Gary Hester Wins in Forest City at NC/SC Tour Event
15 July 2000 - Forest City, NC - Two weeks ago, Greg Ward defeated Gary Hester in a playoff for first place in Spartanburg. On Saturday in Forest City, Hester would return the favor as he defeated Ward by two strokes for his second win in both the North and South Carolina tours this season.
Both Hester and Ward were tied with two other players at 25 after the opening round. Ward fired a second round 24, tied for low round honors, to take the lead by himself at 49, while Hester was one back with another 25. It would take a final round 25 for Hester to seal the win as he finished with a score of 75. Ward finished second at 77.
The win for Hester gave him all of the necessary points needed to become the first player to clinch a berth into the Clayton Cup team for North Carolina. C. L. Jones also clinched with a tie for seventh finish on Saturday.
Chris Hudson continues to play with fire in the APA Division. After getting shutout in his career, he had won his fourth consecutive tournament with a four shot win over Jonathan Reid and Steve Vaughan. Hudson fired a final round 27 to finish at 85 to take the win. Reid and Vaughan each scored 89 on Saturday to tie for second.
Tony Pack took third with a final round 26 to finish at 81, while Tony Jackson and Rick Rybaczek each ended up tied for fourth at 82. The field featured 39 professionals, which included former Hall of Famer John Connor, who played to a score of 99. There were 19 spots were paid out in the combined event where the score of 88 placed a four-way split for the final three available spots.
Rybaczek took the South Carolina State Qualifying spot from this tournament, while Tony Jackson took the North Carolina State Qualifying spot and South Carolina Match Play spot. Randy Reeves accepted the North Carolina Match Play spot from this tournament.
The NCPPA and SCPPA will play again Sunday, July 16, at 10:00am in Gastonia. After that, neither tour will play again until August 12 in Augusta, Georgia as the South Carolina tour will be playing then.
Scores and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Forest City, NC Event (15 July 2000)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Gary Hester 25 25 25 75 $150.00 2 Greg Ward 25 24 28 77 $110.00 3 Tony Pack 26 29 26 81 $90.00 4 Tony Jackson 28 24 30 82 $78.00 Rick Rybaczek 26 30 26 83 $78.00 6 Randy Reeves 27 28 28 83 $70.00 7 Todd Barfield 25 29 30 84 $58.00 Robert Johnson 27 28 29 84 $58.00 C. L. Jones 29 28 27 84 $58.00 Bill Kirby 28 27 29 84 $58.00 11 Chris Bunting 31 27 27 85 $44.00 Todd Fowler 29 28 28 85 $44.00 Edgar Hollifield 27 31 27 85 $44.00 Tommy Hollifield 31 27 27 85 $44.00 Greg Newport 28 30 27 85 $44.00 16 Brad Lebo 27 28 32 87 $40.00 17 Dan Anders 31 27 30 88 $30.00 Tommy Barbour 29 33 26 88 $30.00 Bob Haizlip 29 27 32 88 $30.00 Tony Varnadore 28 32 28 88 $30.00 21 Gary English 29 32 26 89 Michael Hitt 28 33 28 89 23 Rick Baird 27 32 31 90 Andy Coradini 25 30 35 90 Ray Guthrie 30 32 28 90 Vance Randall 29 31 30 90 Rob Smarzik 30 31 29 90 28 Mike Brown 29 30 32 91 Kevin Chambers 26 32 33 91 30 Larry Simpson 32 34 27 93 31 Opie Roberts 35 32 27 94 32 Darrell Britt 29 37 29 95 33 Robby Bryant 31 31 34 96 Michael Cardwell 35 33 28 96 Nick Gill 33 32 31 96 36 Bart Bason 33 29 35 97 37 John Connor 28 35 36 99 Jay Klapper 30 37 32 99 39 Scott Searcy 38 34 33 105 Amateur Division of Forest City, NC Event (15 July 2000)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Reimbursement 1 Chris Hudson 29 29 27 85 $20.00 2 Jonathan Reid 28 33 29 89 $20.00 Steve Vaughan 31 30 28 89 $20.00 4 Brian Hutchins 29 31 30 91 5 Billy Caudle 32 30 29 91 6 Todd Trent 31 30 31 92 7 Jimmy Comer 31 31 32 94 8 Steve Helton 37 30 31 98 9 Billy Walters 32 36 31 99 10 Walter Kolb 35 33 32 100 11 Robin Trent 33 35 33 101 12 Adam Smith 35 36 33 104 13 Chance Mathews 36 36 39 111 14 Zeb Head 44 41 46 135