Greg Newport Wins Morning Event in Anderson, SC
22 April 2000 - Anderson, SC - The last time the South Carolina tour played in Anderson was the State Championship in 1999. In that tournament, Jay Klapper defeated Rick Baird by four strokes, and reigning Player of the Year Greg Newport finished in third. In the first tournament held in Anderson's Course 2, Newport came out on top in a field of 30 players with a three-shot victory over Lewis Burton.
Newport began the first round trailing by one shot over the former two-time National Champion from Lawrenceville, Georgia and also to Tony Jackson. Newport then fired a second round 27 (tied for best round of the morning) to take a commanding three-shot lead over Burton but not before he held on with a final 31 to win by three shots.
With Newport already in the clubhouse, and Burton still out on the course as one of the last groups, Burton had to make the last three holes to force a playoff, including the treacherous hole 16. Burton missed 16, thus ending any chances to go to that playoff. And after three successful pars, Burton could gain no ground.
Tommy Hutchinson battled off Jimmy Comer for the lead throughout the APA field in the morning. The Spartanburg, South Carolina native captured his first win of the season after he fired rounds of 30, 33, and 33 to win the tournament at 96. Comer took second at 98 after holding to the lead through the second round and Jonathan Reid came out in third with a score of 103.
Cool, blustery conditions were the key for the tournament as the average score per round was 33.600.
Greg Ward finished in third with a score of 92. Tony Varnadore continued to play very well early in the season with a fourth place score of 93, while Tony Pack rounded out the top five at 94.
Fifteen spots were paid out in this event with an incredible score of 100 placing for a 2-way split for the last available spot.
The qualifying spots from this tournament went to Burton, who received only the Match Play spot, and Ward, who took the State Championship spot.
Scores and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Anderson, SC Event (22 April 2000)
Morning Event
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Greg Newport 30 27 31 88 $125.00 2 Lewis Burton 29 31 31 91 $80.00 3 Greg Ward 32 30 30 92 $70.00 4 Tony Varnadore 32 31 30 93 $60.00 5 Tony Pack 31 32 31 94 $60.00 6 Gary Hester 35 27 33 95 $53.00 Tony Jackson 29 34 32 95 $53.00 Jay Klapper 31 32 32 95 $53.00 Randy Reeves 31 33 31 95 $53.00 10 Rick Rybaczek 35 34 27 96 $45.00 11 Dan Anders 32 31 34 97 $40.00 Robert Johnson 31 33 33 97 $40.00 13 Tommy Barbour 38 31 29 98 $35.00 14 Gary English 34 32 33 99 $35.00 15 Todd Barfield 30 35 35 100 $18.00 Michael Hitt 34 34 32 100 $18.00 17 Mike Brown 36 32 34 102 Todd Fowler 32 39 31 102 Dave McCaslin 37 32 33 102 20 Bart Bason 33 32 38 103 21 Brian Martin 36 32 36 104 22 Bobby Kirby 38 34 33 105 23 Bob Jackson 38 35 34 107 24 Darrell Britt 31 38 39 108 Opie Roberts 36 33 39 108 Rob Smarzik 33 35 40 108 27 Kevin Chambers 36 40 33 109 Randal Smith 39 34 36 109 29 Ray Guthrie 36 34 44 114 30 Nick Gill 49 34 35 118 Amateur Division of Anderson, SC Event (22 April 2000)
Morning Event
Round Player 1 2 3 Total 1 Tommy Hutchinson 30 33 33 96 2 Jimmy Comer 31 31 36 98 3 Jonathan Reid 37 35 31 103 4 Keith Waters 37 34 34 105 5 Chris Hudson 35 37 34 106 6 Brian Hutchins 38 37 32 107 7 Steve Helton 40 35 36 111 Adam Smith 38 36 37 111 9 Johnny Hostetler 40 39 34 113 10 J. L. Coffey 39 40 38 117 Todd Trent 34 42 41 117