Ray Guthrie Wins in White Lake, N.C. in Playoff Over Gary Hester
Ray Guthrie playing in the 2000 PPA National Championship.
5 May 2001 - White Lake, N.C. - For just the second time in his shortened PPA career, Ray Guthrie won on the North Carolina tour, but not before winning in an exciting playoff over fellow High Point player Gary Hester. Guthrie came from four strokes down to Hester after the second round and fired his second 25 of the afternoon to finish deadlocked with Hester at 79.
After the first round, Bob Davis had the lead at 25, by one shot over Hester and Randy Reeves. Hester took the lead in the second round with a 24 to go in at 50. Hester had a two-shot lead on Davis and Bart Bason with one round to play, and Guthrie was four back of the lead. Guthrie would prevail with his second 25 of the tournament and made up the strokes on Hester at the end of regulation.
Guthrie would take full command in the playoff as he ended the playoff making 10 of the last 11 and walked away with a huge win on Hester.
Keith Waters successfully defended last year's APA title there by winning by two shots over Jimmy Comer. Waters broke a three-way tie for the lead after the first round at 30 by scoring a second round 26 to take a two shot lead on Comer. Waters finished off an incredible afternoon with a final round 26 to win by two at 82. For Waters, it was his third win of the year in the APA, most this year. Comer shot 84 to finish second and Bear Landin shot 88 to end up third.
Bason finished in third on Saturday with a final score of 80. Reeves shot 81 to finish fourth and Davis rounded out the top five at 82. Defending champion Bob Haizlip was among three players finishing tied for sixth at 83. There were 12 money spots paid out in the Pro Division with the score of 85 receiving a three-way split for the final two spots. There were only two APA reimbursement expenses in this tournament. With the victory on Saturday, Guthrie took both the State Qualifying and Match Play spots for later this year.
The North Carolina tour will compete again this Sunday, May 6, at 10:00am in Lumberton. Greg Newport is the defending champion of this tournament.
Scores provided by Rick Rybaczek and tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of White Lake, N.C. Event (5 May 2001)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Ray Guthrie** 29 25 25 79 $150.00 2 Gary Hester 26 24 29 79 $110.00 3 Bart Bason 28 24 28 80 $90.00 4 Randy Reeves 26 31 24 81 $80.00 5 Bob Davis 25 27 30 82 $75.00 6 Mike Brown 29 26 28 83 $60.00 Bob Haizlip 29 26 28 83 $60.00 Brad Lebo 27 28 28 83 $60.00 9 Tommy Barbour 28 29 27 84 $45.00 10 Billy Caudle 30 29 26 85 $42.00 Michael Hitt 31 27 27 85 $42.00 Rick Rybaczek 28 29 28 85 $42.00 13 Darrell Britt 30 28 28 86 Andy Coradini 27 31 28 86 Robert Johnson 31 28 27 86 Gary Moore 29 28 29 86 17 Greg Newport 31 28 28 87 18 Bob Jackson 28 31 29 88 19 Rick Baird 32 29 28 89 Larry Simpson 31 31 27 89 21 Kevin Garrett 33 28 29 90 C. L. Jones 28 34 28 90 23 Michael Cardwell 31 33 30 94 24 Chris Bunting 30 31 34 95 ** Won in a playoff over Gary Hester.
Amateur Division of White Lake, N.C. Event (5 May 2001)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Reimbursement 1 Keith Waters 30 26 26 82 $20.00 2 Jimmy Comer 30 28 26 84 $20.00 3 Bear Landin 30 30 28 88 4 Steve Helton 33 27 31 91 5 Todd Trent 34 29 31 94 6 Kenny Goin 30 30 36 96 Tommy Hutchinson 32 35 29 96 8 Walter Kolb 35 37 31 103 9 Linwood Moist 34 33 37 104 10 Keith Brigman 35 32 42 109