Fowler and Comer Complete Rock Hill Sweep
21 May 2000 - Rock Hill, SC - After a cold front ran through Rock Hill Saturday night, bringing cooler weather and overcast conditions, scores relatively got lower and Saturday's winner successfully defended their wins to complete the Rock Hill sweep.
Todd Fowler now becomes a heavy favorite to win the Palmetto Classic in three weeks after firing back-to-back 24's in the final two rounds and won the 18-hole playoff over Tony Varnadore, as he shot 75 at the end of regulation. Varnadore, who shared the lead at 49 with Lewis Burton after the second round, had to make the last three holes of play to force the playoff on Course 2 in Rock Hill.
In the playoff, both Fowler and Varnadore played a tight match going -5 after nine holes. Fowler took the lead on hole 10, but gave the stroke back when he bogeyed hole 11. With the playoff still tied with four holes to play, Varnadore took himself out of the playoff when a costly double bogey on hole 15, as it made the difference in Fowler winning by two, 29-31 in the playoff.
Fowler becomes the first multi-winner this year on the South Carolina tour, brought his career victory total to nine in the state, and took the overall points lead in the Player of the Year race.
Jimmy Comer was tied at 54 for the lead with Jonathan Reid after the second round in a tightly packed APA race. Comer used a final round 24 to win by three over Reid. The win was his Comer's second straight and third overall in the last four events in South Carolina. Reid finished in second at 81, and has taken over the lead in the South Carolina APA Points race. Billy Caudle, Chris Hudson, and Tommy Hutchinson all finished tied for third at 84.
Rounding out the top five in the Pro Division were five players tied for third including Darrell Britt, Lewis Burton, Mike Flavin, Allen Wall, and Frank Warren, all three shots off the pace at 78. The score of 78 won the tournament on Saturday.
Varnadore took the South Carolina PPA Qualifying Spot into the State Championship in Spartanburg, and also took the Match Play spot. Flavin took the two-day low qualifying spot.
The next South Carolina tournament will be in Spartanburg on Course 1 in two weeks. The tournament will start on Saturday, June 3, at 12:00pm and Sunday's event will begin precisely at 10:00am.
Scores and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Rock Hill, SC Event (21 May 2000)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Todd Fowler** 27 24 24 75 $125.00 2 Tony Varnadore 25 24 26 75 $80.00 3 Darrell Britt 27 25 26 78 $57.00 Lewis Burton 26 23 29 78 $57.00 Mike Flavin 24 27 27 78 $57.00 Allen Wall 25 28 25 78 $57.00 Frank Warren 28 27 23 78 $57.00 8 Bob Haizlip 27 27 26 80 $45.00 Michael Hitt 26 26 28 80 $45.00 10 Rick Baird 26 27 28 81 $38.00 Todd Barfield 30 26 25 81 $38.00 Robert Johnson 26 28 27 81 $38.00 Randy Reeves 26 28 27 81 $38.00 14 Gary Hester 27 26 29 82 $35.00 15 C. L. Jones 27 30 26 83 Greg Newport 29 28 26 83 Greg Ward 27 27 29 83 18 Dan Anders 29 28 27 84 Rob Smarzik 27 27 30 84 20 Gary English 27 27 31 85 Tommy Hollifield 29 29 27 85 22 Kevin Chambers 25 30 31 86 Tony Jackson 27 29 30 86 24 Bob Jackson 30 29 29 88 25 Edgar Hollifield 29 32 28 89 Jay Klapper 29 29 31 89 27 Opie Roberts 29 30 31 90 28 Tommy Barbour 30 31 32 93 Rick Rybaczek 32 30 31 93 **Defeated Tony Varnadore 29-31 in 18-hole playoff for first.
Amateur Division of Rock Hill, SC Event (21 May 2000)
Round Player 1 2 3 Total 1 Jimmy Comer 27 27 24 78 2 Jonathan Reid 28 26 27 81 3 Billy Caudle 28 27 29 84 Chris Hudson 28 28 28 84 Tommy Hutchinson 25 30 29 84 6 Todd Trent 32 24 29 85 7 Adam Smith 31 28 30 89 Billy Walters 30 29 30 89 9 Keith Waters 31 29 31 91 10 Steve Helton 28 28 36 92 11 Robin Trent 29 30 35 94 12 Zeb Head 38 25 32 95 13 Mason Harkey 33 33 32 98 14 Lester Helms 33 36 32 101 15 Darren Harvey 34 33 37 104 16 Chance Mathews 39 35 34 108