Cartersville’s R.B. Clyburn isn’t like most players in next week’s U.S. Amateur Championship at famed Oakmont Country Club.
Clyburn is older (32), didn’t play college golf, wouldn’t know how to interpret results from a launch monitor and doesn’t have a world ranking. But he does have the sort of consistent game that gives him the potential to survive two stroke-play qualifying rounds and advancing into match play.
“I know some of those college players will be asking, ‘Who is that guy?’ Clyburn said. “But with par being a great score there, it might be to my advantage, knowing I’m probably going to have to shoot 1 under over two days.”
Clyburn, who plays out of Cartersville Country Club, reached his first national championship in a round-about way. He was an excellent all-around athlete at Cartersville High School and at 6-foot-7 played two years of football at Georgia Tech under coach Paul Johnson, walking away when he’d had enough of trying to block defensive backs.
He stuck around at Tech to finish his degree and focused on playing intramural basketball, club volleyball and golf. He got a chance to play professional basketball abroad for two years and was among the draft pool for the G League. When his basketball career ended, Clyburn began officiating rec-league games, and when his corporate job was eliminated in 2015, he jumped headfirst into officiating. He has worked his way up the ladder and today calls games for the SEC, Sun Belt and Big South conferences, among others.
His golf pedigree is short, but Clyburn was encouraged by his performance at the Georgia Amateur, where he made the cut and shot even par on the weekend at Cherokee Town and Country Club. With that momentum, he showed up at the U.S. Amateur qualifier at Capital City - Crabapple with a head of steam.
“Playing in the Georgia Amateur helped me get in tune with tournament golf,” Clyburn said. “The college players and some of the others are well-seasoned, and I’m not. That helped me get comfortable.”
He finished the two qualifying rounds at Crabapple with only one bogey. The consistency helped him shoot 67-66 and claim the fifth and final qualifying spot.
Clyburn is excited about a chance to play at Oakmont, but admitted that he knows little about the course other than the famed church-pew bunkers and some historical facts. He plans to employ a local caddie and hopes that will speed the comfort factor.
“I’m just going to play as hard as I can,” he said.
The U.S. Amateur Championship begins with stroke play Monday and Tuesday. The top 64 begin match play Wednesday, with the 36-hole championship match Sunday. It is the sixth time the Amateur has been conducted at Oakmont.
Tech has three other players in the field – world No. 82 Noah Norton, No. 102 Ross Steelman and Bartley Forrester, who got in as an alternate. Tech has produced the past two U.S. Amateur champions – Tyler Strafaci in 2020 and Andy Ogletree in 2019.
The University of Georgia will be represented by world No. 24 Trent Phillips and Connor Creasy. Others from Georgia who qualified include: Austin Fulton of Villa Rica, who plays at Mississippi State; Beck Burnette of Blairsville, who plays at Lee University; JonErik Alford of Roswell, who plays at Ohio State; Devin Patel of Johns Creek, who will play for the University of Virginia; Hunter Fry of Dacula, who plays at South Carolina-Upstate; Brent Hamm of Warner Robins, who plays at Troy; and Max Dupree of Eatonton, who plays at South Carolina-Upstate. Also exempt into the field are Billy Mitchell of Atlanta, the low amateur at the U.S. Senior Open, and Bob Royak of Alpharetta, the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur champion.
Credit: Georgia State Golf Association
Credit: Georgia State Golf Association
Andress prevails in Georgia Match Play Championship
Wilson Andress, who will be a senior at Georgia Southern this fall, won the 102nd Georgia Match Play Championship at the McLemore Club in Rising Fawn.
The Macon native defeated Myles Jones of Suwanee 3 and 1 in the final match. Jones is a recent graduate of Lambert High School who will play for North Georgia in the fall.
“I stuck to my plan the whole week,” Andruss said. “I’ve been hitting the ball real good and wanted to keep making pars and birdies and see what happened.”
Andruss shot a 1-under 70 and earned the No. 3 seed. He defeated Michael Motz of Johns Creek 5 and 4, Michael Carney 2 up, Jason Coolik of Atlanta 5 and 4, and veteran Bob Royak of Alpharetta in 19 holes to reach the championship match.
Credit: Georgia State Golf Association
Credit: Georgia State Golf Association
Nell victorious at Super Seniors Championship
David Nell of Sharpsburg closed with a 4-under 68 to finish at 3-under 141 and win the Georgia Super Senior Championship at Jennings Mill Country Club in Bogart.
“I made a lot of putts, I got a lot of breaks,” Nell said. “It’s a miracle.”
Nell birdied the penultimate hole and runner-up John Foster of Woodstock bogeyed the final hole to finish at 71-71—142. Frank Costanzo of Savannah and Phil Pavoni of Macon tied for third at 144 and Larry Vaughan of Greensboro shot 68 the last day to take fifth place at 1 over.
The tournament is open to players 65 and older.
Credit: USGA Museum
Credit: USGA Museum
Jones top Georgian at U.S. Senior Women’s Open
Atlanta’s Rosie Jones was the top local finisher in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open when she tied for 15th at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. Jones opened with rounds of 71-70, but dropped out of contention with weekend rounds of 76-75 to finish at 4-over 292.
“Been trying to prepare for the last couple months,” Jones said. “I actually put together a tournament about eight weeks ago, and we had 16 gals come in for one day from the Legends Tour, and we had a great competition.”
Georgia Golf Hall of Famer Martha Leach tied for 20th and shared low-amateur honors with Ellen Port at 6 over. Georgia grads Nanci Bowen and Cindy Schreyer tied for 29th at 11 over, Hollis Stacy tied for 41st and amateur Laura Coble of Augusta was 46th.
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