Brad Lebo's Opening Round 23 Propels Him to |
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Brad Lebo playing in the 2000 PPA National Championship.8 April 2001 - Raleigh, NC - With the North Carolina State Championship to be contested later this year in Raleigh, 39 professionals from the North Carolina and Virginia tours came to Raleigh to get an early look at the course. The 2nd annual Capital City Open in Raleigh was the 4th tournament on the schedule for both tours. The tournament also included Ed Haggerty, a three-time North Carolina State Champion (1977, 1979, and 1981).
Last year, Brad Lebo opened the tournament with a 24 (a course record for the Raleigh course at the time) to take the lead by one shot. He once again opened this tournament with a record round, 23, to lead by one over Robert Johnson. Lebo held a slim one-shot lead at 51 after 36 holes and came used a final round 28 to close with tournament's best score of 79 and the victory.
Another warm day was in tap with temperatures reaching into the upper 80's when the tournament ended. The scores were comparable to scores shot in the 2000 Capital City Open when the reading was in the mid 40's.
The win for Lebo is his 15th on the Virginia tour but his first on the NCPPA tour after 11 seasons of play. A dentist from Pennsylvania, Lebo has always made the effort to come down to North Carolina and play against some of the strongest competition the tour has to offer.
In the APA Division, Jimmy Comer matched Lebo's record of 23 in the final round to erase a four-shot lead from Tommy Hutchinson and post a three stroke victory. Tied for third after two rounds, Comer put the charge on with the 23 and ended up with a final score of 82, good enough to set the APA record for three-round score. Hutchinson's final round 30 gave him second at 85, while Brian Hutchins finished in third at 88.
The tournament featured a player who hasn't played since the mid-1980's. Ed Haggerty, just recently signed up as Tour Pro for 2001, originally from Charlotte now living in Raleigh, came out and was welcomed by his former comrades. Haggerty is a three-time NCPPA State Champion and was one of the tour's most dominant players in his time. The layoff did not appear to have hurt his game as he ended up in a tie for third, three strokes behind Lebo.
Robert Johnson took second with a final score of 81, while Haggerty tied Mike Brown and Andy Coradini at 82, to round out the top five. Rick Baird, Gary Hester, Jimmy Mott, and Rick Rybaczek finished tied for 6th at 83, while Billy Caudle placed his first top ten in his rookie season with a tie for tenth finish with Randy Reeves at 84.
There were 19 money spots paid out in this tournament and six spots for the APA. The score of 87 received a five-way split for the final three spots for the Pro Division and the score of 92 received the final spot in reimbursement for the amateurs. Lebo's win gave him the spots available from North Carolina, taking both the State Qualifying and Match Play spot. Comer won the two-day APA Qualifying Spot for North Carolina.
At the end of four tournaments this season, Greg Newport maintains a commanding lead of 8.5 points over Reeves in North Carolina's points race. Lebo, with his win, jumps into the lead in the Virginia points race by 3.5 points over Vince Batten. Keith Waters maintains his lead in the NCAPA by 4.5 points over Comer, and Jonathan Moore leads by 8.5 over APA rookie Tyler Proffitt for Virginia.
North Carolina's next scheduled tournament will be with the South Carolina tour for the first of three combined weekends in Anderson. They will play on Saturday, April 21st on Course 2, starting at 12:00 p.m., and the Carolinas' Open, defended by Gary Hester, will start at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 22.
Virginia's next tour stop will be in Charlottesville the following weekend, April 28-29. The first event will get underway at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, and then the first of their four majors will start on Sunday, April 29, at 10:00 a.m. for the 3rd annual Dogwood Festival Open.
Scores provided by Rick Rybaczek and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Raleigh, NC Event (8 April 2001)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Brad Lebo 23 28 28 79 $150.00 2 Robert Johnson 24 28 29 81 $110.00 3 Mike Brown 26 28 28 82 $82.00 Andy Coradini 29 27 26 82 $82.00 Ed Haggerty 28 28 26 82 $82.00 6 Rick Baird 29 26 28 83 $63.00 Gary Hester 26 30 27 83 $63.00 Jimmy Mott 28 28 27 83 $63.00 Rick Rybaczek 28 28 27 83 $63.00 10 Billy Caudle 28 30 26 84 $48.00 Randy Reeves 28 30 26 84 $48.00 12 Darrell Britt 28 26 31 85 $42.00 Daryl Freeman 29 27 29 85 $42.00 Michael Hitt 30 29 26 85 $42.00 15 Bill Kirby, Jr. 32 27 27 86 $40.00 Greg Newport 29 27 30 86 $40.00 17 Vince Batten 28 28 31 87 $24.00 Wayne Cheatham 30 29 28 87 $24.00 Ed Grajewski 27 30 30 87 $24.00 Peter Neumann 26 32 29 87 $24.00 Larry Simpson 30 26 31 87 $24.00 22 Ray Guthrie 26 32 30 88 23 Gilbert Sharpe 29 31 29 89 24 Thomas Rawles 27 32 31 90 Manfred Stewart 31 30 29 90 26 Gary English 30 31 30 91 27 Bob Davis 31 31 30 92 Mike Griffin 31 33 28 92 29 Buddy Taylor 30 33 30 93 30 Kevin Garrett 33 29 32 94 31 Tommy Barbour 27 34 34 95 32 Bart Bason 31 32 33 96 Tony Varnadore 33 33 30 96 34 Gary Moore 34 32 31 97 35 Rusty Taylor 28 37 33 98 36 Alan Quinnelly 33 30 36 99 37 Randy Carter 33 37 30 100 Bob Haizlip 33 31 36 100 39 Peter Ansbacher 35 33 34 102 Amateur Division of Raleigh, NC Event (8 April 2001)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Reimbursement 1 Jimmy Comer 29 30 23 82 $20.00 2 Tommy Hutchinson 31 24 30 85 $20.00 3 Brian Hutchins 30 30 28 88 $20.00 4 Tyler Proffitt 31 27 31 89 $20.00 5 Steve Helton 28 32 30 90 $20.00 6 Keith Waters 28 33 31 92 $20.00 7 Bob Chetister 29 32 34 95 8 Russell Johnson 32 27 37 96 9 Kenny Goin 40 30 29 99 Bear Landin 32 34 33 99 11 Amy Smith 32 34 34 100 12 Chuck Nance 37 36 30 103 13 Jeremy Ingold 33 38 33 104 14 James Bailey 32 38 35 105 Nick Cook 38 35 32 105 16 Chuck Cyr 34 34 39 107 Jonathan Moore 34 36 37 107 18 Walter Kolb 39 37 34 110 19 David Gregor 40 36 35 111 20 Keith Brigman 41 39 39 119