Greg Newport Wins Third Consecutive Palmetto Classic
10 June 2001 - Spartanburg, S.C. - It's beginning to become a broken record in South Carolina when it comes to Greg Newport winning the annual Palmetto Classic. Two years ago, Todd Fowler, Edgar Hollifield, and Andy Coradini all had to witness Newport winning in a four-way playoff for his first South Carolina major title. Then, just last year, only Fowler remained as the player with the opportunity to knock Newport off as the defender, but came up two strokes short in the playoff. This year, the winner was decided virtually on hole 16 in the final round of the tournament. As in the previous two victories he recorded, Newport had to work extra hard after falling so back. In 1999, he trailed by five shots through the first round and was in 12th before winning. Last year, a 31 in the second round knocked him to as low as 9th before rounds of 23 and 25 forced him into another playoff. In this event, he fired a 28 to trail by six to Greg Ward, who opened play with a new course record of 22 in the first round, and was 12th starting the second round. But, he made up all of those strokes as he shot 23 in the second round to catch Ward. Then, it became a battle between two players who are best known for winning majors involving the South Carolina program.
Greg Newport - 1999, 2000 and 2001 Palmetto Classic Champion.
Neither player would separate themselves, but they started to separate from the rest of the field. Each player fired a third round 26 to achieve their co-leadership at 77, with Robert Johnson being the nearest to them at 82. Newport would finally pull it away as he made seven in a row starting on hole 7 and was in command. The ace he made on 16 was the key putt that won it for Newport as he took home his third consecutive Palmetto Classic title. Newport also closed the tournament with his second 23 to finish at a new tournament record low of 100 and a two-shot victory over Ward.
Newport pocketed $250 for winning, while Ward's 102 was good enough for $150, and a second straight second place finish this past weekend in Spartanburg. The 22 shot by Ward in the first round was matched in the last round by Randy Reeves, as it enabled him to finish in the third position at 105. With these scores and Johnson taking home fourth at 107, these were the only four players who broke 110. Tied for fifth went to Andy Coradini, Todd Barfield, and Gary English, all at 111.
No stranger to also winning the event in the Amateur Division was Tommy Hutchinson, who won for the fourth time in the five-year history of the event. The only year he did not win was last year when Chris Hudson won his first APA event of his career that sparked his career for the next two months. Hutchinson would take back his reigns as the Palmetto Classic champion after taking a six-shot lead through the halfway point and cruised to victory.
With opening rounds of 27 and 26, Hutchinson led by six over Brian Hutchins and then fired a 30 to lead by seven over Steve Helton before holding on to win by that margin. For the four rounds played, Hutchinson won the tournament with a score of 111; Helton ended up in second at 118, while Hutchins took third at 119.
Hot and dry conditions were the key elements for this play in Spartanburg. There were 16 pro money and 3 APA reimbursement spots paid back out. The cash line for the Pro Division was 117, which was full share. The APA's line was 119. The spots that were qualified from this tournament on Sunday went to Gary English (state spot), Tony Varnadore and Peter Neumann (the two 2-day qualifiers), and Tommy Barbour (Match Play).
Play will resume in Spartanburg on Saturday, June 23, in Anderson, site of the 2001 Clayton Cup. This will be the third and final time in the regular season that the tour will play there and as usual, it will be a doubleheader on Saturday. Tee-off time will be 10:00 a.m. and the second tournament will commence exactly one hour after the morning tournament is completed.
Recap and Scores provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of the 2001 Palmetto Classic
(Spartanburg, S.C. - 10 June 2001)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 4 Total Money 1 Greg Newport 28 23 26 23 100 $200.00 2 Greg Ward 22 29 26 25 102 $150.00 3 Randy Reeves 25 27 31 22 105 $110.00 4 Robert Johnson 23 30 29 25 107 $100.00 5 Todd Barfield 28 27 28 28 111 $90.00 Andy Coradini 27 27 30 27 111 $90.00 Gary English 27 26 30 28 111 $90.00 8 Gary Hester 28 29 28 27 112 $85.00 9 Darrell Britt 29 29 30 25 113 $75.00 Brad Lebo 29 29 29 26 113 $75.00 11 Tommy Barbour 29 31 27 27 114 $70.00 12 Todd Fowler 24 34 29 28 115 $60.00 13 Mike Flavin 26 31 31 28 116 $60.00 14 Rick Baird 32 32 27 26 117 $52.00 Vance Randall 27 31 31 28 117 $52.00 Tony Varnadore 31 28 27 31 117 $52.00 17 Daryl Freeman 29 32 28 29 118 Jay Klapper 28 30 33 27 118 Peter Neumann 27 31 27 33 118 Tony Pack 29 30 29 30 118 Frank Warren 29 33 27 29 118 22 Tony Jackson 27 29 31 32 119 Rick Rybaczek 29 28 30 32 119 24 Dan Anders 30 30 29 31 120 Jimmy Mott 28 32 30 30 120 26 Michael Hitt 31 27 32 31 121 Opie Roberts 29 32 30 30 121 Allen Wall 33 29 33 26 121 29 Jonathan Reid 26 30 30 26 122 Randal Smith 30 31 28 33 122 31 Brian Martin 28 30 33 33 124 32 Bob Jackson 28 33 32 34 127 33 Robby Bryant 31 33 31 34 129
Amateur Division of the 2001 Palmetto Classic
( Spartanburg, S.C. - 10 June 2001)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 4 Total Reimbursement 1 Tommy Hutchinson 27 26 30 28 111 $15.00 2 Steve Helton 32 28 29 29 118 $15.00 3 Brian Hutchins 29 29 32 29 119 $10.00 4 Chris Hudson 30 32 31 29 122 5 J. L. Coffey 32 31 31 31 125 6 Richard Griffin 32 34 32 29 127 7 Todd Trent 32 29 32 35 128 8 Linwood Moist 36 33 33 31 133 9 Russell Sigmon, Jr. 34 35 35 31 135 10 Robbie Waldrop 34 34 34 38 140 11 Keith Brigman 39 38 32 36 145 12 Calvin Waldrop 33 43 37 37 150