SPORTS BRIEFS: Albany State golf to play in PGA event

ASU golf to play in PGA event

The Albany State golf team will make its first appearance in the PGA Minority Collegiate Championship in May.

The event, scheduled for May 11-13 at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida, is a team competition held for historically black colleges and universities.

“This is an incredible opportunity for our students and coaches to compete and excel on a national stage,” ASU athletics director Sherie Gordon said in a news release.

In two years of intercollegiate competition, Albany State has won two SIAC titles, with Tyler Hanson claiming medalist honors at the conference tournament.

“To be invited by the PGA of America to a national championship event, in just our second year of existence definitely validates that our program is headed in the right direction and has very bright future,” ASU head coach Gary Hilton said in the release.

Mitchell County tennis event slated

The 43rd annual Mitchell County Pro Tennis Invitational is scheduled for Friday-Sunday at the Mitchell County Tennis Center.

According to a news release, the charity event raised some $300,000 for a collection of Mitchell County charities.

Pro team tennis matches Friday and Saturday will begin at 8:30 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m., with the finals slated for 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. A pro-am tournament is also slated, with matches beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and the finals to be played after the pro team tennis final.

Other events scheduled are the Pro-ARC Client Clinic at noon on Friday, the children and juniors clinic at 4 p.m. on Friday, the women’s clinic at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and a “Beat the Pro” event at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. A social will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at McRee Hall, and the Bo Henry Band will play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Camilla Depot.

All clinics are free. The Mitchell County Tennis Center is located at 65 Industrial Blvd. in Camilla.

Hillman wins bass fishing event

Boater Curtis Hillman of Abbeville, Alabama, caught five bass weighing 23 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Bulldog Division event on Lake Eufaula.

For his finish, Hillman netted $4,199, according to a news release.

Hillman spent his day dissecting areas in Barbour Creek, Cheneyhatchee Creek and near the Highway 82 bridge. He said he targeted bass in 6 to 10 feet of water near humps and rocks and was able to catch his first limit by 8 a.m.

Hillman’s day was capped off by a kicker, which he pulled from grass in Cowikee Creek using a Strikezone Swim-Tastic Swim Jig with an unnamed trailer.

Michael Wilder of Macon brought a 6-pound, 13-ounce bass to the scale — the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division — and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $585.

Emory Walden of Newnan won the Co-angler Division and $2,492 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 18 pounds, 4 ounces.