Gary Hester Wins Carolina's Open
21 April 2001 - Anderson, S.C. - With the Carolina's Open tournament to be played on Sunday, 40 players faced off in the warm-up tournament for both the North and South Carolina tours. It was only fitting that the defending champion of the Carolina's Open would win the tune-up event.
Tune-Up Tournament
Hole 13 (Course 2) in Anderson, South Carolina.
Gary Hester, 2000 Carolina's Open Champion, won by one shot over Greg Newport and Greg Ward, previous winners held in Anderson this year. Newport and Hester were tied at 59 after two rounds, with Ward one shot back. After Ward fired a final round 31 to finish at 91, Newport took himself out with a triple bogey five on hole 13 and Hester went to 17 with a two-stroke lead. Hester lagged the hill and took a bogey three. Then, on 18 with a one-shot lead, Hester lined his tee shot up and bounced off the back of the hole and landed in the corner on the left side. He made his deuce from there to win by one shot at 90.
Gary Hester, 2000 Carolina's Open Champion.
Hester's win is his third in the last two seasons. All three of his wins since returning to the state level in 1996 have come in the realms of both the North and South Carolina tour program in a combined event format.
Chris Hudson battled in the APA Division against Tommy Hutchinson and won by two strokes over Hutchinson. Hudson fired a second round 29 to trail Hutchinson by one shot, then fired a final round 30 to win by two shots over Hutchinson. The win for Hudson is his second this year in South Carolina and the first this year in North Carolina. Hudson should be one of the favorites this Sunday in Anderson as he finished the day at 18-under par 90. Hutchinson shot 92 to finish in second and Brian Hutchins and Steve Helton both wound up tied for third at 103.
Newport and Ward each finished one back of Hester at 91 in a tie for second. Michael Hitt fired a score of 92 to finish in the fourth position on Saturday, and Mike Brown and Randy Reeves rounded out the top five with a final score of 93.
There were 20 money spots paid out in the Pro Division with the score of 99 receiving a four-way split for the 20th spot. The APA cash line was 103 with a two-player split for that spot.
With the victory on Saturday, Hester took all of the available spots offered by both the North and South Carolina tours. He accepted the North Carolina State Qualifying and Match Play spots. The same holds true for South Carolina.
The two tours will compete again this Sunday, April 22, at 9:00am in Anderson for the Carolina's Open. Hester will be out there to defend his title.
Recap and Scores provided by Opie Roberts
Professional Division of Anderson, S.C. Event (21 April 2001)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Gary Hester 30 29 31 90 $130.00 2 Greg Newport 31 28 32 91 $93.00 Greg Ward 31 29 31 91 $93.00 4 Michael Hitt 33 30 29 92 $75.00 5 Mike Brown 29 33 31 93 $73.00 Randy Reeves 30 33 30 93 $73.00 7 Todd Fowler 32 32 30 94 $62.00 Robert Johnson 31 31 32 94 $62.00 Frank Warren 31 31 32 94 $62.00 10 Mike Flavin 30 33 32 95 $53.00 Brad Lebo 33 32 30 95 $53.00 12 Darrell Britt 29 37 30 96 $46.00 Lewis Burton 31 33 32 96 $46.00 Kevin Lacey 31 33 32 96 $46.00 Tony Varnadore 32 31 33 96 $46.00 16 Billy Caudle 32 32 33 97 $40.00 Peter Neumann 34 31 32 97 $40.00 18 Ray Guthrie 32 37 29 98 $40.00 Alan Quinnelly 30 37 31 98 $40.00 20 Rick Baird 30 36 33 99 $10.00 Bart Bason 34 30 35 99 $10.00 Tony Jackson 32 33 34 99 $10.00 Jonathan Reid 27 36 36 99 $10.00 24 Tony Pack 33 36 31 100 Rick Rybaczek 33 31 36 100 26 Brian Martin 33 34 34 101 27 Bob Haizlip 30 36 36 102 Tommy Hollifield 37 32 33 102 29 Vance Randall 39 29 35 103 30 Edgar Hollifield 42 33 29 104 31 Andy Coradini 35 36 34 105 Daryl Freeman 36 36 33 105 Jimmy Mott 36 32 37 105 Larry Simpson 29 38 38 105 35 Tommy Barbour 37 36 34 107 Thomas Rawles 37 32 38 107 36 Robby Bryant 35 36 37 108 Allen Wall 40 28 40 108 39 Bob Jackson 41 37 35 113 40 Robert Ward 45 40 33 118
Amateur Division of Anderson, S.C. Event (21 April 2001)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Chris Hudson 31 29 30 90 $10.00 2 Tommy Hutchinson 27 32 33 92 $10.00 3 Steve Helton 32 38 33 103 $2.50 Brian Hutchins 31 39 33 103 $2.50 5 Adam Smith 34 38 32 104 6 Todd Trent 39 32 38 109 7 Keith Waters 37 41 32 110 8 Jimmy Comer 36 43 32 111 9 Betty Helton 32 41 40 113 Robbie Norby 41 34 38 113 11 Linwood Moist 36 41 37 114 12 Walter Kolb 42 35 39 116 13 J. L. Coffey 44 35 38 117 14 Keith Brigman 49 51 38 138 15 Robin Trent 49 44 47 140