Randy Reeves Dominates in 2000 Elton Davis Memorial Tournament
20 August 2000 - Burlington, NC - For the four rounds played this year at the Elton Davis Memorial tournament, the worst round the winner shot was 25, done twice by Randy Reeves. The 1997 National Champion from Montgomery, Alabama captured first place in this year's annual tournament by a sizeable five strokes over Burlington local Bart Bason. For Reeves, it was his first win on the North Carolina tour this season.
Randy Reeves putts on hole 16 in the final round after sensing he had won the 26th annual Elton Davis.
Reeves found himself trailing by four shots to first round leader Robert Johnson after Johnson opened the morning with the tournament's best round of 21. Johnson could not maintain his groove after that and fell out to finish eight strokes to the winner. Reeves took the lead for good through the second round at 47, leading by two over Johnson after Reeves fired a 22 in that round. Reeves continued to display his awesome play in the second half of the tournament with closing rounds of 25 and 24 to win as the only player to break 100. The final tally for Reeves reached 96 (-48), earning him $300 for the event.
Bason came out smoking in the final round with a 23 to finish second at 101. The second place finish for the defending North Carolina State Champion was his best performance of the year. 2000 Carolinas' Open champion Gary Hester and 1993 National Champion Andy Coradini played super rounds of their own to finish tied for third at 102. Johnson ended up fifth at 104.
As the pros played their four rounds on Course 1 in Burlington, the APA played their four rounds on Course 2. In the field, Jimmy Comer shot an opening round 25 to walk away with an easy wire-to-wire win over Keith Waters by three shots. Comer came out on top with a final score of 109. Waters finished in second at 112, while Brian Hutchins finished in third at 114. The win for Comer was his third of the 2000 season.
Mary Walsh with the 2000 Elton Davis Memorial Dedication plaque in honor of the 2000 recipient Bill Walsh. Bill is on the foreground next to Mary on hole 17.
Each year, the Elton Davis tournament presents a dedication award in honor of one person who devoted his/her time for the nature of the sport. This year's winner was the late Bill Walsh, who recently passed away in May, 2000. Accepting the award was his widow, Mary Walsh, who described her husband as a passionate player and always was a spiritual member of the PPA.
There were 19 spots available in the tournament in this 39-player field. The cash line was at 110, in which it was good for a six-way split for the final three spots. After taking the win, Reeves grabbed the North Carolina Qualifying spot into the State Championship to be held in Greensboro on September 23-24. Larry Simpson was the first player to receive a Match Play spot to be played in Forest City on Sunday, September 17. Tommy Barbour outlasted Edgar Hollifield, Opie Roberts, and Rusty Taylor in a four-way playoff for the final Match Play spot of 2000.
Hester, with his second round comeback of 22, was enough to capture Johnson for his first North Carolina Player of the Year honors. Waters, who finished second in the APA points race to Comer, did have enough points to win the APA Player of the Year for the 2000 season.
Also, North Carolina fielded its ten players into the Clayton and Hancock Cups respectively. The ten from the Pro Division consists of Bill Kirby, C. L. Jones, Greg Newport, Rick Baird, Bart Bason, Ray Guthrie, Andy Coradini, Rick Rybaczek, Bob Haizlip, and Chris Bunting with Randal Smith as the first alternate. The APA Hancock Cup will comprise with Jimmy Comer, Keith Waters, Billy Caudle, Brian Hutchins, Chuck Nance and Steve Vaughan. These players will head to Richmond, Virginia on October 14 & 15.
North Carolina has concluded its regular season for the 2000 season. The next event on the tour will be September 16 & 17 in Forest City. Saturday's tournament will be the Teams Championship for the Pros starting at 10:00am. Sunday will be the double-elimination Match Play Championship also starting at 10:00am.
Scores and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of the 2000 Elton Davis Memorial Tournament
(Burlington, NC - 20 August 2000 - Course # 1)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 4 Total Money 1 Randy Reeves 25 22 25 24 96 $300.00 2 Bart Bason 25 26 27 23 101 $200.00 3 Andy Coradini 24 29 23 26 102 $160.00 Gary Hester 29 22 25 26 102 $160.00 5 Robert Johnson 21 28 29 26 104 $125.00 6 Bob Haizlip 30 25 26 24 105 $110.00 7 Darrell Britt 31 25 24 26 106 $102.00 Greg Newport 30 26 26 24 106 $102.00 9 Tony Varnadore 25 28 27 27 107 $92.00 Greg Ward 26 27 27 27 107 $92.00 11 Rodney Ashley 29 30 24 25 108 $77.00 Mike Griffin 30 25 25 28 108 $77.00 Larry Simpson 28 28 25 27 108 $77.00 Randal Smith 26 26 27 29 108 $77.00 15 Bill Kirby 29 26 29 25 109 $62.00 Bobby Kirby 28 25 24 32 109 $62.00 17 Joel Baker 29 29 26 26 110 $30.00 Tommy Barbour 24 28 26 32 110 $30.00 Edgar Hollifield 28 31 26 25 110 $30.00 Opie Roberts 27 31 25 27 110 $30.00 Rick Rybaczek 27 28 29 26 110 $30.00 Rusty Taylor 27 29 28 26 110 $30.00 23 Buddy Taylor 27 29 29 27 112 24 Chris Bunting 30 30 28 25 113 Thomas Rawles 27 30 30 26 113 26 C. L. Jones 29 28 27 30 114 27 Ray Guthrie 31 29 26 29 115 28 Peter Ansbacher 26 32 26 32 116 Rick Baird 28 30 28 30 116 30 Gary English 25 31 29 32 117 Jay Klapper 30 32 27 28 117 Tony Jackson 29 28 30 30 117 33 Tommy Hollifield 29 28 33 28 118 34 Allen Wall 32 27 29 31 119 35 Daryl Freeman 32 29 30 30 121 Brad Lebo 32 29 28 32 121 Lee Witcofski 32 29 26 34 121 38 Bob Jackson 31 34 29 28 122 39
Michael Cardwell 35 33 29 29 126 Amateur Division of the 2000 Elton Davis Memorial Tournament
(Burlington, NC - 20 August 2000 - Course 2)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 4 Total Money 1 Jimmy Comer 25 29 29 26 109 $25.00 2 Keith Waters 28 29 28 27 112 $25.00 3 Brian Hutchins 27 31 26 30 114 4 Adam Smith 28 29 30 28 115 5 Steve Vaughan 29 30 26 31 116 6 Russell Sigmon, Jr. 29 32 34 25 120 7 Walter Kolb 36 27 27 32 122 8 Richard Lorenz 32 25 36 31 124 Chuck Nance 33 31 29 31 124
