ATLANTA — Spencer Ralston is just 18 holes from being on top of the amateur world in Georgia.
The former Gainesville High and current University of Georgia signee finished off Luke Schniederjans from Powder Springs early Sunday morning draining a birdie putt on the Par 4 17th to win their semifinal match 3-and-1 at the Georgia State Amateur Golf Championship at the Capital City-Brookhaven Golf Course.
Ralston birdied three of the final six holes of the match to erase a 1-down deficit heading to the 12th hole.
Play was suspended twice during the round for inclement weather and eventually was halted around 7 p.m. before they resumed Sunday.
Ralston advanced to the finals to take on Colin Bowles of Albany, who held off Atlanta's Kris Mikkelsen 2-up.
Ralston and Schniederjans came out shooting early. Ralston had birdies on Nos. 1 and 4 while Schniederjans birdied No. 2 to put Ralston 1-up through the sixth hole after both players bogeyed the Par 4 5th and pared the Par 3 6th.
Schniederjans evened the match on No. 7 chipping in for a 2 on the 379-yard Par 4. Both would drain birdie putts on No. 8 and take par on No. 9 to finish the front nine all square.
Schniederjans took his first lead of the match on the 450-yard Par 4 10th sinking a birdie putt to go 1-up over Ralston. Ralston then caught fire.
Ralston answered back with an eagle on No. 12 to pull back even and then birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to go 2-up. Both players pared No. 15 to keep it a 2-up advantage for Ralston before play was halted for the day.
They restarted on No. 16 where both players managed bogey before Ralston sealed the win at No. 17.
