Lewis Burton's Final Round 23 Earns Win in Rock Hill, SC
29 April 2001 - Rock Hill, S.C. - It would take a final round 23 for Lewis Burton to capture his first win on the South Carolina circuit since winning in June, 1999. The two-time PPA National Champion from outside Atlanta came from two shots down to Todd Fowler and fired a final round 23 to win by two shots. Burton would close the cloudy, cool afternoon acing the last six holes to finish the back half of the Rock Hill weekend with a 77.
Lewis Burton at the 2000 PPA National Championship.
Fowler, always an early favorite on this course, opened play with the lead at 24. Despite a second round 28, Fowler maintained a one-shot lead over Randy Reeves and Greg Newport. Fowler would close the afternoon with a 30 and would not leave Rock Hill with the win.
It would come down to the third pairing of the day, involving Burton and Rick Rybaczek. Rybaczek, down 1 to Burton after 2 rounds, aced hole 12 to pull even with Burton with 6 holes left to play. Both made 13 to stay even. Burton made hole 14 after Rybaczek missed to retake the lead. They would trade aces on 15 and 16, with Burton clinching the win with an ace on 17 to Rybaczek's deuce. Burton would ace the last hole to shoot the low round of the day at 23 and come away with his first win in two seasons. Burton shot 77 while Rybaczek's 24 in the last round got him to 79 which was good enough for second.
Brian Hutchins capped off a perfect weekend for him as he fired rounds of 27, 27, and 25 to sweep the APA Division. Hutchins would shoot one stroke better than Saturday's finish as he walked out of Rock Hill with a score of 79. Chris Hudson would only finish five shots in back of Hutchins at 84 for second, and current South Carolina State Champion Tommy Hutchinson finished in third at 88.
Rounding out the top five for the Pro Division on Sunday included Reeves and Tony Pack tying for third at 81. Fowler's fallout in the final round earned him the fifth spot at 82. Once again, there were 27 professionals participating in Rock Hill.
There were 13 money spots paid out in the Pro Division with the score of 86 being a four-way split for one spot. Three spots were paid back out to the amateurs, with 88 being the line there.
With the win, Burton took both the South Carolina State and Match Play spots, while Rybaczek took the two-day spot. Greg Ward has the lead in the Pro Division Player of the Year race over Robert Johnson, while Tommy Hutchinson only leads the APA Division by 1/2 point on Chris Hudson and by two on Hutchins.
The two tours will not participate again until Saturday, June 2, in Spartanburg. The tournament will be contested on Course 2, starting at 12:00pm. Then, they will trek up to Forest City, North Carolina to complete their weekend on Course 1 starting at 10:00am.
Recap and APA Scores provided by Opie Roberts PPA Scores provided by Rick Rybaczek
Professional Division of Rock Hill, S.C. Event (29 April 2001)
Round
SC Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Points Money 1
Burton, Lewis
28
26
23
77
30.00
120.00
2
Rybaczek, Rick
26
29
24
79
29.00
80.00
3
Pack, Tony
32
25
24
81
27.50
63.00
Reeves, Randy
25
28
28
81
27.50
63.00
5
Fowler, Todd
24
28
30
82
26.00
55.00
6
Warren, Frank
30
27
26
83
24.50
48.00
Johnson, Robert
29
29
25
83
24.50
48.00
8
Ward, Greg
27
30
27
84
21.50
39.00
Mott, Jimmy
29
30
25
84
21.50
39.00
Varnadore, Tony
29
29
26
84
21.50
39.00
Newport, Greg
27
26
31
84
21.50
39.00
12
Jackson, Bob
30
30
25
85
19.00
35.00
13
Barfield, Todd
27
28
31
86
16.50
9.00
Wall, Allen
30
27
29
86
16.50
9.00
Chambers, Kevin
31
27
28
86
16.50
9.00
Britt, Darrell
33
28
25
86
16.50
9.00
17
Gill, Nick
31
26
30
87
13.00
Jackson, Tony
30
26
31
87
13.00
Baird, Rick
26
31
30
87
13.00
20
Hester, Gary
28
28
32
88
11.00
21
Caudle, Billy
31
30
28
89
10.00
22
Randall, Vance
28
33
29
90
8.00
Benfield, Gary
32
28
30
90
8.00
Hitt, Michael
30
32
28
90
8.00
25
Klapper, Jay
28
32
32
92
6.00
26
Reid, Jonathan
32
29
32
93
5.00
27
Orr, Randy
30
32
35
97
5.00
Amateur Division of Rock Hill, S.C. Event (29 April 2001)
Round SC Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Points Money 1
Hutchins, Brian 27 27 25 79 15.00 $10.00
2
Hudson, Chris 27 28 29 84 14.00 $10.00 3 Hutchinson, Tommy 30 30 28 88 13.00 $5.00 4 Helton, Steve 30 27 34 91 11.50 Waters, Keith 31 28 32 91 11.50 6
Trent, Todd 30 32 31 93 9.50 Walters, Billy 37 28 28 93 9.50 8
Smith, Adam 31 33 32 96 8.00 9 Coffey, J. L. 33 30 34 97 6.50 Comer, Jimmy 30 34 33 97 6.50 11 Waldrop, Calvin 34 33 33 100 15.00 12
Moist, Linwood 34 32 35 101 3.50 Trent, Robin 39 30 32 101 3.50 14
Waldrop, Robbie 36 32 35 103 2.00 15
Norby, Robbie 36 34 35 105 1.00 16 Brigman, Keith 38 32 37 107 1.00