Randal Smith Wins in Gastonia for First Time
16 July 2000 - Gastonia, NC - For the first time since winning in Martinsville in 1991, Randal Smith got in the winner's circle in a North Carolina tournament. Smith edged Michael Hitt by two strokes on Sunday after being tied for the lead at 49 through the second round.
Hitt opened the tournament with the lowest score shot in both the North and South Carolina event, a 21. The round included the second perfect nine of the season (Rick Baird--the other back in Durham in April) in North Carolina and the first in South Carolina since Mike Brown carded it in Rock Hill almost one year to the day. Hitt actually made the first 11 before taking his first miss of the tournament.
Smith was three shots out of the lead at 24, and was in third at the point behind Hitt and Rick Rybaczek, who shot his season low 23 that round. Hitt backed into Smith when he fired a 28, while Smith made up with a 25 for the two to take the share of the lead with one round to go. Smith beat out Hitt with a final round 27 to win with a score of 76. Hitt finished second at 78
For the fifth straight time in South Carolina and the fourth time in North Carolina, Chris Hudson managed to pull out another victory in the APA Division. Hudson shot a second round 27 to take the lead for good and held on to defeat Jonathan Reid for the fourth straight tournament. Hudson ended up with a final score of 86, while Reid shot 87 to grab second. Tommy Hutchinson fired a score of 91 to take third in the APA Division.
Rick Rybaczek placed his second straight top five of the weekend, finishing tied for third with Bill Kirby at 80. Mike Brown finished in fifth by himself with a final score of 81, which included a final round 24. There were 18 money spots available with the cash line sitting at 86 for a three-way split for the final two spots.
Smith took the Qualifying spots in both North and South Carolina with the win on Sunday. Kirby took the SC Match Play spot, while Gary English received the NC Match Play spot, and Todd Trent earned the North Carolina APA 2-day qualifying spot from the weekend.
Also, noteworthy, four more spots were clinched on the North Carolina Clayton Cup team that includes Rick Baird, Bill Kirby, Greg Newport, and Ray Guthrie, who will represent the team as a rookie. No players clinched the Hancock Cup with Billy Caudle, Jimmy Comer, and Keith Waters.
Robert Johnson is new leader in the NCPPA points race, while Todd Fowler holds on to the lead in South Carolina. Jonathan Reid maintains a four point lead on Chris Hudson in the race for the South Carolina APA, while Jimmy Comer has the lead over Billy Caudle and Keith Waters by 4.5 points in the North Carolina race.
South Carolina will play their next weekend tournament on August 12 & 13 in Augusta, Georgia on the Red Course with the starting time of 12:00pm on the 12th. North Carolina will play again the following weekend in Greensboro on the 19th on Course 2 starting at 12:00pm and again in Burlington for the 26th annual Elton Davis Memorial tournament on Course 1 starting at 10:00am to conclude their regular season.
Scores and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Gastonia, NC Event (16 July 2000)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Randal Smith 24 25 27 76 $150.00 2 Michael Hitt 21 28 29 78 $110.00 3 Bill Kirby 25 29 26 80 $85.00 Rick Rybaczek 23 31 26 80 $85.00 5 Mike Brown 27 30 24 81 $75.00 6 Rick Baird 29 28 25 82 $65.00 Todd Barfield 28 25 29 82 $65.00 Greg Ward 28 26 28 82 $65.00 9 Gary Hester 28 29 26 83 $52.00 Robert Johnson 29 30 24 83 $52.00 11 Andy Coradini 27 30 27 84 $45.00 Gary English 25 29 30 84 $45.00 Jay Klapper 31 26 27 84 $45.00 14 Chris Bunting 24 32 29 85 $42.00 Ray Guthrie 29 29 27 85 $42.00 Randy Reeves 31 26 28 85 $42.00 17 Dan Anders 30 25 31 86 $27.00 Darrell Britt 32 27 27 86 $27.00 Todd Fowler 31 28 37 86 $27.00 20 Nick Gill 29 31 29 89 Opie Roberts 28 32 29 89 Rob Smarzik 31 29 29 89 23 Brad Lebo 32 29 29 90 24 Kevin Chambers 33 30 28 91 Greg Newport 29 34 28 91 26 Gary Benfield 28 31 33 92 Edgar Hollifield 31 31 30 92 Tommy Hollifield 29 30 33 92 Tony Varnadore 33 29 30 92 30 Tommy Barbour 28 32 33 93 C. L. Jones 31 32 30 93 Tony Pack 34 30 29 93 Larry Simpson 32 30 31 93 34 Tony Jackson 31 31 32 94 35 Scott Searcy 33 32 30 95 36 Bart Bason 31 34 32 97 Michael Cardwell 30 34 33 97 Amateur Division of Gastonia, NC Event (16 July 2000)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Reimbursement 1 Chris Hudson 29 27 30 86 $20.00 2 Jonathan Reid 29 29 29 87 $20.00 3 Tommy Hutchinson 30 31 30 91 $20.00 4 Walter Kolb 35 33 26 94 $10.00 Steve Vaughan 32 32 30 94 $10.00 6 Billy Caudle 31 29 35 95 Todd Trent 32 32 31 95 Keith Waters 30 35 30 95 9 Jimmy Comer 34 32 30 96 Brian Hutchins 30 30 36 96 11 Steve Helton 34 34 30 98 12 Adam Smith 32 34 34 100 13 David Fant 33 37 37 107 14 Robin Trent 42 35 41 118 15 Chance Mathews 48 45 41 134