IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bob Denney February 8, 2010 561/624-8582 [email protected]

GEORGIA’S SONNY SKINNER EARNS SECOND WINTER NATIONAL TITLE, WINS TAYLORMADE-ADIDAS GOLF PGA MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Sonny Skinner of Sylvester, Ga., overcame an early deficit Feb. 7, to win the 47th annual TaylorMade-adidas Golf PGA Match Play Championship, beating Rafael Floriani of Port St. Lucie, Fla., 3 and 2, in the finals on the Dye Course at PGA Golf Club.

A PGA teaching professional at the nearby PGA Center for Golf Learning and Performance, Floriani won the first two holes with a birdie-par start but Skinner rallied by winning the third hole with par and four in a row starting at the fifth on three birdies and a par-3 at No. 6.

The final of six TaylorMade-adidas Golf PGA Winter Championships at PGA Golf Club also marked the sixth victory since November for Skinner, 49, a PGA teaching professional at River Pointe Country Club in Albany, Ga.

His victory streak includes three wins in the Georgia PGA Section, the PGA Tournament Series opener Dec. 1, on the adjacent Wanamaker Course; and teaming with Ricky Smallridge on Jan. 21 to capture the TaylorMade-adidas Golf PGA Senior-Junior Championship at PGA Golf Club.

“I made a good putt on the third hole” to save par “and after that I was playing with a lot more confidence,” Skinner said. “I was just having trouble getting loose, which usually happens to me in cold weather.”

It was 48 degrees and windy when play started at 8 a.m. and didn’t improve much all morning.

Floriani, 41, birdied the first hole with a three-footer and won the second when Skinner’s par putt “horse-shoed” out of the cup. But after missing par at the third moments after Skinner saved, Floriani noted later, “I wasn’t as comfortable with my swing the rest of the day, especially the way I was on Saturday,” when he beat former champion Frank Bensel of Jupiter, Fla., on the third extra hole.

After Skinner’s run of winning holes ended at the eighth, they halved the next six holes before Floriani won the 15th, hitting an 8-iron second shot to within three inches for a conceded birdie. “It was getting late,” Floriani said. “I had to make something happen.”

Then Skinner made a safe, two-putt par from the back of the green at the short 16th to end the match.

The victory was worth $4,500 from the $37,020 purse. Floriani received $2,800.

###

The PGA of America, 100 Avenue of the Champions, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418