Weaver leaves legacy of success, kindness

Dewitt Weaver won two events on the PGA Tour and another one on the Senior Tour, won the Georgia Open four times and was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. But unless you asked him about it, you would never know.

“He was one of the most normal guys who’s ever won on the PGA Tour,” said John Bryan, former executive director of the Georgia PGA. “He was so down to earth. He would come out and play in our section events and he was just one of the guys.”

Weaver died in his sleep from heart failure March 18. He was 81.

Weaver was considered a long hitter for his time and was one of the game’s best ball-strikers. He competed on the PGA Tour from 196776 and won the 1971 PGA Match Play Championship and the 1972 Southern Open, but curtailed his schedule to help wife Sheri raise four children — they were married 58 years — and took a club-professional job at Sea Palms on St. Simons Island. He joined the Senior Tour when he turned 50 and won the 1991 Bank One Senior Classic.

He remained active in the Georgia PGA Section, where he was twice named Georgia PGA Player of the Year. He was recipient of the President’s Award in 2009. He is one of four Georgia PGA members with a career grand slam, which includes six Georgia PGA Championships, a record four Georgia Opens, two Atlanta Opens and Georgia Match Play Championship.

Savannah hosts Korn Ferry event: The Korn Ferry Tour makes its only Georgia appearance this week when the Club Car Championship at The Landings is played on the Deer Creek Course in Savannah. The 156-player field includes defending champ Evan Harmeling and runner-up Kevin Dougherty, who dueled in a playoff in October when the tournament was rescheduled from spring because of COVID-19. The field includes 18 of the top 25 in the Korn Ferry Standings, led by No. 3 Davis Riley, who would earn a battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour with a win.

There are six Georgia Tech players in the field (Anders Albertson, J.T. Griffin, Paul Haley, Seth Reeves, Ollie Schniederjans and Nicholas

Thompson), two from Georgia (Erik Compton and Joey Garber), one from Clayton State (Wade Binfield) and one from Armstrong Atlantic (Shad Tuten). Savannah’s Reed Lotter, 16, will get his first start in a Tour-sanctioned event. He is the eighth-youngest to compete in a Korn Ferry Tour event.

Around the campus: University of Georgia standouts Davis Thompson and Trent Phillips are on the watch list for the Haskins Award, honoring the player of the year in college golf. Vincent Norrman, a Georgia Southwestern grad currently competing at Florida State, also is on the 15-man list. Thompson was named SEC co-golfer of the Week after he shared medalist honors at the Tiger Invitational. Thompson retained his spot at No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and leads the SEC with a 69.5 stroke average. … Georgia Tech is making its first appearance in The Goodwin, a 26-team event at the Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto, California. … Georgia will compete at the Old Waverly Collegiate in West Point, Mississippi. … The Georgia State men will compete in the Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, which concludes Monday. …

The Georgia women finished fifth in the 49th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic held at the UGA Golf Course. No. 1-ranked South Carolina won the event by two shots over No. 6 Ole Miss.

Roberts, Barber win GSGA Mixed Team title: Jack Roberts and Katie Barber of St. Mary’s won the gross division of the GSGA’S Mixed Team Championship at Sea Island Golf Club. The duo shot a 3-over 145 to beat Kit Creighton and Ty Hampel of Atlanta by two shots. Lisa and Mike Justice of Duluth won the net division at 12-under 130, two strokes better than Belinda and Don Marsh of Johns Creek. The first round was modified alternate shot and the second round was a four-ball.

Miscellaneous: The team of Robert Holland, Hannah Holland, Devin James and Kyle Lairsey shot a 16-under 56 to win the Georgia State Park Cup qualifier at Hard Labor Creek in Rutledge. The quartet earned a spot in the championship weekend at Arrowhead Pointe on May 7-8. … George Spears of Marietta posted the rarest golf achievement with a double-eagle at Governors Towne Club in Acworth. Spears holed a 207-yard 5-wood on par-5 16th hole.