By DAVID DROSCHAK Kyle Franz has worked as an understudy for some of the top architects in the business – Tom Doak, Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw and Gil Hanse – and on some of the best projects – the Pinehurst No. 2 restoration and currently the 2016 Olympic course in Rio de Janeiro – prior…
By Stuart Hall For all of Augusta National Golf Club’s abounding azaleas, magnolias and acres of immaculate grass, one of this year’s more popular spots among the patrons was a wooded area of pine straw needles roughly 35 yards right of the par-4 10th hole’s fairway landing area. It’s where a year earlier, left-hander Bubba…
BY JOHN DELL After owning the ACC Women’s Golf Championships for more than a decade, the Duke Blue Devils had a three-year lull. That all changed last spring when the Blue Devils won their 17th ACC title and 16th under coach Dan Brooks at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro. Brooks wouldn’t say that it was…
May is prime golfing season in Pinehurst as emerald green fairways emerge and temperatures creep into the 80s. But for the first time in its rich history “tires meets turf” as Pinehurst Resort will host the inaugural Pinehurst Concours d’Elegance. More than 100 of the world’s most beautiful vehicles from some of the most celebrated…
Cardinal Gibbons posted another third-place finish in the 3-A state high school girls’ golf tournament, this time at Longleaf Golf and Country Club in Southern Pines. The Crusaders, led by Caroline O’Neil’s ninth-place effort, shot 270 and 269 on two cold, windy days on the par-71 course and ended 33 shots off the pace of…
By EDDIE SOUTHARDS Sarah Bae walked off the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 6 in tears for the second straight year. Only this time, they were tears of joy. The Raleigh Athens Drive senior won the girls’ 4-A state high school golf championship in dramatic fashion. Bae sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the…
By Kurt Dusterberg When Catherine Ashworth was a little girl her dad would take her out while he played a few holes in the evenings. “I would strap her car seat on the golf cart and play a little bit, maybe three to five holes a couple nights a week,” Steve Ashworth explained. Before long,…
By Kurt Dusterberg SAS Championship officials hope to connect with more than just the golf crowd. Maintaining community involvement at the Champions Tour tournament the first week of October is critical to the mission. “This event continues to have a very solid foundation in the community,” said tournament director Jeff Kleiber. “We’re trying to expand…
Former Green Hope golfer on professional fast track By Stuart Hall At an early-season practice in 2006, Green Hope High School golf coach David Allen dismissed his players for the evening by suggesting they work on putting at least once a week. A suggested drill was making 100 consecutive 4-footers. With that advice Ben Kohles…
Renowned PGA Tour teaching professional Patrick Kelley is making the move from instruction full time on the PGA Tour to having his players come to him at Old Chatham Golf Club. Kelley has taught several professional clients, including David Mathis, Brad Fritsch, Michael Putnam, Andrew Putnam and Justin Walters, who have won a combined eight…