Jeff Smith Wins 2001 Texas State Championship
30 September 2001 - Waco, TX - Texas State Final was contested Sunday September 30th in Waco, Texas. David Lynch advanced to the Finals defeating Steve Armstrong , Cliff Matthews and Rainey Statum to face Jeffrey Smith who defeated Shannon Spitzer, Joel Baker and Chris Conradi. David began the match in strong fashion shooting a 5-under 13 to Jeff's 1-under taking a 4 hole lead. Jeff played a strong 2nd 9 of 6 under but only managed to close on David by one hole leaving him 3 down starting the second 18 holes. By the time the match reached the final 9 holes David held a 5 hole lead and was looking to close out the match. Jeff, however, had other plans. He began another run on the back 9 shooting a second 6 under par and tying David on the 35th hole. Both players missed the 36th hole to take the match to sudden death. After both players missed the first two holes Jeff made the 3rd hole forcing David to try and make the hole to continue the match. A pulled putt by David gave Jeff his third Texas State Title.
In the amateur division Wade Sahmel defeated Jason Sheffield, Andy Gaiser, and Ken Beck to meet Steve Tanton who defeated Mike Wellborn, Doug Austin and Dave Blalock. Wade looked like an easy winner through the early part of the match as he took an early 5 hole lead and held it through 28 hole's. As the match was nearing its end Steve Tanton began a late run and pulled back to even with 4 holes to go. As is often the case when a player makes a strong charge from way back, once the match was tied Steve faltered and allowed Wade to take the next 2 holes and win 2 and 1. This was Wade's first State Title. The match also decided the amateur player of year Wade Sahmel.
Place Player Prize Money Match-Win Match-Loss 1st Jeffrey Smith $660.00 4 0 2nd David Lynch $460.00 3 1 3rd Chris Conradi $380.00 2 1 Rainey Statum $280.00 2 1 5th Greg Roberts $300.00 1 1 Joel Baker $260.00 2 1 Cliff Matthews $300.00 1 1 Tim Murphree $300.00 1 1 9th Steve Armstrong $140.00 1 1 Lee Messinger $240.00 0 1 Greg Everly $200.00 1 1 Randy Wimpy $240.00 0 1 Bill Florian $240.00 0 1 Don Parker $240.00 0 1 Shannon Spitzer $140.00 1 1 Richard Spitzer $240.00 0 1 17th Tom Adair $100.00 0 1 Al Simpson $140.00 0 2 19th Brice Bergesen $100.00 0 1 Randy Willett $40.00 0 1 Tournament recap and match results courtesy of Lee Messinger.
2001 Texas State Championship
(30 September 2001 - Waco, TX)
