Greg Ward Wins 1999 Western Open in Memphis, TN (July 17-18, 1999)

Greg Ward Wins 1999 Western Open in Memphis by Eleven-Strokes

ward.jpg (9530 bytes) Memphis, TN - Greg Ward found himself in the familiar position of holding a one-stroke lead after the first day of the Western Open in Memphis, TN. Ward also held a one-stroke lead after the first day at the 1999 Southern Open in Albany, GA. The difficult Memphis, TN course produced the highest scores seen on the 1999 National Tour with the Ward leading after four rounds with a score of 107, 37-under par. Trailing by one-stroke after four rounds was Lewis Burton at 108. In a fourway tie for third after the first four rounds were Darrell Britt, Mike Brown, David McCaslin, and Jimmy Mott at 110, 34-under par.

The fifth round saw Greg Ward and David McCaslin post blistering rounds of 23, 13-under par, to separate themselves from the rest of the players. It appeared as though the 1999 Western Open may settle into a two player race to the finish, but Greg Ward had a different plan.

Ward fired rounds of 27 and 26 in the sixth and seventh rounds to extend his lead to five strokes entering the final round of play. With a five stroke lead, Ward then fired a final round of 25 to extend his lead to the final margin of victory of 11 strokes over David McCaslin. Ward's second day total of 101, 43-under par, was the best posted in the field by 8 strokes. His total of 208 for the eight rounds, 80-under par, bettered his mark of 74-under par from the Southern Open where the average scores were lower.

Finishing in second was David McCaslin at 219, 69-under par, picking up $1,200 and a spot in the TV Playoff Bracket for the Western Open at Orange Lake this September. In third was Mike Brown at 67-under par, 221, with Darrell Britt in fourth at 222, 66-under par. Lewis Burton finished in fifth at 63-under par, 225, with Robert Johnson in sixth at 227, 61-under par. Tony Varnadore and Lee Messinger finished in a tie for seventh at 228, 60-under par, with Rick Baird and Cliff Matthews tied for ninth at 229, 59-under par. The cut-off for the National Pro match play spots was 232. Final money was awarded at 234 with a five-way split of the final money spot.

In the amateur division, Matt Summey of Richmond, Virginia, used a second day score of 111, 33-under par, to erase a five-stroke deficit entering Sunday's rounds and post a three-stroke victory over Don Ferrell who finished in second. Summey's rounds of 27, 31, 25, 28 on Sunday gave him a two-day total of 235, 53-under par. In the novice division, Gary Johnson posted a 15-stroke victory with a score of 267, 21-under par. In second was Beth Jones at 282, 6-under par.

A special thanks goes out to Aubrey Smith, owners' of the Memphis, Tennessee course, for their hospitality during the PPA's stay in Memphis for the Western Open.

Leaders of 1999 Western Open by Round

First Round Leaders	Lewis Burton	24 (12-under par)
Second Round Leaders	Greg Ward	50 (22-under par)
Third Round Leader	David McCaslin and Lewis Burton	80 (28-under par)
Fourth Round Leader	Greg Ward	107 (37-under par)
Fifth Round Leaders	Greg Ward	130 (50-under par)
Sixth Round Leaders	Greg Ward	157 (59-under par)
Seventh Round Leader	Greg Ward	183 (69-under par)

Scores courtesy of Rick Baird

			Round									Prize
	Player		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Money	Points
1	Greg	Ward	26	24	31	26	23	27	26	25	208	$2,000.00	100
2	Dave	McCaslin	28	27	25	30	23	28	27	31	219	$1,200.00	98
3	Mike	Brown	29	29	25	27	28	27	26	30	221	$ 700.00	96
4	Darrell	Britt	30	27	26	27	27	27	31	27	222	$ 550.00	94
5	Lewis	Burton	24	28	28	28	30	29	29	29	225	$ 500.00	92
6	Robert	Johnson	30	31	24	28	29	30	29	26	227	$ 450.00	90
7	Tony	Varnadore	29	31	27	30	26	27	28	30	228	$ 412.50	87
	Lee	Messinger	31	30	29	29	27	29	29	24	228	$ 412.50	87
9	Rick	Baird	31	32	28	28	25	27	30	28	229	$ 362.50	83
	Cliff	Matthews	31	30	27	29	29	26	28	29	229	$ 362.50	83
11	Dave	Nutini	26	27	30	30	31	27	32	27	230	$ 250.00	79
	Rainey	Statum	25	28	30	28	27	30	34	28	230	$ 250.00	79
	Jimmy	Mott	30	24	31	25	31	30	31	28	230	$ 250.00
14	David	Lynch	29	27	27	30	28	33	27	30	231	$ 225.00	76
15	Paul	Johns	32	29	25	29	30	31	27	29	232	$ 191.67	73
	Randy	Reeves	31	29	30	28	30	27	28	29	232	$ 191.67	73
	Joel	Baker	26	27	31	31	31	29	28	29	232	$ 191.67
18	Todd	Barfield	29	26	34	31	28	27	27	31	233	$ 175.00	69
	Todd	Fowler	29	28	32	27	28	29	30	30	233	$ 175.00	69
20	Rich	Gilloly	31	30	30	30	26	27	30	30	234	$ 167.00	62
	Tom	Butler	27	30	32	28	30	31	28	28	234	$ 167.00	62
	Brad	Lebo	32	25	27	31	33	29	27	30	234	$ 167.00	62
	Micheal	Hitt	29	31	27	29	28	31	29	30	234	$ 167.00	62
	Jimmy	Heikkinen	29	32	31	25	30	29	27	31	234	$ 167.00	62
25	Andy	Coradini	27	28	28	31	31	31	29	30	235	$ 33.00	52.2
	Greg	Newport	28	30	30	29	31	28	29	30	235	$ 33.00	52.2
	Jay	Klapper	31	27	31	30	32	27	28	29	235	$ 33.00	52.2
	Tony	Jackson	29	25	31	27	28	33	30	32	235	$ 33.00	52.2
	Kevin	Lacey	29	26	32	29	27	25	35	32	235	$ 33.00	52.2
30	Bill	Baus	31	31	29	30	27	29	28	31	236		47.5
	Bob	Haizlip	33	30	27	27	30	31	31	27	236		47.5
32	Dan	Anders	30	25	29	29	34	28	31	32	238		45.5
	Gary	Hester	30	29	28	31	30	28	32	30	238		45.5
34	Peter	Neumann	29	34	27	28	28	31	31	31	239		43.5
	Danny	McCaslin	31	31	27	29	31	30	31	29	239		43.5
36	John	Ventura	32	32	29	33	26	30	28	30	240		41.5
	Bo	Luthie	32	27	30	31	30	33	28	29	240		41.5
	Brett	Saucer	30	27	34	26	33	29	33	28	240
39	Jimmy	Cruse	26	33	33	29	32	28	34	26	241		39.5
	Mark	Hasty	28	33	32	33	29	28	28	30	241		39.5
	Paul	Sample	30	33	29	31	29	28	31	30	241
	Ed	Grajewski	33	29	30	29	28	33	30	29	241
43	Bart	Bason	30	31	29	35	28	30	27	32	242		37.5
	Mark	Rainey	32	29	30	30	31	27	29	34	242		37.5
	Art	Diamond	31	30	28	29	32	30	32	30	242
46	Charlie	Greenwalt	29	29	33	35	26	31	30	31	244		36
	Scott	Buddie	34	36	29	29	31	27	28	30	244
48	Randall	Willett	26	30	26	29	33	33	35	33	245		35
49	Rick	Alessi	29	32	30	33	28	36	30	29	247		34
50	Tony	Pack	32	32	29	29	34	26	31	35	248
51	Rick	Rybaczek	33	36	30	28	29	30	30	33	249		33
52	Jim	Phillips	35	30	27	34	29	30	31	33	249
53	Gene	Reams	27	33	33	28	32	33	30	35	251		31.5
	Frank	Warren	38	31	33	32	25	30	33	29	251		31.5
55	Manfred	Stewart	33	34	31	31	32	30	30	31	252		30
56	Greg	Roberts	30	31	30	32	32	28	35	35	253		29
57	Bobby	Jackson	34	29	30	28	34	36	33	31	255
58	Paul	Pastilong	38	31	33	31	29	30	36	32	260
59	Thomas	Rawles	32	31	33	37	31	36	30	32	262		28
60	Barb	Mingo	33	36	33	33	35	36	39	31	276		27
61	Jeffrey	Smith	DQ
	Kevin	Garrett	DQ

			Round									Prize
	Player		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Money
1	Matt	Summey	29	34	32	29	27	31	25	28	235	$30.00
2	Don	Ferrell	30	35	26	34	27	27	30	29	238	$30.00
3	Dom	Perry	30	33	27	30	29	33	28	31	241	$30.00
4	Brian	Summers	28	31	27	33	27	35	29	32	242	$30.00
5	William	Glisson	32	26	32	31	29	33	30	30	243	$30.00
6	Ray	Guthrie	33	31	30	28	30	29	31	33	245
7	Robin	Ventura	32	33	32	29	28	30	29	33	246
8	Tony	Davenport	30	30	31	35	31	31	30	29	247
9	Billy	Caudle	32	34	32	28	29	31	33	29	248
	Michael	Foster	32	32	30	32	29	33	32	28	248
11	Jonathan	Moore	32	32	34	28	33	30	30	31	250
12	Todd	Trent	31	35	30	30	35	30	34	33	258
13	Chuck	Cyr	29	34	30	38	30	38	32	36	267
14	Darren	Harvey	38	43	32	37	43	42	41	40	316