Jimmy Mott Wins Gate City Open
18 March 2001 - Greensboro, NC - After a year away from the game of Putt-Putt, Jimmy Mott, in only his second tournament back from hiatus, notched his first win of the season. Mott played consistently in Greensboro, on a cold start to the morning, and came from two shots down to knock off Greg Ward in the final round by two shots. Mott was in a four-way tie for fifth after the first round and trailed by one shot to four different players, which included Ward, as they were in at 25. Ward took command in the second round by shooting a 24 to take the outright lead after two rounds, and it appeared that Ward would win his third consecutive tournament held in Greensboro. Mott trailed the leader by two shots after the second round when he was in at 51, after a second round 25 kept him in contention. Ward began to put himself in an unusual situation when he couldn't get his shots to fall and only wound up firing a final round 30 to go in at 79. Ward had to wait around 20 minutes to see if the score would hold. Mott continued to progressively play his style of game and went to 18 with a three-shot lead and then bogeyed the hole to finish the round at 26 and a final score of 77. The win for Mott is his first win in three seasons. For the second straight day on the North Carolina tour, there was another great turnout with 44 professionals and 17 amateurs who braved the early cold conditions. Temperatures were around 40 degrees at the start with winds blowing around 15-20 miles per hour at the start. Scores were incredibly higher than the last outcome in Greensboro as only two players broke 80 as opposed to seven players who did so in the 2000 Barbara Nance tournament. For the first time in five years, and for the first time ever in North Carolina, Steve Helton picked up a win on the APA circuit. Helton grabbed the lead by three after the second round, and held on despite trouble down the stretch. Helton shot rounds of 27, 27, and 32 to win his first tournament in the state of North Carolina with a score of 86. Keith Waters, who won the day before in High Point, tried to sweep the weekend, by could not pull it out at the end as he finished one shot back at 87. Chris Hudson, who won the 2000 NCAPA State Championship on this very course, finished in third at 88. There were 22 money spots paid out in this tournament and four spots for the APA. The score of 86 received a full share for the Pro Division and the score of 89 received a two-way split of reimbursement for the amateurs. Peter Neumann fired the tournament best low round of 23 in the final round moving himself from a tie for 15th to finish third at 80. Andy Coradini and Thomas Rawles rounded out the top five for the Pro Division at 81. Saturday's winner, Greg Newport, along with Lewis Burton, Michael Hitt, and Randy Reeves all finished tied for sixth at 82. Bart Bason finished out the top 10 leader board with an 83. Mott took both the State Qualifying spot to be played in Raleigh in October and the Match Play spot to be played in Durham in September. With his second place finish, Waters won the two-day low APA spot to be played in Raleigh. After the first weekend of play, Greg Newport has the lead in the Pro Division points race, and Waters has the lead in the APA race. North Carolina will resume play three weeks from now on April 7 in Durham on Course 2, starting at 12:00pm. The following tournament will be in Raleigh on Course 1, starting at 10:00am. Both tournaments will be jointed with the Virginia tour.
|
Professional Division of Greensboro, NC Event (18 March 2001)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Jimmy Mott 26 25 26 77 $150.00 2 Greg Ward 25 24 30 79 $110.00 3 Peter Neumann 29 28 23 80 $90.00 4 Andy Coradini 29 28 24 81 $78.00 Thomas Rawles 25 28 28 81 $78.00 6 Lewis Burton 27 25 30 82 $63.00 Michael Hitt 28 27 27 82 $63.00 Greg Newport 27 26 29 82 $63.00 Randy Reeves 26 29 27 82 $63.00 10 Bart Bason 28 30 25 83 $50.00 11 Billy Caudle 25 30 29 84 $45.00 Rick Rybaczek 29 30 25 84 $45.00 13 Darrell Britt 25 31 29 85 $42.00 Mike Griffin 26 27 32 85 $42.00 Ray Guthrie 27 26 32 85 $42.00 Gary Hester 31 28 26 85 $42.00 C. L. Jones 29 25 31 85 $42.00 18 Tommy Barbour 27 30 29 86 $40.00 Kevin Garrett 32 26 28 86 $40.00 Robert Johnson 28 28 30 86 $40.00 Brad Lebo 28 26 32 86 $40.00 Wesley Pollard 27 33 26 86 $40.00 23 Gary English 30 29 28 87 Bob Haizlip 29 28 30 87 25 Rick Baird 30 29 29 88 Randy Carter 30 31 27 88 Kevin Lacey 30 29 29 88 Larry Simpson 26 30 32 88 29 Vance Randall 29 31 29 89 Randal Smith 29 30 30 89 Tony Varnadore 28 29 32 89 32 Buddy Taylor 28 30 32 90 33 Bill Kirby, Jr. 30 30 31 91 34 Glenwood Arrington 31 28 33 92 Scott Searcy 31 29 32 92 36 Chris Bunting 29 33 31 93 Opie Roberts 30 31 32 93 38 Peter Ansbacher 33 31 31 95 Paul Johns 31 31 33 95 Robert Ward 31 34 30 95 41 Gilbert Sharpe 30 35 31 96 Rusty Taylor 34 31 31 96 43 Michael Cardwell 36 32 31 99 44 David Abshire 34 32 34 100 Professional Teams Scores for Greensboro, NC Event (18 March 2001)
Round Prize Team
1 2 3 Total Money 1
P. Neumann - T. Rawles
54
56
51
161
$20.00
2
K. Lacey - G. Ward
55
53
59
167
$5.00
G. Hester - M. Hitt
59
55
53
167
$5.00
4
R. Baird - A. Coradini
59
57
53
169
R. Guthrie - R. Rybaczek
56
56
57
169
6
T. Barbour - B. Caudle 52
60
58
170
7
G. Newport - R. Smith
56
56
59
171
8
B. Haizlip - L. Simpson
55
58
62
175
9
B. Bason - C. Bunting
57
63
56
176
10
B. Kirby - R. Johnson
58
58
61
177
Amateur Division of Greensboro, NC Event (18 March 2001)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Reimbursement 1 Steve Helton 27 27 32 86 $20.00 2 Keith Waters 30 27 30 87 $20.00 3 Chris Hudson 26 32 30 88 $20.00 4 Jimmy Comer 29 31 29 89 $10.00 Robin Ventura 32 29 28 89 $10.00 6 Todd Trent 30 32 31 93 7 David Gregor 31 30 34 95 Tommy Hutchinson 33 30 32 95 Russell Sigmon, Jr. 28 31 36 95 Amy Smith 30 32 33 95 11 Brian Hutchins 30 35 31 96 12 Walter Kolb 32 35 31 98 Robin Trent 31 33 34 98 14 Kenny Goin 33 33 33 99 15 Adam Smith 33 32 35 100 16 Chuck Cyr 30 36 35 101 17 Nick Cook 37 34 31 102