Tony Cross Wins
1970 National Championship

Louisville, KY - 5 July 1970 - Emerging out of a field of 183 men, Louisville's Tony Cross and Knoxville's Alan Barton came to win the pro and amateur divisions respectively of the $10,000 National Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 3-5.

Cross, a 23-year old surveyor, finished the 144-hole event in a tie with Euclid's Bill Baus.  Baus had tallied an amazing score of 22 on Louisville's tricky third course and had earned a spot among the top contenders.  In an eighteen hole play-off to determine the winner, Baus took a four on the "Y-shaped" twelfth hole which gave Cross the lead he needed to win the tournament.

"I'm really in a daze," remarked Cross.  "I just can't believe it."  Excited fans hoisted Cross to the shoulders and carried him to the scorers stand where the PPA's Board Chairman, Don Clayton, presented Cross with his $2,000 check.  Prior to the National Championship, in his three years as a pro, Cross's single largest purse had been $52.00.

The 1969 World's Champion, Rick Smith, placed third in the tournament at 233, three strokes behind the leaders.  Fourth place was claimed in a three-way tie between Atlanta's Howell Sherrod, North Olmstead's Ray Browning, and Atlanta's Roger Moore.  1968 Nation Champion Bob Marcellino claimed the next spot with a score of 236.

In the Amateur division, Knoxville's red-headed putting ace, Alan Barton, defeated defending champion Mike Baldoza by scoring a 230, one stroke ahead of the Texan Putter of the Year.  Both Barton and Baldoza were tied at the end of the seventh round, but the Tennessean took a 29 on the last round which Baldoza could not match.

Barton, an 18-year old upcoming freshman at the University of Tennessee, has been playing Putt-Putt for three years.  He started by playing at the course in Johnson City, Tennessee, and later continued his practice in Knoxville and Oak Ridge.  According to the 6'2" amateur, the key to his success is "playing seriously and concentrating on the game."  Barton had been trailing slightly at the end of the first day of competition but, by putting a 26 during the sixth round he reached the point where he felt like he could possibly win the tournament.

A special $2,500 Pro-Am was held Friday, July 3.  The victors of the playoff which ended the match included pro John Snyder of Euclid, Ohio, and his amateur partner, Ken Cavin of Charlotte, North Carolina.  Snyder and Cavin defeated Atlanta's Jimmy Harritos and Fort Worth's Mike Baldoza.