41st Annual SCGA Georgia-South Carolina Junior Team Matches
Idle Hour Golf & Country Club
Macon, GA
July 22-23, 2016

South Carolina Takes Early Lead at 2016 GA-SC Junior Team Matches

Macon, SC – The junior squad from the state of South Carolina took an early lead in the 41^st edition of the GA-SC Junior Challenge Matches Friday.  Team South Carolina holds a 5-3 advantage at Idle Hour Golf and Country Club in Macon, GA after winning four of the eight matches outright. 

In the first match of the day, Grant Sutliff of Suwanee took a quick lead for team Georgia, defeating Harry Reynolds of Greenville 4 and 3.  Teams battled back and forth as Nathan Franks (Roebuck, SC) earned a 2Up victory over Dunwoody’s Davis Brainard, then, Logan Perkins (Locust Grove, GA) defeated Gaffney’s Seth Taylor by the same margin of victory. 

The team from South Carolina then took command of the matches riding the stellar play of Drayton Stewart (Charleston) who fired a one under par 69 and won his match 2 and 1 over Ryan Hines (Woodstock).  Lugoff’s Tyler Gray, who was two down coming into 16, won back to back holes and then stuck his tee shot to 18 inches on the 189 yard, par-three final hole to make birdie and win his match 1Up over Georgia junior champion Justin Kim (Rome).  Colby Patton (Fountain Inn) added the last point for team SC after winning 3 and 2 over Alex Ross of Atlanta.

Jacob Bridgeman (Inman, SC) and James May (Ninety Six, SC) finished their matches All Square over Jordan Baker (Cumming, GA) and Will Kahlstorf (Watkinsville, GA) respectively.

Teams from both states were selected by accepting the top eight finishers at each state's Junior Championship.  Friday's matches started at 8:00 a.m. and will do the same Saturday morning.  The first round ended with South Carolina earning five points to Georgia’s three.

Forty one years ago, Pete Cox of the Georgia State Golf Association and Charles Rountree, Jr. of the South Carolina Golf Association formalized the idea of the GA - SC team matches. The winning team has their victory inscribed on the beautiful Rountree - Cox trophy that was donated by the Rountree family.  Every junior golfer that has participated in the 40 year old competition will find his name on the trophy with his teammates.  The Georgia teams have produced 24 victories as compared to the 13 for the SC teams and three ties.  Last year’s event held at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, SC saw Georgia squeak out a win.  The past three trips to the state of Georgia have resulted in the only three draws in the history of the matches.

First Round Results