Quinnelly, Block, Lacey, and Cruse
Qualify for ESPN Match-Play
Television Championship
4 August 2000 - Fayetteville, NC - The top 32 professionals from the 2000
National Championship advanced into the ESPN TV Qualifying Match Play
tournament. The morning began with a playoff to determine which 3 of the
6 individuals who tied for 30th would move into the Brackets. Daryl Freeman, Kevin Lacey and Darrell Britt were the fortunate
players to move into the brackets. The goal of each competitor on
this day was to win his bracket to move into the Semi-Finals to be shown
on ESPN Television.
TV Bracket #1
| 1 Quinnelly |
Quinnelly
7-6 |
Quinnelly
4-3 |
Quinnelly
SD-1 |
| 32 Britt |
| 16 Gross |
Flavin
SD-4 |
| 17 Flavin |
| 8 Lebo |
Estep
3-2 |
Nutini
2-1 |
| 25 Estep |
| 9 Warren |
Nutini
3-2 |
| 24 Nutini |
Bracket One started at 9:AM with 8 Competitors.
The first match featured Alan Quinnelly and Darrell Britt. Quinnelly
came out of the first 18 on Course 1 up Two holes, then proceeded to
make 11 of the next 12 holes to take a commanding lead, winning 7 up
with 6 to play. The second match went to Sudden Death, where Mike
Flavin defeated Tom Gross on the 4th Sudden Death hole to move into a
match with Quinnelly. In Match 3 Jeff Estep defeated Brad Lebo 3
and 2, and in the Fourth Match Dave Nutini defeated Frank Warren 3 and 2
to move into a match with Jeff Estep. Quinnelly played his 2nd
round match defeating Mike Flavin 4 and 3, while Dave Nutini defeated
Jeff Estep 2 and 1. The final match of the first bracket was very
competitive. Both Nutini and Quinnelly fought neck and neck and
the Match was Quinnelly one up with 3 to play going into the 16th hole
on the covered course. Quinnelly's ball came back through the
opening right of the obstacle from which he made a 3. Nutini made
up his putt for 2 to square the match. Both competitors deuced the
last two holes sending it to sudden death. On the first playoff
hole, Alan Quinnelly aced the first hole after Nutini missed to take the
first qualifying spot.
TV Bracket #3
| 3 Cruse |
Cruse
7-6 |
Cruse
3-2 |
Cruse
3-2 |
| 30 Freeman |
| 14 Reeves |
R. Taylor
3-2 |
| 19 R. Taylor |
| 6 Newport |
Newport
7-6 |
Ward
3-2 |
| 27 Miller |
| 11 Barfield |
Ward
3-2 |
| 22 Ward |
The other bracket that went off in the morning was
Bracket 3. Jim Cruse defeated Daryl Freeman 7 and 6. Randy
Reeves defeated Rusty Taylor 3 and 2, Greg Newport defeated Rod Miller 7
and 6, and Greg Ward defeated Todd Barfield 3 and 2. Cruse defeated
Taylor 3 and 2 and Ward defeated Newport to advance to the final of the
3rd bracket. In the final, Cruse and Ward played an excellent match,
going back in fourth. On the 16th hole on Course #1, Cruse aced and Ward
missed to give Cruse the Match and the television spot 3 and 2.
TV Bracket #2
| 2 Coradini |
Lacey
2-1 |
Lacey
SD-1 |
Lacey
6-5 |
| 31 Lacey |
| 15 Matthews |
Matthews
2-1 |
| 18 Frederick |
| 7 Alessi |
Lynch
2-1 |
Lynch
6-5 |
| 26 Lynch |
| 10 Kirby |
Guthrie
9-8 |
| 23 Guthrie |
The second and fourth brackets went off at 1:PM.
In Bracket 2, Andy Coradini faced off against morning playoff qualifier
Kevin Lacey, where Lacey defeated Coradini 2 and 1. Cliff Matthews
defeated Ron Frederick 2 and 1. The Fan, David Lynch, defeated
Rick Alessi 2 and 1. The most surprising match of the day was
rookie Ray Guthrie vs. Bill Kirby Jr. Guthrie opened his match versus
Kirby by making hole 1, missing 2 and 3, then running in 14 of the next
15 holes -- on the THEME Course, with his only blemish being the bogey
on hole 17. Guthrie made a total 22 of the 28 holes he played in that
match to defeat Kirby 9 and 8. Kevin Lacey defeated Cliff Matthews
on the first Sudden Death hole and David Lynch defeated Guthrie 6 and 5
to advance to the finals of Bracket 2. In that match, Lynch was 1
up going into 18 on course 1 on the first 18 holes, Lynch got his deuce
but Lacey aced to square the match. Lacey proceeded to go to
Course 2 and missed hole one, and Lynch aced to go back one up.
Tables turned after that, as Lynch turned to ice and Lacey caught fire.
After hole 9, Lacey was 6 up and cruised in to the television series
winning 6 and 5.
TV Bracket #4
| 4 Bason |
Bason
5-4 |
Hitt
2-1 |
Block
SD-4 |
| 29 J. Smith |
| 13 Dore |
Hitt
3-2 |
| 20 Hitt |
| 5 Block |
Block
2-1 |
Block
SD-2 |
| 28 Burton |
| 12 Baird |
Baird
1-Up |
| 21 O'Rourke |
Bracket 4 was the last bracket to finish the day.
Bart Bason defeated Jeff Smith 5 and 4, and Michael Hitt defeated Danny
Dore 3 and 2. Roland Block defeated Lewis Burton 2 and 1, while
Rick Baird defeated Mike O'Rourke 1 up. Michael Hitt and Bart
Bason's match stayed close, with Michael Hitt advancing to the finals of
the bracket defeated Bason 2 and 1. Rick Baird's match had suspense, as
he found himself 2 down with 2 holes to play on the Theme Course versus
Roland Block. Baird made hole 17 and hole 18 to square the match
and bring it to Sudden Death. Baird missed hole 2 on the covered
course and Block aced to advanced to the finals of the bracket versus
Michael Hitt. In that match, Hitt was 2 holes down with 4 to play.
Hitt cut it to one by making hole 15, and squared the match on hole 16.
Hitt lagged his putt on 17 and Block ran it in to retake the lead 1 up
with 1 to play. Block hit his putt that barely missed on the left
side of the hole on 18, and made his deuce. Hitt had to make 18 to
continue the match, which he hit dead solid perfect into the center of
the cup. This match went to the 4th playoff hole, where Hitt's
first putt had the monster slide and the ball ended up going past the
anthill. Hitt made that deuce banking it on the rail on top of the ant
hill. Roland made hole 4 to qualifying for television.
Television taping will be on Saturday August 5th, with
the first show being the JPA Show featuring Team Richmond and Team
Burlington competing for $6,000 in scholarship money. The Second
show will be the first semifinal match featuring Alan Quinnelly and
Roland Block, and the Third show will be Kevin Lacey versus Jim Cruse.
The winners of the second and third show will compete in the fourth show
for the ESPN Television Championship. The champion's share of the
ESPN Television Championship will earn $10,000, with the runner up
earning $5,000 and the two semi-finalists earning $2,500.
Recap and summary provided by Rick
Rybaczek.
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