Golf Notes: Former Baylor golfer Keith Mitchells in Stadion Classic at UGA

Friday, January 1, 1904

Mitchells in Stadion Classic at UGA

Former Baylor School golfer Keith Mitchell will be joined by University of Georgia teammate T.J. Mitchell with sponsor's exemptions in the Stadion Classic on the Web.com Tour beginning Thursday.

Keith Mitchell, now a junior, ranks No. 2 on the Bulldogs with a scoring average of 72.29 strokes per round. He won the Bulldog Battle at Mountain Lake and had three other top-10 finishes this season.

Current PGA Tour player Russell Henley from UGA earned one of the exemptions in 2011 and went on to win the tournament as the second amateur to win on the Web.com Tour. Former Bulldog Hudson Swafford won last year as a pro.

"There's a buzz among the guys during the year knowing that these two spots are out there for us if we play well enough," Keith Mitchell said in a release. "Now that we're there, I could not be happier to be one of the players who made it."

Other Mitchell in, too

Former McCallie golfer and former Bulldog Adam Mitchell earned his way into the Stadion Classic by finishing in a tie for 15th Sunday in the South Georgia Classic. Mitchell had a sponsor's exemption for that event. Former UTC golfer Jonathan Hodge, a Web.Com Tour member, also will be playing.

Fordham on CBS

Leukemia survivor Turner Fordham, who played high school golf at Dalton, will be featured in a CBS Sports national broadcast Sunday starting at 2 p.m. in advance of final-round coverage of the Wells Fargo Championship. Turner spent her teenage years battling leukemia after being diagnosed in 2005 and credits golf with helping in her recovery as a replacement for other sports in which she could not participate while battling cancer.

Lawson tops qualifiers

Josh Lawson was the medalist at a Tennessee State Open qualifier at Cleveland Country Club on Monday. He led 10 qualifiers including Braxton Hunter, Jack Smith, Keoni Vidrine, Jake Reeves, Caleb Roberson, Jimmy White III, Scott Smith, Ryan Thornton and Grant Daugherty.

SMI still open

Applications for the 77th annual Signal Mountain Invitational to be held May 17-19 are available at the course and at www.IfYouLikeGolf.com. The three-day amateur tournament includes a pairings party, three rounds of competition and other amenities for $160. Those with a handicap of 9.9 or better will compete in stroke play; those with a 10.0 or higher will play the Stableford System.

Record for Open

The USGA received a record 9,860 applications to compete in the U.S. Open, which will be played June 13-16 at Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia. A local qualifier will be held May 8 in Knoxville and another on May 14 in Alpharetta, Ga.

Area ace

George Arthur scored a hole-in-one on April 21 at Council Fire. He aced No. 14 from 131 yards with a 9-iron as Hunt Gilliland, Bob Heitman and Chris Cusick watched.