to get near the greens and chip good,” said Skinner, who admitted he struggles at putting. “I can’t have any three-putts. If I do that, I have a good chance at shooting under par.”

For Broadaway, who said he is expecting more than 40 fans and family members from Albany to watch him today, a first Nationwide win for him would mean beyond words.

“I can’t think of another tournament that I would rather win,” Broadaway said. “If I’m in the final two groups Sunday, the place will be rockin’ and rollin.’”

Both have had their moments in the proverbial golfing sun. Skinner first joined the PGA Tour in 1990 and tied for 12th in the 1997 Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic; and then won two events while this tour was known as the Nike Tour.

“That was back in my prime, I just didn’t know it,” quipped Skinner.

Broadaway, who is more known for his cross-handed grip while swinging, used to play on the Hooters Tour, where he defeated future Masters champion Zach Johnson for his first professional win. He came close to qualifying for the PGA tour during the past two years. Broadaway, an Albany native who attended Byne Christian School, led going into the final round in 2006, and reached the final stage in 2007 only to come up short.

“I don’t want to be known as the guy with the cross-handed grip, I want to be known as the guy with the cross-handed grip who can also play great golf,” Broadaway said.

As a 5-year-old first learning golf, Broadaway picked up a club the same way he learned to pick up a baseball bat and hit left-handed. The problem with that was the only golf clubs he had were for right-handed players, so he had to learn to hit that way.

He eventually started putting left-handed with a normal grip. But the cross-handed grip on his swings remains the same. He can also play with that conventional grip while swinging the ball.

Kinderlou Forest, designed by PGA Tour player and Sea Island resident Davis Love III at 7.781 yards (par 72), is the longest course in the history of the PGA, Nationwide or Champions Tours. That could play to Broadaway’s advantage considering his cross-handed grip that leads to powerful swings.

“It’s a bomber’s course,” said Broadaway, who played collegiately at Troy.

“That won’t hurt me, that’s for sure.”

Today will mark the year’s third Nationwide event for Skinner, who graduated from Worth County and Shorter College. On a whim, he tried out for the Athens event two weeks ago and not only made the cut, he scored a 6-under-par 66 in the final round.

“That round he had was the lowest fourth-round score I can remember him having,” said Doublegate Country Club head pro Ed Everett, who is in the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.

Skinner, who finished tied for 18th at Athens, ventured to his home state of Virginia the next weekend and failed to make the cut.

“I had 23 makeable putts and I made four,” Skinner said. “If I had made more putts, I would be right in the game.”

Broadaway, whose best career finish on the Nationwide Tour was a tie for fifth at a California event in 2005, has had even better fortunes of late.

He made the cut in Athens (T-41st) and Virginia (T-62nd), and placed 10th in Mexico in February While Broadaway and Skinner are on the Nationwide Tour, they not only cross paths, but have gotten to know each other.

“Josh made the last two cuts so you never know,” Skinner said. “He just might jump in there this weekend and whoop ’em up.”

For Broadaway, getting the best of Skinner was a goal while growing up.

“I always wanted to beat Sonny Skinner while growing up,” Broadaway said. “If you could beat him, you really did something.”

Broadaway feels his best golf is in front of him.

“I just haven’t put together four great rounds yet,” Broadaway said. “My ball-striking has been good over the past few weeks, though. I’m playing a lot better.”

Fellow Nationwide player Blake Adams feels that first win for Broadaway could happen soon.

“He has a great attitude and a great mentality on the course,” Adams said. “That makes you want him to win.”

With the wide-open fairways and wide greens at Kinderlou Forest, accuracy won’t be as much a premium as it would with other courses.

“Hopefully I can make a few putts this weekend and we can see what happens,” Broadaway said.

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