Southeastern Challenge Match - 1998

Florida - 32  Georgia - 29  Alabama - 24

complete results

Country Club of Ocala - Ocala, FL 

Florida Retains Cup

Florida beats Georgia and Alabama in Southeastern Challenge Matches

OCALA, Fla. — Florida used strong singles play on the final day at the Country Club of Ocala to overtake Georgia and pull away from Alabama to win their fourth consecutive Southeastern Challenge matches. Florida finished with 31 points, compared to Georgia's 29 and Alabama's 24.

After falling behind by two points to Georgia after the first day's four-ball and foursome matches, Florida rallied by winning 18 singles matches and finishing tied in three others to accumulate 19 1/2 points compared to Georgia's 15 1/2 and Alabama's 13 on the final day.

John Corzilius of Nokomis, Florida sank the clinching putt when he closed out Georgia's Jay Childs, 2 up, on the seventeenth hole. "It's funny the pressure you feel when you don't want to let everybody else down," Corzilius said. "I didn't really know how we were doing overall, but when I got to the green and saw the whole Georgia team surrounding it, I knew my match must be pretty important."

Ft. Lauderdale's Rick Woulfe, Jupiter's Bill King, Tampa's Wyatt Meyer, Tampa's Doug LaCrosse, and Corzilius each won both of their singles matches during the final day to lead Florida.

Daniel Owen, Florida State Amateur champion and member of Country Club of Ocala, learned the hard way how tough the Matches were. "I was 2-under through 13 holes and I was getting drilled. I just chalked this up as a learning experience."

Winter Park's David Soesel added, "You might think you're going to win a hole and then a guy comes out of the woods and knocks it stiff. That's what match play is all about."

The Southeast Challenge Match is a biennial competition pitting hand-picked amateur teams from Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Sixteen of the top amateurs from each state were selected to represent their state in this seven-time event.