Tourney brings in the green
Print out a copy of this article.
Click to email this article to a friend or to yourself.
UGA golfer Russell Henley (right) of Macon, gets some words of encouragement from Georgia Head Golf Coach Chris Haack after driving off the second tee box.
Photo by: Andrew Davis Tucker
About 8,500 people visited the UGA Golf Course April 26 through May 1 for the Stadion Athens Classic at UGA, a PGA Nationwide tour golf event held on the campus course for the first time.
Texan Martin Piller, 24, won the tournament, which included nine current or former Georgia Bulldog golfers. He took home a $99,000 paycheck for the win, his first since the 2008 Texas State Open, which was his first professional start.
The tournament, which replaced the Athens Regional Foundation Classic Nationwide event played in Athens for the past four years, was sponsored by the Watkinsville-based Stadion Money Management, Inc. Stadion President Jud Doherty attended UGA.
A TICKETS Fore CHARITY Program, which enabled nonprofit organizations to sell tickets to the tournament and keep the proceeds, brought in $88,000 for the local community. St. Mary’s hospital and health care system donated an additional $5,000 to benefit local charities.
All other proceeds from the event will go to the UGA Arch Foundation to support need-based scholarships for UGA students.