Shawn Hodge, Stan Gann Jr. capture first Peach Blossom title

Shawn Hodge and Stan Gann Jr. finally could breathe a sigh of relief.

After a very slow start and a few teams looking to challenge, Hodge and Gann got things going at the end of the front nine Sunday at Idle Hour Club and never looked back, capturing their first Peach Blossom Tournament title. Hodge and Gann shot a third-round 68 for a three-day total of 17-under-par 193. Ryan Blackburn and Austin Weathington shot 65 in the final round to end up second at 11 under, while Adam Cooper and Bubba Gallops shot 68 on Sunday to finish third at 10 under.

Hodge and Gann started slowly, with two bogeys in the first three holes, and their seven stroke lead quickly was cut to five. Michael Standard and Rick Cloninger cut that to four when Cloninger made eagle on No. 9 when he holed out from 190 yards. But Gann responded by making birdie on No. 9 and 10, pushing his team’s lead back to a comfortable six.

“We were playing a hole behind Michael and Rick, and we heard the cheering at the hole ahead so we knew that they had done something special,” Hodge said. “I am kind of the scoreboard watcher of the two, and I saw that he had made eagle, and our lead was down to four. But when we got to nine, and Stan was on the green, he looked at me and said something like, ‘Let’s make birdie here.’

“Sure enough, he made what might have been the biggest putt of our day. When he birdied the next hole, too, I felt pretty good about our chances.”

The first Peach Blossom win was important for this team.

“The field here is always top-notch, and this is basically the mecca of golf in Middle Georgia, so it was very important for us to win this thing,” Gann said. “It wasn’t our greatest day, but we got the job done when we had to. We needed a pick-me-up early after the bogeys, and I thought Shawn making birdie on No. 5 kind of got things back on track.”

Blackburn is a former winner, and he and Weathington played the tournament together for the first time a year ago.

“Neither one of us played very well last year, so we wanted to give a better effort this year,” Blackburn said. “When we looked at the scores after Saturday, we thought we had a chance to get second, and luckily we played well (Sunday). The competitive part is always there, and of course, you want to win, but there was just no way that Stan and Shawn going to let anyone beat them.

“Second place is a great finish, and we will play this thing again next year and see if we can do a little better.”

Standard and Cloninger ended up fourth at 9 under, while the teams of Kevin Glaser and Tim Arnoult and Chad Branton and Justin Johnson finished tied for fifth at 8 under.

Tournament Scores

This story was originally published May 1, 2016 at 8:13 PM with the headline "Shawn Hodge, Stan Gann Jr. capture first Peach Blossom title."