Tony Pack Continues Trend of First Time Winners
24 June 2000 - Spartanburg, SC - Rounds of 27, 25, and 24 enabled local player Tony Pack to receive his first PPA win in his five-year career on Saturday when he played to a winning score of 76. The Spartanburg, South Carolina native used local knowledge as the tour was introduced to the new Challenger carpet that was played on Course 2. Seasonal temperatures kept scoring to its routine average.
Pack trailed by four shots after the first round to Greg Ward, after shooting the low round of the tournament of 23. Pack cruised in the second round to take the lead at 52 and tied Larry Simpson. Pack carded a final round of 24, which included a back nine 11, just as he did in the second round, to capture his first tour victory since becoming professional in 1996. The win was by three shots over Ward, a three-time South Carolina State Champion, who last won his championship on this very course.
A field of 41 professionals, the third largest for both the North and South Carolina tours this season, and 11 amateurs participated in the event. Among those were former two-time National Champion and Hall of Fame inductee Vance Randall, who came by and played after a 19-year layoff from the game. He came on strong to finish in a tie for fifth at 83.
For the second consecutive event, Chris Hudson, who won the Palmetto Classic in the APA Division, had to come from behind to take the win. Being down two strokes to points leader Jonathan Reid and another local Tommy Hutchinson, Hudson turned it up with a final round of 27 to shoot a final of 88, winning by one over Reid. Keith Waters shot 90 to finish third.
Greg Ward kept his consistent tour play with a score of 79, despite backing up to a second round 30. Larry Simpson played extremely well to take third at 81, while Robert Johnson finished at 82 to take fourth. Along with Vance Randall at 83 were Chris Bunting and Lewis Burton for fifth.
Twenty spots were paid out in the combined event where the score of 86 placed a three-way split for the final two available spots.
Pack took the qualifying spots in both the South Carolna State and Match Play. He also took the North Carolina Match Play spot, but declined the state spot there. Simpson was next in line and accepted the North Carolina State Spot there.
The NCPPA and SCPPA will play again Sunday, June 25, at 10:00am in Spartanburg for their back half of their doubleheader. After that, the tours will meet again on July 14 & 15 in Forest City and Gastonia.
Scores and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts. Photo courtesy of Rick Rybaczek.
Professional Division of Spartanburg, SC Event (24 June 2000)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Tony Pack 27 25 24 76 $150.00 2 Greg Ward 23 30 26 79 $110.00 3 Larry Simpson 24 28 29 81 $95.00 4 Robert Johnson 27 27 28 82 $85.00 5 Chris Bunting 29 26 28 83 $65.00 Lewis Burton 26 27 30 83 $65.00 Vance Randall 28 28 27 83 $65.00 8 Andy Coradini 27 29 28 84 $52.00 Gary English 30 26 28 84 $52.00 Mike Flavin 29 28 27 84 $52.00 Michael Hitt 29 27 28 84 $52.00 Tony Varnadore 28 30 26 84 $52.00 Allen Wall 28 27 29 84 $52.00 14 Rick Baird 31 28 26 85 $41.00 Todd Fowler 26 27 32 85 $41.00 Tony Jackson 27 28 30 85 $41.00 C. L. Jones 30 27 28 85 $41.00 Jay Klapper 29 27 29 85 $41.00 19 Edgar Hollifield 27 29 30 86 $27.00 Greg Newport 30 32 24 86 $27.00 Randy Reeves 28 28 30 86 $27.00 22 Brad Lebo 33 27 27 87 Randal Smith 27 28 32 87 24 Darrell Britt 30 27 31 88 Ray Guthrie 30 31 27 88 Gary Hester 28 29 31 88 Bob Jackson 32 27 29 88 Frank Warren 27 35 26 88 29 Dan Anders 30 28 31 89 Bart Bason 31 30 28 89 31 Todd Barfield 30 31 30 91 Bill Kirby 30 30 31 91 Gilbert Sharpe 29 31 31 91 34 Nick Gill 33 31 28 92 Bob Haizlip 30 28 34 92 36 Bobby Kirby 31 34 28 93 Opie Roberts 29 30 34 93 38 Brian Martin 31 36 28 95 39 Robby Bryant 31 31 34 96 Rick Rybaczek 34 31 31 96 41 Kevin Chambers 30 39 33 102 Amateur Division of Spartanburg, SC Event (24 June 2000)
Round Player 1 2 3 Total 1 Chris Hudson 31 30 27 88 2 Jonathan Reid 29 30 30 89 3 Keith Waters 31 31 28 90 4 Tommy Hutchinson 31 28 32 91 5 Billy Caudle 31 29 32 92 6 Steve Vaughan 32 30 32 94 7 Steve Helton 33 30 33 96 Todd Trent 33 31 32 96 9 Adam Smith 33 33 31 97 10 Darren Harvey 38 44 38 120 11 Robin Trent 39 44 42 125