Coradini and Baird Win North Carolina Team Championship in Forest City, NC
Andy Coradini (left) and Rick Baird (right), 2000 North Carolina Team Champions.
16 September 2000 - Forest City, NC - Rick Baird and Andy Coradini brought their best out in Forest City on Saturday after they were dueling off with the 2000 North Carolina Team of the Year Robert Johnson and Bill Kirby. The two teams shot impressive better ball two rounds of 42 and 43, with Kirby and Johnson with the one-stroke lead heading into the alternate shot rounds. It was those two rounds that broke it open for Baird and Coradini as they shot 27 and 25 for a five-shot lead with the combined score rounds remaining.
Baird and Coradini, who have teamed with each other for the past four years, had been coming up short in each of the previous three appearances in the NCPPA Teams Championship. This time, in Forest City, the experience finally paid off. In the final round, the two shot a combined 48, where Coradini shot 22 for the round, and a 10 on the back nine to wallop away from the rest of the competition. Baird and Coradini finished with a final count of 196 (-92), the lowest six-round score in the history of this championship.
The win for the team is the first as a team, and the first for Coradini since 1995 when he teamed with Robert Johnson in Gastonia and the first for Baird since 1990 when he teamed with Keith Usher in Salisbury. Both gentlemen won $500 ($250 for each player) in their efforts.
The closest team to Baird and Coradini was Gary Hester and Michael Hitt who finished eleven shots back at 207. Gary English and Randy Reeves, playing for the first time as a team, wound up in third at 210. There were 14 teams involved in this annual competition; seven teams were guaranteed a profit, but all teams got their money back from this event.
The NCPPA continues their weekend trek in Forest City on Sunday, September 17, at 9:00am where Coradini is the defending champion of the 1999 NCPPA Match Play Championship on Course 1.
Scores provided by Rick Rybaczek with Article provided by Opie Roberts.
2000 North Carolina Team Championship
(16 September 2000 - Forest City, NC)
Better Ball
Alternate Shot
Individual
Prize
1
2
3
4
5
6
Total
Money
1 Rick Baird - Andy Coradini 23 20 27 25 53 48 196 $ 500.00 2 Gary Hester - Michael Hitt 23 25 25 30 53 51 207 $ 400.00 3 Gary English - Randy Reeves 23 24 27 27 54 55 210 $ 360.00 4 Bart Bason - Chris Bunting 27 23 29 28 58 48 213 $ 280.00 Edgar Hollifield - Allen Wall 23 23 29 30 53 55 213 $ 280.00 6 Bob Haizlip - Larry Simpson 22 23 25 30 63 56 219 $ 220.00 7 Mike Brown - Brad Lebo 24 26 29 27 59 57 222 $ 200.00 8 Greg Newport - Randal Smith 28 25 30 27 59 54 223 $ 100.00 9 Robert Johnson - Bill Kirby, Jr. 21 21 29 29 62 63 225 $ 100.00 10 Todd Fowler - Tony Jackson 25 24 34 32 54 59 228 $ 100.00 11 Tommy Hollifield - Tony Pack 25 28 28 27 62 64 234 $ 100.00 12 Tommy Barbour - Opie Roberts 26 28 30 35 61 58 238 $ 100.00 Robby Bryant - Bobby Jackson 25 24 33 31 68 57 238 $ 100.00 14 Ray Guthrie - Rick Rybaczek 26 27 31 30 66 67 247 $ 100.00
