Cartersville Country Club hosting GSGA Mid-Am Championship

The 2017 Georgia State Golf Association (GSGA) Mid-Amateur Championship gets underway Friday, May 19 and is hosted this year by Cartersville Country Club.

Chad Branton, current club champion at Cartersville Country Club (photo), heads a local contingent of players that will play for the title against a statewide field.

The Mid-Am field consists of 144 players age 25 or older. The group of competitors was determined through GSGA player exemptions from various championship events and a series of six statewide 18-hole qualifiers in April that were held in Savannah, Flowery Branch, Columbus, Warner Robins, Alpharetta, Hampton, and Cartersville.

The 54-hole championship runs Friday through Sunday on the 7,006-yard, par 72, Cartersville Country Club course.

John Engler, Jr. of Augusta is the defending champion. Engler won the 2016 Mid-Amateur title on his home course — Augusta Country Club.

Local contenders in the event with their first round tee times listed:

Player — Home — Starting Hole — Tee Time

Chad Branton — Cartersville — 1 — 2:00pm

Scott Davenport — Marietta — 1 — 1:10pm

Cres Dodd — Calhoun — 1 — 1:20pm

Chase Jones — Cartersville — 10 — 1:10pm

Robert Niedergall III — Cartersville — 10 — 9:40am

David Noll -- Dalton -- 1 -- 1:30pm

Tevis Upton — Acworth — 10 — 1:10pm

Rob VanGorder, Jr. — Acworth — 1 — 1:20pm

Fred Wolford — Acworth — 10 — 9:40am

The Georgia Mid-Amateur Championship, held annually since 1982, is open to male amateur golfers who are GSGA members, are residents of Georgia and are at least 25 years of age on the day of the first round.

Tournament scoring may be followed online at — http://www.ghintpp.com/gsga/TPPOnlineScoring/Default.aspx?ID=804