The Georgia PGA Assistants’ were defeated by the Tennessee PGA Assistants’ in the 29th edition of the Assistants’ Cup Matches, 13-11. This evens out the series as both have 13 victories overall and there have been three ties.
This year’s matches were played at Towhee Club in Spring Hill, TN on October 16-17.
Each team is composed of the top ten Assistants’ Division Player of the Year point leaders, plus two Captains Choices. This year’s team was led by Captain, Dan Merriman, PGA of Peachtree GC & Vice-Captain, Tyler Hays, PGA of Atlanta CC. The rest of the team included Francisco Bide, PGA of Capital City Club, Ben Dulin of Ansley GC, David Ford of Crystal Falls GC, Justin Mattheis of Cuscowilla on Lake Oconee, Chris Nicol, of The Kingdom at Reynolds, Matt Sanders, PGA of West Pines GC, Parker See of Waterfall CC, Hunter Suggs of Cherokee Town & CC, Chad Thomas of West Pines GC, and Pete Vitiello, PGA of The Landings Golf & Athletic Club.
The Georgia PGA started off strong in the Four-Ball Matches, claiming a 4-2 advantage. However the afternoon Foursome Matches were a different story as cold weather and wind moved in and the Assistants’ only claimed one point out of six. Team Georgia PGA were down 7-5 heading into the Singles Matches.
Team Georgia PGA pushed hard on day two as it looked like they were going to do just enough to retain the cup at 12 points. Team Tennessee PGA pushed back and zoned in on the Keith Burdette Cup as the final two matches heading to hole 18. Team Georgia PGA needed to close out Match 12 as it was tied between Sanders and longtime Tennessee PGA Assistant Mike Vance of Jackson National GC. Vance flushed an iron and it checked up to only three feet for birdie. Sanders had a long birdie putt that just ran by and tapped in for par. Vance capitalized on his birdie putt and won the final point for Team Tennessee PGA.