Daryl Freeman Blitzes Field in '73 Nationals

Records Are Made To Be Broken ...

Time: August 18, 1972. Place: Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Scene: Robert Smith, National Pro from Dallas, Texas has just completed 144 holes of medal play in the PPA National Championship at 208, 80 under par, a new world record! One that will stand for a long time ...

Time: August 17, 1973. Place: Tulsa, Oklahoma. Scene: Daryl Freeman, charter member of the PPA from Bristol, Tennessee is on the tee of the 18th hole. Freeman has completed 143 holes of the 144-hole event with aces on 67% of the holes. As he deuces the last hole to finish the two-day event at 193, 95 under par, several hundred people on the course share the same feeling of disbelief. No man can play 144 holes and ace two out of every three hole he plays! But Freeman's rounds of 24-26-25-23-24-27-23-21 prove that he did just that to literally walk off with the 1973 National Championship and the first place check of $2,500. Freeman's total score shattered the existing record by fifteen strokes and won the contest by eight strokes over his nearest rival, Gary English of Orlando, Florida.

English and Mike Baldoza, the 1973 World Putting Champion, threatened to overtake Freeman in the seventh and eighth rounds of play. English, one stroke down after six rounds, finished strong with final round scores of 25-26. Baldoza, the pint-sized Mexican with steel nerves, unleashed a string of 15 aces in the final round to land third place honors and a check for $1,300. Their efforts to pass the red-hot Freeman proved to be in vain, however, as he scorched the course during the last two rounds with incredible back-to-back scores of 23 and 21!

Meanwhile, in the Regional Pro division, Gary Miller of Columbus, Georgia finished the tournament at 204, 84 under par. Miller, who opened with a first round score of 21, led the field of Regional Pros, after 5 rounds of competition on the first day of the event. Recording rounds of 21-25-30-25-27-25-26-25, Miller's lead was never seriously threatened as his closest competition, Paul Moore of Houston, finished with a score of 209, five strokes off the lead.

The 1973 National Championship capped a year of unbelievable record-breaking. Every major record in the book was tied of shattered in 1973. The eight-round score of 208 that won the tournament in 1972 was broken or tied by ten men, including two amateurs, in the 1973 National Championship. This brings up the obvious, what is going to happen in 1974? After all, records are made to be broken...

Dunahoe Tops Marrazito to Take National Amateur Title

Shawn Dunahoe is the 1973 National Amateur Putting Champion and he's might happy about it. Numbers prove that the victory came as no easy task. Dunahoe, a 13-year-old who practices every day on his home course in Shreveport, Louisiana carded rounds of 23-27-26-24-28-22-29 for an unbelievable eight-round total of 208, 80 under-par! In the 1972 National Championship, Robert Smith, of Dallas, Texas fired an 80-under par to win the professional division of the event and set a new world's record for eight rounds of play. This year, Dunahoe's sizzling performance only served to place him a tie for first place with Joe Marrazito or Orlando, Florida.

Marrazito, nicknamed "Minnow" (little fish) by his fellow putters was only one stroke behind Dunahoe (who led the field of amateurs) after five rounds of play on the first day of the two day event. On the last day, Marrazito, playing six holes ahead of Dunahoe, finished at 80 under-par. When he reached the last hole, Dunahoe found himself 79 under-par and needing an ace to tie. With seemingly very little effort, he stepped to the tee of the hazardous 18th hole and drilled the ball into the cup.

Not only were the scores equal but the two amateurs matched up evenly from the standpoint of experience. Shawn, 5-year veteran of the APA, had a sparkling season, winning eight of ten Pepsi tournaments that he participated in this year. In addition to his experience, Shawn had the backing of his entire family who had come to Tulsa for their vacation so that he and his brother Scooter could compete in the National Championship. "Scooter and I get along fine when we are putting, but not doing other things," says Shawn. "The only time he gets upset with me is when I beat him out of a tournament spot, but he was really happy for me today."

Little Joe, who stands an even 5 feet tall and weighs a mere 110 pounds has built quite a reputation for himself as a member of the APA for the past three years. This has been his best season, however, as he qualified for the World Amateur Championship in all four regions and made it to the final match in two of them before being eliminated. What does his family think of all this? "They really like my playing," he said, "they think that it is the best thing that I could do really." The spunky, brown-eyed putter continued. "I played baseball, but I liked the APA so much that I quit and decided to play full-time on the putting circuit. If I ever have a chance to make money in a sport, it will be the PPA."

The 18-hole playoff could have been labeled as a study in concentration as both putters closed their minds to everything else and dealt only with the immediate problem at hand - getting that little white ball into the cup with less strokes than the opposition. Marrazito came through in style befitting a true champion with a 10 under-par 26. But it wasn't quite good enough as Dunahoe blistered the course with a 13 under-par 23 in the playoff round to earn the victory in the 1973 National Amateur Putting Championship!

Marrazito's attempts were not in vain; however, as he was awarded the 1973 Sportsmanship Award by his fellow players, recognizing him as the outstanding sportsman of the year in the amateur ranks.