COLUMBUS, GA (July 12, 2009)--Russell Henley of Macon fired his second-straight 67 to finish at 16-under-par 268 and capture his second-straight Georgia Amateur title by eight strokes over David Noll Jr. of Dalton. The 88th annual Championship took place at Country Club of Columbus, July 9-12.

In winning his second title, Henley broke his own Georgia Amateur scoring record of 270 that he set last year on his home course, Idle Hour Club in Macon. He also becomes the first champion to claim back-to-back titles in 15 years. Carter Mize of Columbus won the 1993 Amateur at The Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta and in 1994 at The Savannah Golf Club. Only eight golfers in the history of the Championship have won consecutive titles.

The 2007 Georgia Amateur champion, Harris English of Thomasville, finished third at 7-under-par 277 with a final-round 73. Mark Strickland of Woodstock and Jeff Knox of Augusta, who played in the final pairing with Henley and English, tied for fourth at 281. William Mitchell of Roswell and first-round leader Michael Green of Augusta shared sixth position at 2-under 282. Mitchell vaulted up the standings by carding 68-68 on the weekend after opening with 70-76.

Wright Waddell of Columbus was the highest local finisher, tying for eighth at 1-under 283 with Michael Hicks of Newnan and Joe Young of Cochran.

Henley began the day with a three-stroke advantage over English, his close friend and University of Georgia teammate. English cut the margin to two early with a birdie on the 548-yard opening hole. Henley, however, responded on the next par 5, the 533-yard fourth, with an 18-foot eagle putt to push his lead back to four strokes. English came back with a long birdie putt on the par-3 fifth hole, but on the sixth Henley stuck his approach to 10 feet and made his birdie putt. English meanwhile, couldn’t get up and down from a greenside bunker, resulting in a two-shot swing on that hole and five-stroke margin in Henley’s favor on the leader board.

Henley’s lead remained five strokes through 10 holes. On the treacherous par-4 11th, English’s approach barely reached the green but rolled back into the creek fronting the hole, and he wound up with a 6 on his scorecard. Meanwhile, Henley, who had bogeyed No. 11 in each of the first three rounds of the tournament, stuck his approach to three feet for a birdie and, all of a sudden, held an eight-stroke lead.

Henley, who felt that he “could win it” after the birdie at 11, credited a higher level of confidence with his strong play throughout the Championship, which included four-straight rounds in the 60s (69-65-67-67).

“I was just trusting myself on every shot,” he said. “I had that confidence to just step up and hit it, and that was my mindset throughout the tournament.”

Noll, who played in the last group with English and Henley during the final round of the 2008 Amateur, was trying to stay in contention, playing one group ahead this year. He began the day at 7-under and held that pace through the turn. Birdies on holes 11 and 13 vaulted him past English for sole possession of second place. Despite a bogey at 17, he held on to that spot with a 1-under 70 for the day and an 8-under 276 for the Championship. It marks the fifth straight Amateur in which Noll has finished among the top six.

Just 10 players finished under par on the 6,515-yard, par-71layout at Country Club of Columbus, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2009.

The Championship format was 72 holes of stroke play over four days. The field was cut to the low 70 and ties after the second round, with the cut line falling at 9-over 151 and 71 players advancing to the weekend.

The Georgia Amateur Championship is conducted by the Georgia State Golf Association and brings together 156 of the state's best male amateur golfers for the prestigious state title first won by Bobby Jones in 1916.

Founded in 1916, the Georgia State Golf Association (GSGA) received its official charter on June 24, 1924. Since that date, the GSGA has grown to one of the largest state amateur golf associations in the country, with over 355 member clubs and 85,000 individual members. With a mission to promote and preserve amateur golf in the state of Georgia, GSGA offers a computerized handicapping service, course rating and measuring, and annually conducts a full schedule of statewide competitions for men and women of all age groups. Other services include a summer-long junior sectional program, award-winning Golf Georgia magazine, membership recognition and rewards programs and a charitable foundation administering two college scholarship programs.

Final results of the Georgia Amateur Championship, played July 9-12, 2009 at the Country Club of Columbus:

1	Russell Henley, Macon	69	65	67	67	268	-16
2	David Noll Jr., Dalton	67	67	72	70	276	-8
3	Harris English, Thomasville	68	69	67	73	277	-7
T4	Jeff Knox, Augusta	69	69	67	76	281	-3
T4	Mark Strickland, Woodstock	71	70	68	72	281	-3
T6	Michael Green, Augusta	66	70	70	76	282	-2
T6	William Mitchell, Roswell	70	76	68	68	282	-2
T8	Joe Young, Cochran	71	74	68	70	283	-1
T8	Michael Hicks, Newnan	72	71	70	70	283	-1
T8	Wright Waddell, Columbus	72	69	68	74	283	-1
T11	Bill Jones, Covington	72	71	71	70	284	Even
T11	Brian Carter, Evans	69	71	69	75	284	Even
T11	Patrick Kenney, Acworth	71	70	73	70	284	Even
T14	Adam Cooper, Columbus	69	71	71	74	285	1
T14	Doug Hanzel, Savannah	75	73	65	72	285	1
T14	Lee Knox, Augusta	70	75	69	71	285	1
T14	Taylor Hall, LaGrange	71	70	70	74	285	1
T18	Jay Moseley, Bainbridge	73	72	72	69	286	2
T18	John Stembridge, Norcross	68	74	72	72	286	2
T20	Bill Bazzel, Atlanta	72	72	73	70	287	3
T20	Brent Whitehead, Marietta	72	72	75	68	287	3
22	J.P. Putnam, Woodstock	70	78	70	71	289	5
T23	Chase Parker, Augusta	75	75	71	69	290	6
T23	Matthew Hayes, Marietta	70	74	71	75	290	6
25	Robert Sheats, Atlanta	68	76	74	73	291	7
T26	Bubba Gallops, Columbus	73	77	71	71	292	8
T26	Cameron Hooper, Greensboro	72	77	71	72	292	8
T26	Chesley Gunn, Chula	73	75	70	74	292	8
T26	Shawn Yim, Buford	72	73	71	76	292	8
T26	Taylor Smith, Mansfield	72	78	74	68	292	8
31	Benjamin Greene, Duluth	71	80	71	71	293	9
32	Mark Lyons, Mableton	69	77	73	75	294	10
T33	Ryan Blackburn, Evans	75	73	76	71	295	11
T33	Seth Brandon, Dalton	69	77	73	76	295	11
T33	Tra Dykes, Columbus	73	70	75	77	295	11
T36	Dave Womack, McDonough	72	73	76	75	296	12
T36	Jeff Belk, Marietta	74	72	72	78	296	12
T36	Wade Binfield, Fayetteville	74	74	76	72	296	12
T36	Will Jones, Rome	77	74	72	73	296	12
T40	Alex Boyd, Greensboro	75	74	72	76	297	13
T40	Chris Waters, Evans	70	80	75	72	297	13
T40	Coleman Tidwell, Macon	73	77	73	74	297	13
T40	Hudson Keener, Dalton	77	72	76	72	297	13
T40	Zach Estep, Lawrenceville	72	75	76	74	297	13
T45	John Belicka, Woodstock	74	77	73	74	298	14
T45	Thomas Holmes, Macon	78	71	76	73	298	14
T45	Trent Erb, Atlanta	74	75	75	74	298	14
T48	John Walker, Macon	73	77	75	74	299	15
T48	Ryan Zebeau, Cedartown	76	71	79	73	299	15
T48	Scott Wolfes, St. Simons Island	77	74	74	74	299	15
T51	Brent Paul, Midland	74	75	79	72	300	16
T51	Chad Griffith, LaGrange	77	71	73	79	300	16
T51	Jeff Weir, Covington	71	76	73	80	300	16
T51	Michael Raines, Acworth	74	75	70	81	300	16
55	Sam Braver, Roswell	70	77	76	78	301	17
56	Andrew Bai, Cumming	78	72	79	73	302	18
T57	Jacob Tilton, Evans	74	77	74	78	303	19
T57	Jason Personette, Atlanta	68	78	80	77	303	19
59	Patrick Garrett, Powder Springs	73	72	79	80	304	20
60	Garrick Stiles, Statham	79	68	80	78	305	21
61	Mitch Greer, Perry	75	76	80	75	306	22
62	Tom Contrucci, Marietta	73	78	76	80	307	23
T63	Alex Frankel, Atlanta	73	77	77	81	308	24
T63	Bart Middlebrooks, Columbus	77	71	81	79	308	24
T63	Blake Darnell, Cartersville	74	74	82	78	308	24
T63	Sterling Hale, Atlanta	72	78	81	77	308	24
67	Ryan Parker, Lake Park	75	74	78	83	310	26
68	Bill Bergin, Atlanta	74	76	78	83	311	27
69	Jay E. Rowe, Savannah	75	76	79	82	312	28
T70	Benjamin Kishigian, Warner Robins	74	72	76	NS
T70	Casey Willis, Tifton	68	77	74	WD

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