Greg Newport Wins His Second Carolina's Open Title in Playoff Over Robert Johnson
22 April 2001 - Anderson, S.C. - For the first time since 1985, the Carolina's Open returned to Anderson, South Carolina with an excellent participation of 43 professionals and 15 amateurs. In one of the most exciting finishes ever recorded in a major, the Open was decided by a playoff for the first time since 1988. Greg Newport and Robert Johnson were two players who always took control of the one of the most challenging courses across the country. Newport had won three times in the past two years, while Johnson had not won there since September, 1999 when he made the last four holes to edge out Tony Jackson by one.
Hole 16 (Course 2) in Anderson, South Carolina.
It would be Johnson taking command early on this bright, sunny morning with an opening round of 24 (low round of the entire tournament). Johnson capped the round off with a 10 on the back and barely missed 18 for a perfect nine. With that, Johnson held a three-shot lead on Randy Reeves. An interesting thing happened in the first round when Mike Brown was 8-under through 15 holes and went to 16 and took a 15 on it. Afterwards, Brown took full control and recovered nicely with the next four rounds of a combined score of 116, and moved to third after five rounds before running out of gas. The 15 recorded on the hole set a new South Carolina record for most strokes on a single hole in the Pro Division.
Greg Newport, 2001 Carolina's Open Champion.
Johnson maintained the lead of three after the second round, but would temporarily lose it at the halfway point with a 33 in the third round to fall two back of Reeves. Reeves fired a 28 to go in the clubhouse at 85 with three grueling rounds remaining and had a two shot lead on Johnson. Newport completed the final three-some of the afternoon with a third round 27 to move to within three shots of the lead. These three would be the only ones under 90 after the third round.
While the Pros rested between the third and fourth rounds, the APA were completing their fourth and final round themselves. After three rounds of play, Todd Trent held a one-shot lead on Chris Hudson and Brian Hutchins, and seven players were within six shots of the lead. Jimmy Comer was three shots in back of Trent and in fourth with three consecutive 34's. Comer said before the fourth round that he would fire a 24 and win it. That did not happen, but the two-time North Carolina State Champion shot 25 in the final round and avenged last year's disappointing final round woes in the Open. Comer won his first ever Carolina's Open title with a final score of 137, good enough for a four-shot victory over Hutchins and Trent.
As afternoon play began in the Pro Division around 6 1/2 hours after it started, Reeves found trouble to start as he recorded four double-bogey fours in that round and fell out of the top five. Reeves shot 39 that round and lost 11 strokes to Johnson. Johnson regained his opening round form with a final round 28 to take the lead at 115 and up by five on Newport. Newport, who won the 1992 event in Gastonia, mounted his own comeback, besting Johnson by two shots to move to within three after the fifth round and then the drama began.
Hole 13 (Course 2) in Anderson, South Carolina.
With six holes left to play between the two combatants, Newport was leading by only one on Johnson and Greg Ward, after Ward finished the tournament with a 25 to go in at 181. On 13, Newport lagged the drop-off area and came back to the tee mat and hit his deuce putt, where it lipped off the right side and dove over to the left rail. Newport settled for three and Johnson made 13 to lead by one on Newport and Ward. After both missed 14, Johnson's putt on 15 was on-line and curled away to the right at the last second. Newport made it to even the tournament with only three holes to play in regulation.
Robert Johnson was going for his first tour victory since winning in Anderson in 1999 and in North Carolina since 1997. His chances came up short in the playoff against Newport.
Hole 18 (Course 2) in Anderson, South Carolina.
Both players laid up 16 to remain tied. Newport made 17 and Johnson's putt missed to the right and settled for the deuce. Newport had a chance to win it outright on 18, but his ball caught the right lip and rolled left of the hole and down into the corner. After his spacing, he tapped in his deuce and Johnson had to make 18 to stay alive. Johnson crushed his tee shot and rolled all the way to the back rail and almost stopped at the hill on the return. His ball had enough momentum to roll back down and fall in for the ace to finish regulation play tied with Newport. After nearly 11 hours of extensive and tiring play, there still had to be a winner to decide.
In the 18-hole playoff, Newport jumped out early with three consecutive aces to start the round and led by two on Johnson. From there, it was a deuces race until hole 9, where Johnson made it to pull to within one of Newport. Newport made 10 to regain a two shot lead (4-under to 2-under), and the outcome was virtually decided when Johnson missed a costly three foot deuce putt on 11. Newport smelled the win when he made 15 and won the playoff by four on Johnson. Newport took home $300 for his second win on both the North and South Carolina tours this season. The playoff was the first in the Open since 1988 when Jerry Campbell won it in Durham.
Ward finished third at 181, while Reeves shot 184 to finish fourth, and Brown finished in fifth at 186. Four players ended up tied for sixth at 188, including two-time National Champion and the PPA's first-ever Hall of Fame Player Vance Randall, two-time National Champion Lewis Burton, 1997 South Carolina champion Todd Fowler, and North and South Carolina APA Champion of 1998 Billy Caudle. Rick Baird and Cincinnati player Kevin Lacey rounded out the top 10 at 189.
The 11 hour and 20 minute marathon in Anderson was the longest Carolina's Open in history. There were 21 money spots for the Pro Division with the score of 195 receiving a five-way split for four. Three spots were awarded for the APA Division as 131 was the cash line there.
After the weekend of play, Newport retains his lead in North Carolina's points race, while Ward leads in South Carolina. Comer has the lead in the APA for North Carolina while Tommy Hutchinson has the lead in the South Carolina APA race.
The South Carolina will return to action this coming weekend in Rock Hill on April 28 & 29 on Course 2. The action gets underway at 12:00pm on Saturday. North Carolina will then have the following weekend, May 5 & 6 in White Lake and Lumberton.
Recap and scores provided by Opie Roberts and Rick Baird.
Professional Division of the 2001 Carolina's Open
Anderson, S.C. (22 April 2001)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Money 1 Greg Newport** 30 31 27 32 30 28 178 $300.00 2 Robert Johnson 24 30 33 28 32 32 179 $200.00 3 Greg Ward 34 32 31 29 30 25 181 $170.00 4 Randy Reeves 27 30 28 39 31 29 184 $150.00 5 Mike Brown 40 31 27 27 29 32 186 $125.00 6 Lewis Burton 32 31 28 30 36 31 188 $103.00 Billy Caudle 34 30 30 31 33 30 188 $103.00 Todd Fowler 30 29 32 31 34 32 188 $103.00 Vance Randall 34 29 34 32 29 30 188 $103.00 10 Rick Baird 31 33 30 36 29 30 189 $88.00 Kevin Lacey 30 29 37 32 30 31 189 $88.00 12 Darrell Britt 30 34 33 31 31 31 190 $78.00 Randal Smith 35 31 30 33 32 29 190 $78.00 14 Bart Bason 35 32 29 35 33 28 192 $65.00 Andy Coradini 35 32 32 29 33 31 192 $65.00 Gary Hester 31 35 31 35 30 30 192 $65.00 17 Bob Haizlip 38 29 32 33 31 30 193 $60.00 18 Tony Jackson 35 33 35 32 28 32 195 $48.00 Jay Klapper 32 33 31 30 36 33 195 $48.00 Brad Lebo 32 30 32 34 34 33 195 $48.00 Jimmy Mott 31 34 32 34 34 30 195 $48.00 Allen Wall 32 29 33 32 36 33 195 $48.00 23 Daryl Freeman 33 34 30 28 38 34 197 Thomas Rawles 31 33 31 37 35 30 197 Frank Warren 30 31 33 37 31 35 197 26 Mike Flavin 35 32 35 33 32 31 198 Alan Quinnelly 31 29 34 35 36 33 198 28 Tony Pack 31 36 30 36 30 36 199 Tony Varnadore 32 33 33 31 34 36 199 30 Robby Bryant 32 35 34 36 29 34 200 31 Edgar Hollifield 36 34 35 29 36 32 202 32 Michael Hitt 39 42 31 28 33 31 204 Rick Rybaczek 36 28 34 30 38 38 204 34 Jonathan Reid 36 33 32 40 31 33 205 35 Ray Guthrie 33 36 33 35 35 34 206 Tommy Hollifield 34 35 31 34 32 40 206 Larry Simpson 34 32 40 33 33 34 206 38 Tommy Barbour 34 35 36 44 29 30 208 Peter Neumann 34 32 39 35 35 33 208 Randy Orr 42 30 34 32 34 36 208 41 Brian Martin 38 37 33 37 34 30 209 42 Bob Jackson 35 36 34 39 33 37 214 43 Robert Ward 35 35 41 36 34 37 218
** Won in playoff (Greg Newport 31, Robert Johnson 35)
Amateur Division of the 2001 Carolina's Open
Anderson, S.C. (22 April 2001)
Round Prize 1 2 3 4 Total Money 1 Jimmy Comer 34 34 34 25 127 $15.00 2 Brian Hutchins 34 34 32 31 131 $12.50 Todd Trent 33 30 36 32 131 $12.50 4 Chris Hudson 33 32 35 34 134 5 Tommy Hutchinson 31 37 36 33 137 6 Steve Helton 34 32 37 36 139 Adam Smith 33 35 37 34 139 8 Betty Helton 32 34 37 39 142 Keith Waters 40 33 37 32 142 10 J. L. Coffey 33 39 39 37 148 Robbie Norby 40 36 35 37 148 12 Robin Trent 32 39 38 41 150 13 Linwood Moist 35 36 34 46 151 14 Keith Brigman 40 38 41 44 163 Walter Kolb 44 36 43 40 163