The National Golf Association’s Tour is making the Chattahoochee Golf Course a staple of its yearly schedule. For the third consecutive season, professional golf’s third-highest ranked circuit will be playing at the Gainesville course in this year’s Milton Martin Honda Classic.
The purse for this year’s event is $150,000, with a 112-percent payback of all entry fees by players. Players took part in the Pro Am event on Wednesday, and tournament play begins at 8 a.m. today.
“The best thing for us about Chattahoochee is that they enjoy having us here as much as we enjoy coming to the course to play,” NGA tournament director Todd Barbee said. “Chattahoochee makes us feel very welcomed.”
“This is a great location, the course is challenging and the greens here are in spectacular condition.”
An additional draw for this year’s event is ideal weather for the four-day tournament, following a rain-shortened stop in Gainesville that was shortened to two days last year. This year, the forecast calls for afternoon temperatures in the upper 70s and only a slight chance of rain.
This year’s field of players at the Milton Martin Honda Classic has 145 players, mostly professionals. Previous PGA players Will Strickler and recent Honda Classic participant Bo Hoag will both compete. Nationwide Tour regulars that will play at Chattahoochee include Scott Weatherly, Travis Bertoni, Todd Bailey, Major Manning and Zach Sucher. Robbie Biershenk, who was part of the Golf Channel’s show Big Break, will also be in the field.
Barbee noted that the trend on the NGA Tour is for the younger players to win most events, before the top players in the circuit move up the ladder in pro golf. Bertoni and Brandon Brown, the two previous NGA winners at Chattahoochee, will be playing this weekend, along with two of college golf’s top players from 2011, Oscar Stark (Oklahoma Christian) and Seath Lauer (Florida State).
“We’ve got a really strong field this weekend,” Barbee added.
Also, players with local ties are playing, including Chattahoochee director of golf, Rodger Hogan, North Hall High graduate Jimmy Lloyd, Jim Foote (Gainesville), Mark Harrell (Dahlonega), Steve Hooper (Flowery Branch), Ryan Chitwood (Alto) and Blake Palmer (Dawsonville).