Shoal Creek Makes Golf Digest's Second 100 Greatest Courses List

Golf ball
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Scott G. Sink is a Birmingham, Alabama-based insurance executive who leverages 35 years of experience to deliver service property and casualty insurance programs for electric and gas utilities and merchant power companies through his role as practice leader of the energy and marine division at McGriff, Seibels & Williams. Outside of his professional pursuits, Scott G. Sink is an avid golfer who belongs to Shoal Creek Golf Club.

Originally designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1977, Shoal Creek is a 7,400-yard, par-72 course that has hosted the PGA Championship on two occasions. The course recently received recognition from Golf Digest as the 118th-best course in the United States in its annual rankings for 2019. The course's previous ranking was No. 106 and its highest-ever ranking, achieved in 1985-86, was No. 14. It has been included in the publication's America's 100 Greatest or America's Second 100 Greatest ever since 1981.

Due to alterations made by Nicklaus and Jim Lipe in 2016, the course is now devoid of its signature fairway bunkers, which were replaced by groups of smaller sand traps, and features different green layouts. The remodeled course was the host site of the 2018 U.S. Women's Open.

The 1990 PGA Championship at Shoal Creek

Straight to the holePhoto by Mick De Paola on Unsplash

A resident of Birmingham, AL, Scott G. Sink is an experienced utility insurance executive who has served as senior executive vice president at McGriff, Seibels & Williams, Inc since 1994. An avid golfer, Scott G. Sink is a member of Old Overton Club and Shoal Creek Golf Club.

Since it opened in 1977, Shoal Creek has hosted several major golf tournaments, including the Jerry Pate's National Intercollegiate event in 1994 won by a Standford University team led by Tiger Woods. It also hosted two PGA Championship events, with the most recent occurring in 1990. 

The 1990 PGA Championship was won by "the other Australian" Wayne Grady. One of the favorites entering the event was Australian Greg Norman, who finished tied for 19th and was in his private jet by the time Grady won the tournament. Grady, boosted by a second-round score of 67, won the four-round tournament with a combined score of 282, finishing three shots ahead of second-place finisher Fred Couples. He won $225,000 while Couples took home $135,000. 

The victory at Shoal Creek provided redemption for Grady, who squandered a final-round lead at the British Open the year prior. It was his second career victory and, while he continued playing on the PGA Tour until 2002, he never won another tournament.

An Overview of Alabama’s Shoal Creek Golf Course

An insurance industry executive with more than three decades of experience, Scott G. Sink serves as senior executive vice president of McGriff, Seibels & Williams, Inc., in Birmingham, Alabama. In his free time, Scott G. Sink enjoys playing golf. His favorite courses include Alabama’s Shoal Creek.

Designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus, Shoal Creek is an 18-hole golf course that opened in 1977. Since then, the property has hosted several major golfing events, including US Amateur and Junior Amateur Tournaments and two PGA Championships. The course also will host the 73rd US Women’s Open Championship in 2018.

The 7,154-yard Shoal Creek course sits on 1,550 acres in the southern foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Highlights of the course include a series of challenging par-5 holes with well-protected greens. With background views of the Double Oak Mountain, the 190-yard, par-3 fifth hole is also memorable.

Over the last three decades, Shoal Creek has received praise from golfers and golf publications. Golf Digest recently ranked Shoal Creek at the top of its 2017-18 list of Best Golf Courses in Alabama.