MOULTRIE – Glen Arven Country Club professional Bill Connally and his three schoolboys won the 70th Pot o’ Gold Pro-am in decisive fashion.
Returning to the dry and warm Sunset Country Club confines at dusk on Sunday, Connally and amateurs J.D. Culbreth, Mason Howell and Shep Davis learned they won the title by 8 stokes with an impressive 38-under par 178.
The Ansley Golf Club foursome that featured pro Jacob Tilton and Sunset players Kevin Blanton, Andy Blanton and Michael Hall tied for second at 186.
Pot o’ Gold veteran Glen Herrell also led his Savannah Quarters quartet to a 186.
Culbreth took his second-straight low amateur award with a 10-under 206.
Bull Creek’s Adam Cooper was the low pro for the second year in a row with a 7-under 209.
He won by eight shots over Spring Hill’s Sonny Skinner and Glen Arven’s Jimmy Gillam, each of whom turned in a 217.
Skinner’s score earned him the low senior pro award.
Bob Roytak, who played with Brian Dixon’s Fox Creek foursome, shot a 3-over 219, the low senior amateur score.
For Connally’s group, which turned in a 60 in Friday’s first round and survived rain, delays and dropping temperatures for a 62 on Sunday, Saturday’s Pot o’ Gold record 56 was the difference.
“They just kept going in,” said Connally, who first played in the Pot o’ Gold in 2000 and won the long-drive contest in 2001. “Every time we’d stall out, someone would chip one in.”
His foursome holed out a bunker shot and fashioned three eagles during its dominant three-day performance.
The same foursome finished second in 2024.
But there was no stopping Connally and his future college golf-playing amateurs.
Culbreth, who recently won the Junior Jones Cup at Sea Island, and Howell, who fashioned a 208 for the third-best amateur score, are heading to the University of Georgia to play.
Davis will compete for Cornell.
“These guys are so good,” Connally said. “I’ve been lucky to play with such really good players here.”
In years past, Connally has also brought future PGA players Harris English, Hudson Swafford and Stefan Jager to perform at the Pot o’ Gold.
Tilton took over what would have been Sunset assistant pro Aaron Elrod’s No. 1 team when Elrod was unable to play this year following brain surgery in January.
Hall, a Colquitt County High junior, shot a 4-over 220 and Kevin Blanton a 6-over 222 to help lead their team to its second-place tie.
Herrell’s foursome included Nate Gahman, Brandon Anthony and Chase McLain.
Other local amateurs to turned in strong performances were Eli Stripling, who shot a 2-under 214; Tanner Brown, 1-over 217; and Matt Key, a 2-over 218.
The first two days of Sunset’s signature tournament were played in near-ideal weather.
But rain overnight forced Sunday’s first group to tee off an hour late.
The second group, scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m., hit the tees at 2:15 p.m.
Heavy rain and lightning forced another half-hour delay in the afternoon.