C. L. Jones Wins Close Battle in Martinsville, VA
27 May 2000 - Martinsville, VA - For the first time in three weeks, North Carolina was back on the schedule with 28 professionals trying to see if they could knock off Bart Bason from making his fourth consecutive trip to winner's circle in Martinsville.
Only two players could do it as one of them had to make hole 18 to clip the reigning 1999 NCPPA State Champion, the other had to make 18 to clip that person. C. L. Jones, who had won two previous state events there back in 1996 & 1997, carded a first round 24 to open up one-shot lead to Bill Kirby. After slowing down in the second round and a tournament best score 23 by Bason, Jones slipped to third with 18 holes to play.
Bason took the outright lead with a 51 through the second round, and led by one over Kirby. Kirby then took the lead at 81 in the clubhouse for at least 30 minutes as Jones was still out on the course. Jones made the final hole in regulation to take his second win in North Carolina in the year 2000 with a final round 27 to win the event at 80.
Kirby ended up second with the score 81, while Bason shot 82 for second. Both Bason and Kirby got the two available Match Play spots on Sunday. Kirby also got the State Qualifying spot from this event.
Chris Bunting was the only other player who kept in close to the leaders, finishing fourth at 83. Four players tied for fifth at 88 that included Gary Hester, Robert Johnson, Randal Smith, and Barry Wyatt. Fourteen spots were paid out in the event with the score of 91 getting a two-way split for the last spot.
The winner in the APA Division had not played an event on tour in over two seasons, and had not won since 1996. Steve Vaughan came out of retirement to win by three strokes over Adam Smith. The 1995 NCAPA State Champion opened with a 27 for a two-shot lead and gapped it to four through the preceding round to take his first win in four seasons, the last being in Martinsville, shooting 90 to win by two over Smith. Russell Sigmon, Jr., a local in the event, finished in third at 94.
The tour concludes its weekend with the annual Wayne Hancock Memorial in High Point on Sunday, May 28, with a 10:00am tee time. After that, they take two more weekends off and will dual up with the Virginia tour for the second time this year by playing in Lynchburg on June 17 & 18.
Scores and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Martinsville, VA Event (27 May 2000)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 C. L. Jones 24 29 27 80 $150.00 2 Bill Kirby 25 27 29 81 $110.00 3 Bart Bason 28 23 31 82 $90.00 4 Chris Bunting 30 25 28 83 $80.00 5 Gary Hester 27 29 32 88 $67.00 Robert Johnson 31 27 30 88 $67.00 Randal Smith 32 27 28 88 $67.00 Barry Wyatt 26 34 28 88 $67.00 9 Rick Baird 28 32 28 90 $45.00 Gary English 26 31 33 90 $45.00 Ray Guthrie 30 27 33 90 $45.00 Jay Klapper 33 30 27 90 $45.00 Rick Rybaczek 29 31 30 90 $45.00 14 Michael Hitt 29 30 32 91 $20.00 Greg Newport 28 34 29 91 $20.00 16 Bob Haizlip 31 31 30 92 Tony Jackson 28 31 33 92 Randy Reeves 31 32 29 92 19 Glenwood Arrington 29 33 31 93 Brad Lebo 30 31 32 93 21 Larry Simpson 32 31 32 95 22 Mike Griffin 27 34 35 96 Tony Varnadore 32 31 33 96 24 Opie Roberts 32 29 36 97 25 Michael Cardwell 32 33 33 98 26 David Abshire 33 33 33 99 Andy Coradini 31 31 35 99 28 Tommy Barbour 34 35 35 104 29 Bill Walsh 30 40 37 107 Amateur Division of Martinsville, VA Event (27 May 2000)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Reimbursement 1 Steve Vaughan 27 30 33 90 $20.00 2 Adam Smith 29 32 32 93 $20.00 3 Russell Sigmon, Jr. 31 29 34 94 4 Jimmy Comer 35 29 32 96 5 Charles Alexander 32 32 34 98 6 Chuck Nance 31 35 34 100 7 Billy Caudle 37 31 35 103 Keith Waters 35 35 33 103 9 Walter Kolb 35 36 33 104