66th Pot o’ Gold Pro-am to tee off on Friday

Published 9:52 am Monday, March 8, 2021

MOULTRIE — A field of 52 foursomes, a full 10 more than took part in 2020, will tee off on Friday in the annual Pot o’ Gold Pro-am at Sunset Country Club.

The field will include the reigning champions and four teams led by Sunset golf pro Bob Windom and assistant pro Aaron Elrod.

The four-man scratch, best-ball format event features teams that include a club professional and three amateurs and was first held back in 1956, making it one of longest-running tournaments of its kind in the Southeast.

The course is expected to be dried out after recent rains and forecasts call for sunny skies and temperatures in the upper-70s for the three-day event.

The annual Demo Day and long-drive contest will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday. Teams will tee off beginning at 8 a.m. Friday.

Back to defend their 2020 title will be the team from the Maple Ridge Golf Club in Columbus that include pro Jake Keen and amateurs Cason Hammock, Adam Cooper and Mike Reed.

Elrod will lead two teams representing Sunset Country Club.

One will include brothers Kevin and Andy Blanton and Lee Wright.

The other is made up of Jonathan and Jared Bridges and Von Stripling.

One of Windom’s foursomes will include Jeff Jursik, Tom Holman and Greg Allyn.

The other includes Jonathan Vines, Jared Lee and Logan McLean.

Andy Blanton returns after having broken the Pot o’ Gold low amateur record last year.

Blanton carded a 70-66-65 for a 201, breaking the previous record of 202 first set by Windom in 1982 and equaled by John David Kennedy in 2017.

Kennedy was the tournament’s low amateur three years in a row before Blanton’s remarkable three rounds last March.

Elrod will try to lead his top Sunset foursome to a fourth Pot o’ Gold title.

His team won in 2016, 2017 and 2019 with the Blanton brothers and Wright.

The foursome also was the runner-up in 2018’s weather-shortened tournament.

A number of other Sunset players will compete this weekend.

Ben Fuller, Dug Schwalls and Matt Key will play for the Barnsley Resort team from Adairsville.

Playing with Brian Dixon, the pro from Fox Creek Golf Club in Smyrna will be Andrew Eunice, Tyler Key and Eli Stripling.

Shaun Kelley, the pro at the Hampton Golf Village in Cumming, will have two teams stocked with Sunset players.

Hunter Whiddon, Nate Branch and Zac Goodno will play on one and Wesley Rogers, Cliff Kirbo and Kellen Copeland will play on the other.

Pot o’ Gold veteran Ernie Venet will play with Macon professional Chris Murman.

Chad Eunice will play with Jin Chung from Chateau Elan in Brazelton.

Chung won the Georgia Section Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the Oconee Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee last August.

SUNSET NOTES: Last year’s low professional was Brandon Cissom of Dalton Golf and Country Club, who shot 69-63-68 for a score of 200.

The low pro record is a 199 shot by Fred Holton of Phenix City, Ala., in 2007.

Last year’s low senior score was a 203 shot by Paul Claxton.

Windom led his Sunset Country team to a championship in 2013.

His amateurs that year were Jonathan Bridges, Chad Eunice and Jon Ladson. The team shot 182.