The newly named Regions Bank Amateur Series has a new executive director, who will be in charge of creating written bylaws for the 2010 season.
The newly named Regions Bank Amateur Series -- formerly the Regions Cup -- has never had a set of written guidelines. For better or worse, the series has policed itself for the past 22 years.
That is about to change, thanks to new executive director Gregg Hemann, who plans to carry out suggestions of a players board.
Hemann, who was named to the position late in January by series sponsor Regions Bank, will oversee the 10-tournament series, which normally starts in early May and runs through late August.
Players earn points for top 20 finishes in each event, with the top players from Georgia and South Carolina squaring off in the Regions Cup Matches in September.
Hemann's first order of business is creating written bylaws for the season, starting with a more streamlined 2010 schedule.
At a players meeting Sunday, it was suggested that no more than two tournaments be played per month. Last season, there was one stretch of four consecutive weekend tournaments and another of three in a row. For that to happen, the series would have to add four weeks to the schedule.
Hemann is addressing that in a letter he's sending this week to the participating courses.
"We want to get the schedule locked in," Hemann said.
Other possible changes were brought up at the meeting, which will be studied by the players board. Some might not be implemented in time for this year's series.
"My role is to help organize and assist in the structural process of what the players want," Hemann said. "I'm honored to play a part in the most successful amateur circuit in the area."
Hemann is the head pro at Jones Creek Golf Club, one of the courses in the Regions Bank Amateur Series. To avoid a possible conflict of interest, he will not have a say in any decision-making.
"I told them at the meeting that my job is not to vote; my job is to count the votes.
"They want to make some decisions that they've wanted to make for some time," Hemann said. "I don't want those decisions perceived as my decisions. I'm only here to help this thing."
Hemann is going to encourage the tournaments to try to find corporate sponsors, which would improve the quality of the events.
There is only one now: the Sunbelt Nissan Golf Capital Invitational at Mount Vintage Plantation.
"That tournament is such a great example of what can be done," Hemann said.
NEWCOMERS: The eGolf Tour, which plays most of its events in the Carolinas, should have strong fields when the 2010 season starts Feb. 17.
In addition to Doug Barron, the former PGA Tour player who is serving a one-year suspension for violating the tour's anti-doping policy, Hawaii teenager Tadd Fujikawa is also going to play the tour this year.
Fujikawa, 19, decided to play the tour because he's a part-time resident at Sea Island, Ga., where he works with instructor Todd Anderson.
The 5-foot-1 Fujikawa is the youngest player ever to qualify for the U.S. Open. He was 15 when he made it in 2006.
In the summer of 2007, he turned pro, electing not to attend college.
About a dozen area players normally play the eGolf Tour, and the past two leading money winners have come from the area -- David Robinson of Sandersville, Ga., in 2008 and North Augusta's Scott Brown last year.
TOP 60: One Georgia State Golf Association event -- and a qualifier -- will be played in the Augusta area in 2010.
The Georgia Top 60 Women's Classic will be held June 29-30 at West Lake Country Club, which means Augusta's Laura Coble will have a hometown advantage.
Not that Coble needs any advantages. She won her 11th GSGA Women's Player of the Year title in runaway fashion in 2009. Coble, whose 10-year streak as player of the year ended in 2008, came back to rack up 1,450 points. She won the award by 600 points over Dori Carter.
The other local GSGA event is a Georgia Amateur Championship qualifier June 17 at Champions Retreat Golf Club in Evans. The state amateur is being played at The Landings Club in Savannah, Ga., this year.
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