Greg Ward Defends His Elton Davis Memorial Title (28-29 August 1999)

Greg Ward Defends His Elton Davis Title at the 1999 Elton Davis Memorial Tournament

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Greg Ward aces the 143rd hole of the 1999 Elton Davis on his way to a six-stroke victory.

Burlington, NC - August 29, 1999 - Entering the second day of the 25^th Annual Elton Davis Championship, leader Greg Ward was in command with a six stroke lead. Opening Sunday's play with back to back rounds of 25 and a seventh round of 26, Ward lost four of those strokes to a charging Lewis Burton, but fired a final round 24 to finish at 199, 89-under par, and a six-stroke victory over the 1998 National Champion Burton and another charger Greg Newport, who shot a tournament best 97 for Sunday.

The Elton Davis tournament is the second longest running tournament currently in the PPA and drew a field of 41 professionals. Ward's victory in the Elton Davis Memorial was his second in a row, third in the last four, and fourth overall.

Ray Guthrie fired rounds of 26, 26, 28, and 24 on Course 1 to finish the tournament at 210, winning the amateur division by eight strokes over Jimmy Comer who fired rounds of 29, 27, 28, and 23 on Sunday to solidify second. Jonathan Moore, Saturday's leader, fell behind throughout the day with only his best round of 28 in his final round to finish third at 222. Brian Hutchins finished one stroke behind at 223. Guthrie's win was his fourth of the season and made him the North Carolina APA Player of the Year, its first different winner of this honor since 1996.

Rounding out the top ten in the Pro Division were Todd Barfield, fourth at 207, Robert Johnson, fifth at 208, Darrell Britt, sixth at 210, Rick Baird, Peter Neumann, and Randy Reeves, tied for seventh at 211, and tied for tenth were Bart Bason, Mike Brown, and Andy Coradini, all at 213.

A special annual dedication award is always given at the Elton Davis Classic, sponsored by the family of Elton, given to the one member of the PPA who had dedicated his/her time with the PPA. This year's recipient went to course owner and former champion of the Elton Davis Classic, Bobby Gilmore. Before receiving the award, a few players stepped up to pay their dues to Gilmore for his involvement with Putt-Putt and the players itself. When receiving, a lightly tearful Gilmore thanked all his help at the course and the players for their continued tradition not only to the tournament but the PPA as well.

Greg Newport's second place finish clinches NCPPA Player of the Year honors for the second time in three years. Qualifying spots from this tournament: Johnson, NC State Spot; Keith Waters, NCAPA low non-qualifying spot.

Other news of note: Chris Bunting and Opie Roberts were in as the final two players on the North Carolina Clayton Cup team announced after the tournament. Gilbert Sharpe, Rodney Ashley, and Buddy Taylor were named into the North Carolina State Championship based on points. They got in by playing in the Elton Davis.

The next North Carolina tournament will be September 25 and 26 in High Point. The 25th is the NCPPA Teams Championship, which commences at 10:00am. The 26th is the Match Play tournament with starting time to be announced. Afterwards, the NC tour will not play again until October 16-17 with their state championships in Durham.

Tournament recap and scores courtesy of Opie Roberts

			Round									Prize
	Player	Hometown	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Money
1	Greg Ward	Loganville GA	25	26	21	26	25	25	27	24	199	$500.00
2	Lewis Burton	Lawrenceville GA	27	29	22	26	23	24	26	28	205	$375.00
	Greg Newport	Liberty NC	23	29	32	24	25	22	26	24	205	$375.00
4	Todd Barfield	Fort Mill SC	26	27	25	26	27	25	23	28	207	$300.00
5	Robert Johnson	Lake Wylie SC	31	25	25	27	24	27	26	23	208	$270.00
6	Darrell Britt	Loganville GA	28	27	24	30	26	23	27	28	210	$250.00
7	Rick Baird	Pineville NC	28	25	28	27	27	23	28	25	211	$203.00
	Peter Neumann	Midland VA	27	25	27	29	23	28	27	25	211	$203.00
	Randy Reeves	Montgomery AL	29	25	28	27	25	24	26	27	211	$203.00
10	Bart Bason	Gibsonville NC	26	28	30	23	23	27	28	28	213	$153.00
	Mike Brown	Rock Hill SC	27	30	25	27	25	23	27	29	213	$153.00
	Andy Coradini	Loganville GA	28	29	26	28	26	25	25	26	213	$153.00
13	Fred Hallaman	Hillsborough NC	27	25	29	26	23	31	29	25	215	$130.00
14	Rodney Ashley	Hillsborough NC	26	25	26	29	30	28	25	29	217	$108.00
	Jay Klapper	Loganville GA	26	31	30	26	27	26	27	24	217	$108.00
	Rusty Taylor	Severn MD	28	31	27	30	25	24	27	25	217	$108.00
	Tony Varnadore	Rock Hill SC	28	29	27	24	24	31	28	26	217	$108.00
18	Peter Ansbacher	Cary NC	30	34	27	24	29	23	26	25	218	$100.00
	Bob Haizlip	Whitsett NC	28	29	29	27	28	29	26	22	218	$100.00
	Michael Hitt	Greensboro NC	29	28	26	28	26	27	27	27	218	$100.00
21	Chris Bunting	Graham NC	27	30	26	28	27	25	29	27	219
	Gary Hester	Thomasville NC	30	27	29	27	24	27	27	28	219
23	Danny McCaslin	Cary NC	22	31	26	28	29	29	26	29	220
24	Brad Lebo	Shippensburg PA	29	29	27	31	27	24	26	28	221
25	Kevin Garrett	Richmond VA	31	25	32	28	27	25	27	27	222
26	Edgar Hollifield	Bostic NC	28	31	26	28	30	25	28	27	223
	Bill Kirby	Fayetteville NC	28	26	29	26	27	28	29	30	223
	Thomas Rawles	Newport News VA	31	31	27	26	30	23	26	29	223
	Gilbert Sharpe	Richmond VA	25	27	29	28	32	26	26	28	223
30	Buddy Taylor	Severn MD	29	29	30	27	26	24	29	30	224
31	Mark Rainey	Greenville SC	33	31	29	24	26	29	29	24	225
32	Mike Griffin	Graham NC	31	31	27	27	27	28	27	29	227
	Jimmy Mott	Charlotte NC	30	28	27	30	25	31	29	27	227
	Rick Rybaczek	Greensboro NC	33	32	26	27	27	29	27	26	227
	Larry Simpson	Elon College NC	29	27	27	28	30	30	31	25	227
	Tony Wright	Elon College NC	28	31	28	27	30	27	28	28	227
37	Gary English	Atlanta GA	29	29	30	27	31	27	26	31	230
38	C. L. Jones	Danville VA	31	29	29	26	30	31	30	30	236
39	Opie Roberts	Eden NC	35	29	28	26	32	32	28	28	238
	Bill Walsh	Charlotte NC	31	32	28	30	29	28	31	29	238
41	Bobby Kirby	Taylors SC	32	26	28	31	34	29	30	32	242

			Round									Prize
	Player	Hometown	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Money
1	Ray Guthrie	High Point NC	26	30	25	25	26	26	28	24	210	$25.00
2	Jimmy Comer	High Point NC	28	29	28	26	29	27	28	23	218	$25.00
3	Jonathan Moore	Richmond VA	27	23	25	28	32	29	30	28	222	$25.00
4	Brian Hutchins	Forest City NC	32	29	26	27	29	26	29	27	223
5	Keith Waters	Raleigh NC	29	29	32	27	28	31	28	27	231
6	Tommy Barbour	Graham NC	29	28	29	29	26	30	27	37	235
7	Chuck Nance	McLeansville NC	31	30	28	27	31	34	28	29	238
8	Billy Caudle	Harrisburg NC	31	34	29	31	28	31	31	27	242
9	Russell Johnson	Chester VA	32	29	29	28	33	31	33	30	245
	Gil Logan	Chesterfield VA	31	31	28	30	31	33	31	30	245
11	Richard Lorenz	Burlington NC	31	34	31	31	32	33	31	37	260

			Round
	Player	Hometown	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	Matthew Page	Burlington NC	30	33	29	29	27	28	24	29	229
2	Boyd Bryan	Burlington NC	30	32	31	30	27	26	31	29	236
	Travis Johnson	Burlington NC	25	32	26	32	31	30	28	32	236
4	Aaron Ashley	Hillsborough NC	33	28	33	31	28	29	29	28	239
5	Lee Ashley	Hillsborough NC	33	33	24	29	29	31	32	31	242
6	Adam Smith	Salisbury NC	31	27	31	28	29	33	32	33	244
7	Phillip Yates	High Point NC	27	31	34	28	32	33	31	31	247
8	Richard Moore	Burlington NC	31	31	31	33	31	32	33	30	252
9	Aaron Somers	Burlington NC	33	28	33	32	29	34	33	32	254
10	Daniel Roberts	Burlington NC	36	30	31	30	34	34	32	31	258
11	Austin Bissell	Burlington NC	28	34	35	35	31	35	29	33	260
12	Tracy Logan	Chesterfield VA	35	29	32	36	32	37	34	31	266
13	Brad Wilson	Burlington NC	34	34	33	35	32	34	35	34	271
14	Brandon Ashley	Hillsborough NC	30	32	34	32	32	35	48	38	281
15	Jon McCaskill	Burlington NC	34	27	28	35	40	33	35	36	279
16	Andrea Massey	Burlington NC	45	49	46	39	42	32	34	40	327
17	Michael Dunn	Burlington NC	30	35	29	29	WD