Jeffrey Smith
Wins 2002 Texas Open
8-9 June 2002 -
Round Rock, TX - The Texas Putting Tour held
its first major of the year at the Round Rock
Putt-Putt near Austin, Texas. The first day of the event was held on the
normal tournament course. The scores on this course have been steadily
decreasing since the challenger carpet was laid 2 years ago and the
trend continued on Saturday. With 11-under 25's
Jeffrey Smith
and Wade
Sahmel took an opening round lead of two strokes over
Brice
Bergesen and 3 over a trio of players.
Lee
Messinger and
Andy Gaiser
shot the lowest pro round of the day with 12-under 24's in the second
round. This put Lee in a tie with Brice Bergesen for the lead and Andy
Gaiser in a tie for third with Wade Sahmel two back.
Messinger managed to hold onto the lead over
the last two rounds of the day but Jeffrey Smith shot a tournament best
20-under 52 over those rounds to close the gap and force a tie for the
lead going to the second day.
In the amateur division
Greg Cole and
Mickey DeLucca
started off strong sharing the lead at 8 under 28. Both players,
however, struggled through the rest of the day falling out of
contention. It was looking like
Steve Tanton's
solid play might give him an insurmountable lead going to the second day
but to great rounds, a 10 under 26 by Doug Austin in the third round and
the lowest round of the day and new course record of 13 under 23 by
Steve Willmann
in the fourth round left those two players within striking distance of
Tanton going to the second day.
The second day of the Texas Open looked to be a four horse race with
Jeffrey Smith and Lee Messinger tied for the lead and Wade Sahmel one
stroke back.
Cliff
Matthews was the only other player within 8 strokes of lead at four
back. This was the first time a tournament had been at Round Rocks
second course and the players were looking forward to the challenge as
the course looked to vulnerable to some low scores. That all changed
when a short but heavy downpour started just 5 minutes prior to the
scheduled start. After the initial delay there were two more rain
delay's before all players had managed to tee off. Thankfully the
weather held for rest of the day.
The wet track showed its teeth during the first round as only Jeffrey
Smith was able to break 6 under 30 and that was by 1 stroke. Wade Sahmel
charged in the 6th round with 10-under 25 to take a one stroke lead
going to the 7th round. It was Cliff Matthews turn to charge in the 7th
round. His 10-under 25 forged a tie with Jeffrey Smith for lead going
into the last round. With Cliff and Jeff tied for lead, Lee 2 back and
Wade 3 back the last round looked like it might be interesting. Jeff,
however, had other ideas. A last round 12 under 24 , the best round of
the day and a new course record, gave him a 6 stroke victory and his
first Texas Open title.
In the amateur division the event quickly became a two man contest
between Steve Willmann and Steve Tanton. While Willmann did manage to
tie Tanton after the 5th round, Tanton managed for get his lead back
after the 6th round and held off Willmann over the last two rounds for
his fifth title of the year.
Article and scores
provided by Lee Messinger.
Professional Division of
2002 Texas Open
(Round Rock, TX Event - 8-9 June 2002)
| |
|
Round |
|
Prize |
| |
Player |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
Total |
Money |
|
1 |
Jeffrey Smith |
25 |
30 |
25 |
27 |
29 |
29 |
29 |
24 |
218 |
$280.00 |
|
2 |
Cliff
Matthews* |
31 |
26 |
28 |
26 |
30 |
28 |
25 |
30 |
224 |
$160.00 |
|
3 |
Lee
Messinger |
28 |
24 |
27 |
28 |
33 |
27 |
29 |
30 |
226 |
$80.00 |
|
|
Wade
Sahmel |
25 |
29 |
29 |
25 |
31 |
25 |
33 |
29 |
226 |
$80.00 |
|
5 |
David
Lynch |
28 |
31 |
34 |
25 |
30 |
28 |
29 |
25 |
230 |
$40.00 |
|
6 |
Brice
Bergesen* |
27 |
25 |
28 |
29 |
35 |
30 |
29 |
28 |
231 |
|
|
7 |
Andy
Gaiser |
30 |
24 |
30 |
31 |
34 |
30 |
25 |
29 |
233 |
|
|
8 |
Joel
Baker* |
28 |
28 |
32 |
31 |
31 |
31 |
30 |
31 |
242 |
|
|
9 |
Richard Spitzer* |
30 |
28 |
34 |
25 |
32 |
32 |
30 |
32 |
243 |
|
|
10 |
Randy
Wimpy |
29 |
34 |
27 |
33 |
32 |
31 |
30 |
31 |
247 |
|
|
11 |
Chris
Breedlove* |
34 |
32 |
32 |
29 |
37 |
29 |
29 |
29 |
251 |
|
|
12 |
Mike
Huckaby |
31 |
34 |
32 |
33 |
31 |
25 |
33 |
33 |
252 |
|