Greg Newport Defends Wayne Hancock Memorial (High Point, NC

26 May 2002 - High Point, NC - Every season, the North Carolina tour has a special tournament specially made for the amateurs. One of its own players, Wayne Hancock, passed away in 1993 and was considered one of the nicest men ever in the PPA. Hancock was classified by other amateurs as a genuine person and very friendly and with that regard, the High Point course has hosted the Wayne Hancock Memorial since his passing.

This was the tenth annual event and in one of the rarest opportunity, the amateurs were the first to tee off. The race for first in this event and the opportunity to knock off defending champion Bear Landin was likely to take place. Ben Blake grabbed the opening round lead of 26 to lead by one shot over a trio of players, including Landin. By the end of the second round, a quartet of players were in at 54 (Bear Landin, Russell Sigmon, Jr., David Gregor, and longtime Hancock ally Adam Smith).

It would be Landin taking care of business in the final round. His 25 broke open the deadlock and Landin managed to win by two strokes over Sigmon. Landin completed a weekend sweep in High Point on Memorial Day weekend with a final score of 79. The score was posted as the lowest ever shot for an amateur since the slow carpet was placed there in 1999. Sigmon was second at 81, while third went to Blake at 82. Earlier this season, Landin won the weekend sweep in Asheboro to start the 2002 season.

For the Pros, it is synonymous for Greg Newport to win repeatedly in special tournaments. Once a three-time defender of the Howard Loy Memorial, and then the current three-time defender of the Palmetto Classic, Newport now has the Wayne Hancock Memorial to build on as he won the title for the second straight year with a final score of 73. Newport enjoyed a two-shot lead over Ray Guthrie, the 2000 winner of the event, at 47 and cruised to victory with final round 26 for his second win of the season. Newport also claimed victory earlier this year at the Furniture City Open, a title he also defended with a strong closing back nine to win by one.

Newport held ground to win by three shots over Peter Neumann, Tony Varnadore, and Greg Ward. All three had a strong outing on Sunday to shoot 76 for a three-way tie for second. Ray Guthrie tied Billy Caudle and Andy Coradini for the fifth spot on another blistering hot day at 77.

For the second straight day, 18 spots were awarded to the Pro Division. Seven players were tied at 82 for a full share. Varnadore claimed the World Match Play spot and the North Carolina State Qualifying spot, while Neumann grabbed the 10th North Carolina Match Play spot in this event. Perdue was the recipient of the two-day APA low qualifying spot.

Special thanks to the staff and management of the High Point course, headed by Chris Graney, for hosting the Wayne Hancock and Barbara Nance Memorials this weekend.

The North Carolina tour will make its return to Wilmington on Saturday, June 8. This will be the Port City Open and will be contested on Course 1. The event in Wilmington will be the first PPA event played since the 1999 Clayton Cup, the first medal play event since the 1997 North Carolina State Championship, and the first regular season tournament since 1992. Action gets underway at 12:00pm on Course 1.

The tour then goes to Goldsboro as they will be participating there for the first time since 1996. The Goldsboro Open will be played on Sunday, June 9, at 10:00am.

		Round				NC	Prize
	Player	1	2	3	Total	Points	Money
1	Newport, Greg	25	22	26	73	40.00	$ 150.00
2	Ward, Greg	25	25	26	76	33.00	$ 93.00
	Varnadore, Tony	26	27	23	76	33.00	$ 93.00
	Neumann, Peter	24	28	24	76	33.00	$ 93.00
5	Coradini, Andy	26	26	25	77	30.00	$ 70.00
	Caudle, Billy	26	24	27	77	30.00	$ 70.00
	Guthrie, Ray	26	23	28	77	30.00	$ 70.00
8	Witcofski, Lee	28	27	25	80	28.00	$ 60.00
9	Rybaczek, Rick	26	29	26	81	26.00	$ 50.00
	Britt, Darrell	23	27	31	81	26.00	$ 50.00
	Sharpe, Gilbert	28	23	30	81	26.00	$ 50.00
12	Jackson, Tony	28	24	30	82	21.00	$ 41.00
	Rawles, Thomas	28	29	25	82	21.00	$ 41.00
	Comer, Jimmy	27	27	28	82	21.00	$ 41.00
	Culverhouse, Rick	26	27	29	82	21.00	$ 41.00
	Griffin, Mike	28	26	28	82	21.00	$ 41.00
	Anders, Dan	26	28	28	82	21.00	$ 41.00
	English, Gary	26	27	29	82	21.00	$ 41.00
19	Kirby, Bill	33	25	25	83	15.00
	Hester, Gary	25	28	30	83	15.00
	Taylor, Buddy	33	24	26	83	15.00
	Carter, Randy	24	28	31	83	15.00
	Randall, Vance	28	27	28	83	15.00
24	Johnson, Robert	29	28	27	84	12.00
25	Baird, Rick	29	29	27	85	10.00
	Barbour, Tommy	26	28	31	85	10.00
	Jackson, Bob	28	25	32	85	10.00
28	Cardwell, Michael	29	32	25	86	8.00
29	Bunting, Chris	31	28	28	87	7.00
30	Hitt, Michael	29	31	28	88	5.33
	Roberts, Opie	26	31	31	88	5.33
	Arrington, Glenwood	32	29	27	88	5.33
33	Haizlip, Bob	32	30	27	89	5.00
34	Moore, Gary	29	31	30	90	5.00
35	Thompson, Don	31	30	30	91	5.00
	Jones, CL	31	30	30	91	5.00

		Round				NC	Expense
	Player	1	2	3	Total	Points	Reimbursement
1	Landin, Bear	27	27	25	79	23.00	$ 15.00
2	Sigmon Jr, Russell	27	27	27	81	19.00	$ 15.00
3	Blake, Ben	26	29	27	82	18.00	$ 10.00
4	Hutchinson, Tommy	28	28	28	84	16.00	$ 2.00
	Alley, Christopher	29	27	28	84	16.00	$ 2.00
	Gregor, David	28	26	30	84	16.00	$ 2.00
7	Perdue, Lance	27	30	28	85	13.50
	Smith, Adam	29	25	31	85	13.50
9	Waters, Keith	35	27	29	91	11.50
	Nance, Chuck	34	25	32	91	11.50
11	Helton, Betty	32	29	31	92	9.50
	Helton, Steve	34	28	30	92	9.50
13	Kolb, Walter	34	32	28	94	8.00

Bear Landin Wins Weekend Sweep and Defends Wayne Hancock Memorial