Carolinas' Open Victory for Gary Hester is First Tour Victory Since 1983
30 April 2000 - Winston-Salem, NC - Great overall play by Gary Hester had him and Bill Kirby tied for the lead at the mid-point of the Carolinas' Open at 73, then started to opened it up at the beginning of the afternoon session with a three-shot lead over the four-time NCPPA State Champion and 1995 National Champion, and held on to win by that margin to take the first major on the North and South Carolina schedule for the 2000 season.
Hester began the tournament being one of four players tied after the first round at 25. He continued his great play with a second round 23 to put him at 48, but Kirby carded a 22 in the same round to tie Hester for the lead. Both players then put up a 25 to finish the morning session of the event at 73.
In the afternoon going, both players got off to slow starts but regained composure with Hester being two shots better than Kirby through the fourth round. Hester extended it to three after the fifth round and was cruising toward his first victory in a tour event since 1983. Hester shot his worst round of the day at 30, but it was more than enough to take a three-shot win over Kirby. The win, as mentioned the first since 1983, ended the longest current North Carolina drought between victories.
The APA division played its version of the Carolinas' Open with a four-round format. It was decided when Jimmy Comer had the lead through the third round by one shot over Billy Caudle. Caudle turned it on the final round, but got a huge gift when the third round leader shot a final round
35 to fall way out of contention for victory. Caudle became the winner for the first time this year with a 72-hole score of 112, winning by six over Comer. Jonathan Reid played yet to another third place finish in North Carolina with a score of 119.
With the victory in the Pro Division, Hester received $300 and moved to second place in the points race by one-half point behind new points leader Ray Guthrie. A field of 48 players participated for the Open, its largest since 1996.
Other players faring well in this event went to Kirby at 161; Randy Reeves, third at 162; Edgar Hollifield, fourth at 163; Andy Coradini, fifth at 164; 1999 Virginia State Champion Randal Smith, sixth at 165; tied for seventh were Mike Brown and Robert Johnson, each at 167; five other players tied for ninth at 168 that includes 1999 NCAPA State Champion Ray Guthrie, Tony Jackson, Allen Wall, 1998 SCPPA State Champion Dan Anders, and 1999 National Champion John Napoli. There were 24 money spots paid out for the event in which the score of 174 got a two-way split for one spot.
The qualifying players from this tournament include Hester getting the State Qualifier and Match Play spots in both North and South Carolina tour. Kirby received the two-day South Carolina State Spot, and Reid wound up with the NCAPA two-day low qualifying spot after Comer turned his down.
The North Carolina tour resumes play on Saturday, May 6 in Lumberton at 12:00pm, then they go to White Lake on Sunday, May 7, beginning at 10:00am. The South Carolina will take the next two weekends off. Their next tour stop is in Rock Hill on May 20 & 21 on Course 2 with the first tournament starting at 12:00pm on the 20th, and the second event starts on Sunday at 10:00am.
Scores and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of 2000 Carolinas' Open (30 April 2000)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Money 1 Gary Hester 25 23 25 27 28 30 158 $300.00 2 Bill Kirby 26 22 25 29 29 30 161 $200.00 3 Randy Reeves 28 26 28 26 27 27 162 $170.00 4 Edgar Hollifield 25 29 26 27 31 25 163 $150.00 5 Andy Coradini 27 28 23 27 29 30 164 $125.00 6 Randal Smith 29 27 27 30 24 28 165 $110.00 7 Mike Brown 29 25 27 28 29 29 167 $103.00 Robert Johnson 25 30 29 27 27 29 167 $103.00 9 Dan Anders 25 27 29 28 27 32 168 $85.00 Ray Guthrie 28 29 27 31 26 27 168 $85.00 Tony Jackson 28 29 27 30 24 30 168 $85.00 John Napoli 28 25 28 29 28 30 168 $85.00 Allen Wall 27 29 27 28 28 29 168 $85.00 14 Todd Barfield 27 27 27 29 30 29 169 $65.00 Bart Bason 29 29 27 29 25 30 169 $65.00 Greg Ward 29 32 27 25 28 28 169 $65.00 17 Lewis Burton 29 29 30 29 26 28 171 $60.00 C. L. Jones 27 28 27 33 28 28 171 $60.00 19 Todd Fowler 30 27 29 29 30 27 172 $60.00 Brad Lebo 28 28 30 31 31 24 172 $60.00 21 Kevin Lacey 33 26 28 27 28 31 173 $60.00 Thomas Rawles 30 28 27 27 29 32 173 $60.00 Rusty Taylor 28 26 32 29 29 29 173 $60.00 24 Bob Haizlip 28 26 34 26 30 30 174 $30.00 Tony Varnadore 31 27 27 31 32 27 174 $30.00 26 Darrell Britt 26 32 26 32 29 30 175 Charlie Greenwalt 34 31 26 28 29 27 175 28 Tommy Hollifield 27 30 29 27 29 34 176 Greg Newport 29 32 26 33 26 30 176 Rick Rybaczek 28 30 31 29 27 31 176 31 Glenwood Arrington 29 29 29 30 32 28 177 Gary Benfield 29 26 33 29 30 30 177 Michael Hitt 31 28 30 28 30 30 177 34 Opie Roberts 27 30 32 29 30 30 178 Gilbert Sharpe 28 31 27 34 28 30 178 36 David McCaslin 31 30 28 31 31 28 179 Larry Simpson 30 31 30 29 33 26 179 38 Rick Baird 28 31 33 29 30 29 180 Gary English 31 32 32 31 29 25 180 Rob Smarzik 28 30 33 28 30 31 180 Buddy Taylor 30 33 29 29 30 29 180 42 Chris Bunting 33 32 28 33 33 27 186 Mike Griffin 28 32 24 35 36 31 186 44 Bob Jackson 30 33 31 31 32 32 189 45 Kevin Chambers 35 29 30 36 29 32 191 46 David Abshire 30 32 35 34 36 31 198 47 Peter Ansbacher 35 36 36 34 32 32 205 Bill Walsh 35 33 33 30 37 37 205 Amateur Division of 2000 Carolinas' Open (30 April 2000)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 4 Total Reimbursement 1 Billy Caudle 27 27 30 28 112 $25.00 2 Jimmy Comer 25 30 28 35 118 $25.00 3 Jonathan Reid 29 33 27 30 119 $25.00 4 Adam Smith 30 34 26 31 121 Keith Waters 30 35 26 30 121 6 Chris Hudson 35 31 29 27 122 7 Todd Trent 33 27 33 32 125 8 Walter Kolb 32 30 32 32 126 9 Robin Ventura 34 32 32 31 129 10 Chuck Nance 31 33 32 34 130 11 Robin Trent 40 36 31 34 141