Mike Brown Wins 2001 Elton Davis Memorial Tournament (Burlington, NC

Mike Brown Wins
2001 Elton Davis Memorial

9 September 2001 - Burlington, N.C. - A couple of well-played and intense rounds usually make good work for a perfect afternoon. For Mike Brown, all it took was a pair of 23's on Course 1 in Burlington to come out with a deciding three-shot victory in the 27th annual Elton Davis Memorial tournament played on Sunday. Brown had to take advantage of a key misfortune in the final round by defending champion Randy Reeves, who was trying to win this event for the second straight season, joining Greg Ward and Bill Kirby as the other two players to do so in back-to-back fashion.

Mike Brown playing in the 2000 PPA National Championship in Fayetteville, N.C.

This was the 27th annual Elton Davis Memorial Classic, a tournament that has been rich in tradition and is the second longest active PPA event in the country. The tournament is named in honor of the late PPA member, who passed away at an early age in 1974 and every season, the tournament has been held in Burlington in his honor. A memorial is placed on Course 2 by hole 13 for players to look at what accomplishments Elton had achieved in his playing days.

The event got underway with overcast skies and mist falling to start play. The sun broke through in the first round and Randal Smith proved to be the brightest spot in the field, opening with a 24 to lead by one over the defending champion, Randy Reeves, and over Peter Neumann, who lost in a playoff earlier this year on this very course. It would get more exciting as Reeves found himself atop the leader board with a 24 to go in as the new leader at 49. With that, he led by one shot over Peter Neumann, Mike Brown and Darrell Britt.

Reeves would maintain his lead and extended it to two shots. A 26 in the third round enabled him to go in at 75 and it seemed a second consecutive Elton Davis title was on hand. He would find problems down the stretch after a great start to the final round. Reeves aced the first five holes to begin the fourth round, but only closed out with three aces on the last 13 holes for a final round 28 and finished in the house at 103. Brown would take advantage of the debacle and fire his second 23 of the tournament to win by three shots.

Brown finally got his first win in North Carolina since he won the 2000 season opener in Durham and his first major win since the 1996 NCPPA Match Play. He joins a list of the greatest players that have achieved victory in this prestigious event. Among those were Daryl Freeman, who won the first ever tournament that was contested on Course 2 in 1975 with an impressive score of 67 for three rounds. In 2001, Freeman placed a top five finish that included a 21 in the third round. It is the third 21 recorded this season on Course 1 in Burlington (Greg Newport in the final round of the Howard Loy Memorial, and Opie Roberts in the sixth round of the PPA National Invitational).

Brown would tally a final four-round score of 100 to win by three. Vince Batten had a chance to finish second by making the final hole, but lipped out and had to settle for a tie for second with Reeves at 103. Britt wound up in fourth at 106, while Freeman and Smith tied Jay Klapper for fifth at 107 .

Brian Hutchins - 2001 APA Elton Davis Memorial Tournament Champion

One of the hottest players on the APA circuit has come out victorious for the third consecutive time he has played in North Carolina. Brian Hutchins dominated play after consistent rounds of 26, 24, 25, and 26 gave him a three-stroke victory on Course 2. Hutchins, who has one previous major victory (1999 South Carolina APA State Championship), won his third North Carolina event in a row and secured his first major title in the state of North Carolina. With a winning score of 101, Hutchins won by three over Todd Trent, who won the previous APA event on Course 2 back in May for his first career win. Trent would take second at 104. Keith Waters placed third for the second consecutive day at 105.

Jay Klapper - 2001 Elton Davis Memorial Dedication Award recipient

Every season before the beginning of the play, there is always a special dedication award going out to the one person who devoted his time to the game of Putt-Putt. Bill Kirby has been the spoken word every season since the inception and this year, he honored Jay Klapper as the 2001 Elton Davis Memorial Dedication Award recipient. Kirby talked about Klapper's career lasting almost as long as the Elton Davis Classic. He also mentioned about his personal struggles over the past few seasons, but somehow managed to climb back and play on a full-time basis. Upon accepting, the first thing Klapper said was that he had wished his sister, Enid, was there to witness because it was her dedication that got him to continue playing.

There were 20 spots paid out for the Pro Division and four for the APA. The cash line for the Pro Division was set at 112 for a full share and the APA's was at 106. The Pro Division State Qualifying spot went to Britt with his fourth-place finish. There were two Match Play spots taken in this event as they went to Smith and Kevin Garrett. Chuck Nance took the two-day spot for the APA. Tommy Barbour and Rick Rybaczek nailed the final two points spots for the NCPPA Match Play to be played in Durham next Sunday.

Special thanks went out to Brian Patterson and Bobby Gilmore for another opportunity to host the Elton Davis tournament. There were 41 professionals, 18 amateurs, and 19 novices partaking despite the gloomy conditions on Sunday.

North Carolina has concluded its regular season for 2001. The next events on the tour will be next weekend, September 15 & 16 in Durham. Saturday's tournament will be the Teams Championship for the Pros starting at 10:00am. Sunday will be the double-elimination Match Play Championship that will begin at 9:00am.

Scores provided by Rick Rybaczek and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.

		Round					N.C.	Prize
	Player	1	2	3	4	Total	Points	Money
1	Brown, Mike	27	23	27	23	100	40.00	$ 300.00
2	Reeves, Randy	25	24	26	28	103	33.50	$ 185.00
	Batten, Vince	26	25	26	26	103	33.50	$ 185.00
4	Britt, Darrell	27	23	31	25	106	32.00	$ 150.00
5	Freeman, Daryl	31	29	21	26	107	30.00	$ 113.33
	Klapper, Jay	26	25	28	28	107	30.00	$ 113.33
	Smith, Randal	24	28	30	25	107	30.00	$ 113.33
8	English, Gary	28	25	28	27	108	27.50	$ 92.50
	Baird, Rick	30	24	30	24	108	27.50	$ 92.50
10	Varnadore, Tony	30	23	27	29	109	25.00	$ 85.00
	Garrett, Kevin	29	28	27	25	109	25.00	$ 85.00
	Neumann, Peter	25	25	30	29	109	25.00	$ 85.00
13	Rawles, Thomas	27	29	27	27	110	21.50	$ 68.50
	Newport, Greg	30	30	26	24	110	21.50	$ 68.50
	Boyd, Brian	26	28	30	26	110	21.50	$ 68.50
	Coradini, Andy	28	28	29	25	110	21.50	$ 68.50
17	Caudle, Billy	27	26	29	29	111	18.50	$ 60.00
	Hester, Gary	31	26	28	26	111	18.50	$ 60.00
19	Simpson, Larry	27	29	30	26	112	16.50	$ 60.00
	Griffin, Mike	31	29	27	25	112	16.50	$ 60.00
21	Arrington, Glenwood	27	29	26	31	113	14.00
	Barbour, Tommy	32	28	28	25	113	14.00
	Benfield, Gary	28	30	25	30	113	14.00
24	Sharpe, Gilbert	27	27	34	26	114	11.50
	Witcofski, Lee	27	28	31	28	114	11.50
26	Haizlip, Bob	30	27	30	28	115	9.50
	Rybaczek, Rick	30	25	31	29	115	9.50
28	Bunting, Chris	31	28	28	29	116	7.00
	Jackson, Tony	31	30	25	30	116	7.00
	Moore, Gary	28	32	27	29	116	7.00
31	Johnson, Robert	29	31	27	30	117	5.00
	Roberts, Opie	29	34	27	27	117	5.00
	Guthrie, Ray	30	26	29	32	117	5.00
34	Kirby Jr, Bill	28	33	28	30	119	5.00
	Jackson, Bob	30	33	30	26	119	5.00
	Ansbacher, Peter	29	29	32	29	119	5.00
37	Ashley, Rodney	28	29	28	36	121	5.00
	Ward, Robert	29	30	30	32	121	5.00
39	Lebo, Brad	31	29	31	31	122	5.00
	Carter, Randy	32	29	28	33	122	5.00
41	Cardwell, Michael	32	31	29	31	123	5.00

		Round					N.C.	Prize
	Players	1	2	3	4	Total	Points	Money
1	Baird - Coradini	58	52	59	49	218	15.00	$ 20.00
2	Neumann - Rawles	52	54	57	56	219	14.00	$ 10.00
3	Brown - Lebo	58	52	58	54	222	13.00
4	Moore - Roberts	57	66	54	56	233	12.00

		Round					N.C.	Prize
	Player	1	2	3	4	Total	Points	Money
1	Hutchins, Brian	26	24	25	26	101	23.00	$ 25.00
2	Trent, Todd	27	26	24	27	104	19.00	$ 25.00
3	Waters, Keith	26	27	25	27	105	18.00	$ 25.00
4	Landin, Bear	28	26	25	27	106	17.00	$ 25.00
5	Smith, Adam	30	26	27	27	110	16.00
6	Comer, Jimmy	25	26	30	33	114	14.50
	Hutchinson, Tommy	27	30	31	26	114	14.50
8	Nance, Chuck	28	27	30	31	116	13.00
9	Helton, Steve	30	32	28	28	118	12.00
10	Boyd, Chris	26	30	31	32	119	11.00
11	Mauney, Maxwell	30	27	35	29	121	9.50
	Boyd, Alex	34	28	30	29	121	9.50
13	Cyr, Chuck	33	30	30	32	125	8.00
14	Kolb, Walter	32	35	31	31	129	6.50
	Gregor, David	29	30	29	41	129	6.50
16	Johnson, Russell	30	35	34	31	130	5.00
17	Wagner, Derek	30	34	33	34	131	5.00
18	Chetister, Bob	34	35	33	32	134	5.00