Vince Batten Holds on to Claim
the 2003 Carolinas' Open Title
Vince Batten
2003 Carolinas' Open Champion1 June 2003 - Spartanburg, S.C. - After having a three-shot lead through the morning session of the 19th annual Carolinas' Open, Vince Batten won in an eight-player battle that was literally decided within the final two holes. Another great field featuring 47 players came out in full force and were blessed that the winds from Saturday's event were a thing of the past.
Spartanburg's Course 2 last held the Carolinas' Open in 1997 where nine players had a legit shot at the win down the stretch. Although not as exciting the previous outcome, lots of drama unfolded in the final two groups and on the final hole.
Batten started off with an excellent round of 25, but trailed by two to Brad Lebo, who turned in the tournament's low round of 23. Lebo then faltered afterwards by posting a 31 and Batten carded a 26 to move out on top along with Andy Coradini, also seeking his first win of the event. Gary Hester, the 2000 Carolinas' Open champion in Winston-Salem, and Tony Jackson were one off the lead at 52, and Ray Guthrie rounded out the top five as he was two of the pace.
Batten then took charge in the final round of the morning. The Richmond, Virginia native shot 25 to head into the afternoon with a commanding three-shot lead over Cincinnati's Robin Ventura and Rock Hill's Tony Varnadore, who each fired their best round of the tournament with a 24 to place in second at the moment at 79. Hester, Jackson, and 1994 champion Mike Brown all were in a tie for fourth at 80.
The Pros then rested for an hour prior to the final three rounds, while the amateurs, whose event was four rounds, played its final round. Donnie Carpenter dominated each of the first three rounds. After being down by a shot to Ricky D. Schults in the opening round and then was tied with Tommy Hutchinson at 52 after the second round, Carpenter opened up a two-shot lead with a third round 27 to go in the house at 79 and with one round to go.
Carpenter would fire his worst round of the day of 31 and ended up at 110. Richard Griffin, who trailed by two entering the final round, shot 29 to join Carpenter. Both had thought a playoff was going to take place, but neither saw Chris Alley come in and fired the amateur field's best final round of 25 to come from five down and clip the two by one shot.
Alley wound up with his first major win of his amateur career when he won the Carolinas' Open with a score of 109, and Carpenter and Griffin had to settle for second. Hutchinson wound up in fourth at 114.
In the afternoon session, Batten's three-shot lead evaporated quickly and surprisingly, scores jumped up higher than the morning rounds. Batten was still holding on to the lead after the fourth round. Through 72 holes, he was in at 103, while Varnadore posted a 25 and Brown shot 24 to jump into second at 104. Coradini also shot 24 to move into fourth at 105, while Hester fell to fifth at 107.
The race for the title began to tighten even more. Batten lost his sole possession of the lead, but was sharing the lead with Varnadore at 132. Brown and Hester were third at 133, with Coradini in fifth at 134. The pack increased as Jackson was closing in on winning his first Carolinas' Open and reigning Palmetto Classic champion Frank Warren poised an afternoon charge. Warren went in the clubhouse at 162, but it would be good enough to finish in a tie for fourth with Coradini and Varnadore.
Jackson had a shot at the win when his putt on 18 missed left, thus settling for a 161. Hester, tied with Jackson, then hit his putt on 18 and it broke right, thus tying Jackson for the moment. Batten then realized that he needed a par on 18 to clinch victory. He was trying to stop in front of the hole, but the ball rolled to the back rail and had to hit his deuce putt. His putt turned a little to the right, but did not turn enough as it caught the right lip and fell in, giving him the win in Carolinas' Open and shooting a final score of 160.
Jackson and Hester finished in second at 161, while Coradini, Warren, and Varnadore finished tied for fourth at 162. Defending champion Greg Ward finished three shots back along with Brown in a tie for seventh at 163. Ventura came in ninth at 164. Ray Guthrie, the reigning North Carolina State Champion, rounded out the top 10 at 165.
The South Carolina tour will return to Spartanburg in two weeks on the weekend of June 14 & 15 on Course 1, starting at 12:00 p.m. on the 14th and 10:00 a.m. on the 15th. North Carolina returns to action the following week with the Virginia tour in Wilson on the weekend of June 21 & 22.
Tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts and scores provided by Rick Rybaczek..
Professional Division of 2003 Carolinas' Open
(Spartanburg, S.C. - 1 June 2003)
Round NC Tour SC Tour Prize Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Points Points Money 1 Batten, Vince 25 26 25 27 29 28 160 40.00 40.00 $ 300.00 2 Hester, Gary 25 27 28 27 26 28 161 33.50 36.50 $ 185.00 Jackson, Tony 25 27 28 29 27 25 161 33.50 36.50 $ 185.00 4 Varnadore, Tony 26 29 24 25 28 30 162 31.00 34.00 $ 130.00 Coradini, Andy 25 26 30 24 29 28 162 31.00 34.00 $ 130.00 Warren, Frank 26 30 27 25 28 26 162 31.00 34.00 $ 130.00 7 Brown, Mike 27 26 27 24 29 30 163 28.50 31.50 $ 103.00 Ward, Greg 31 28 25 25 27 27 163 28.50 31.50 $ 103.00 9 Ventura, Robin 27 28 24 31 27 27 164 27.00 30.00 $ 95.00 10 Guthrie, Ray 26 27 31 28 25 28 165 26.00 29.00 $ 90.00 11 Newport, Greg 27 32 26 26 28 28 167 25.00 28.00 $ 90.00 12 Nutini, Dave 29 25 27 29 27 31 168 24.00 27.00 $ 85.00 13 Lacey, Kevin 28 28 29 29 28 27 169 23.00 26.00 $ 85.00 14 Lebo, Brad 23 31 27 33 27 29 170 22.00 25.00 $ 80.00 15 Barbour, Tommy 26 29 27 29 30 30 171 20.00 23.00 $ 77.00 Stewart, Manfred 27 28 29 28 29 30 171 20.00 23.00 $ 77.00 Randall, Vance 28 31 28 29 29 26 171 20.00 23.00 $ 77.00 18 Caudle, Billy 30 25 27 32 30 28 172 17.00 20.00 $ 69.00 Rybaczek, Rick 30 25 27 30 31 29 172 17.00 20.00 $ 69.00 Kirby Jr, Bill 29 27 30 29 30 27 172 17.00 20.00 $ 69.00 21 English, Gary 27 27 30 30 29 31 174 13.50 16.50 $ 47.00 Culverhouse, Rick 29 28 27 33 27 30 174 13.50 16.50 $ 47.00 Fowler, Todd 27 30 28 30 29 30 174 13.50 16.50 $ 47.00 Freeman, Daryl 31 28 29 29 30 27 174 13.50 16.50 $ 47.00 25 Hitt, Michael 27 29 28 31 31 29 175 10.50 13.50 Britt, Darrell 30 30 25 28 34 28 175 10.50 13.50 27 Baird, Rick 29 28 28 30 33 28 176 7.50 10.50 Johnson, Robert 28 30 31 29 31 27 176 7.50 10.50 Smith, Randal 30 28 31 28 31 28 176 7.50 10.50 Klapper, Jay 31 31 29 26 29 30 176 7.50 10.50 31 Rawles, Thomas 28 30 30 30 30 29 177 5.00 8.00 32 Burton, Lewis 28 32 26 32 31 29 178 5.00 6.00 Moore, Gary 27 28 32 32 31 28 178 5.00 6.00 Pack, Tony 28 30 30 32 29 29 178 5.00 6.00 35 Wall, Allen 31 27 31 30 27 34 180 5.00 5.00 Reid, Jonathan 28 32 33 27 28 32 180 5.00 5.00 37 Reeves, Randy 33 30 30 28 28 32 181 5.00 5.00 Jackson, Bob 32 32 30 30 29 28 181 5.00 5.00 39 Carter, Randy 28 33 29 31 31 30 182 5.00 5.00 40 Landin, Bear 32 30 30 31 35 27 185 5.00 5.00 Roberts, Opie 32 31 29 30 27 36 185 5.00 5.00 Haizlip, Bob 34 29 31 31 31 29 185 5.00 5.00 43 Smith, Adam 29 31 34 30 31 33 188 5.00 5.00 44 Orr, Randy 34 32 35 29 36 29 195 5.00 5.00 45 Cardwell, Michael 36 32 34 33 34 27 196 5.00 5.00 46 Benfield, Gary 32 30 31 34 39 32 198 5.00 5.00 47 Simpson, Larry 30 37 44 Withdrew 5.00 5.00 Professional Team Results of 2003 Carolinas' Open
(Spartanburg, S.C. - 1 June 2003)
Round Points Prize Team Members 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Earned Money 1 Jackson - Varnadore 51 56 52 54 55 55 323 15.00 20.00 2 Hester - Hitt 52 56 56 58 57 57 336 14.00 10.00 3 Caudle - Guthrie 56 52 58 60 55 56 337 13.00 4 Baird - Coradini 54 54 58 54 62 56 338 12.00 5 Newport - Rybaczek 57 57 53 56 59 57 339 11.00 Amateur Division of 2003 Carolinas' Open
(Spartanburg, S.C. - 1 June 2003)
Round NC Tour SC Tour Expense Player 1 2 3 4 Total Points Points Money 1 Alley, Christopher 27 30 27 25 109 23.00 20.00 20.00 2 Carpenter, Donnie 26 26 27 31 110 18.50 16.50 20.00 Griffin, Richard 27 28 26 29 110 18.50 16.50 20.00 4 Hutchinson, Tommy 28 24 31 31 114 17.00 15.00 20.00 5 Smith, Larry 27 29 29 30 115 16.00 14.00 6 Coffey, J. L. 27 30 32 27 116 15.00 13.00 7 Hendrix, Terry 32 28 28 29 117 13.50 11.50 Hutchins, Brian 30 24 30 33 117 13.50 11.50 9 Hoover, Larry 31 30 29 28 118 12.00 10.00 10 Schults, Ricky D 25 34 30 31 120 10.50 8.50 Carr, Jeff 28 32 32 28 120 10.50 8.50 12 Schults, Ricky L 33 29 30 31 123 9.00 7.00 13 Biesma, Dennis 33 30 32 29 124 7.50 5.50 Sanders, Jamie 31 28 33 32 124 7.50 5.50 15 Helton, Steve 35 27 28 36 126 6.00 4.00 16 Nance, Chuck 32 32 34 33 131 5.00 3.00 17 Kolb, Walter 34 32 37 31 134 5.00 2.00 18 Self, Lynn 32 39 34 32 137 5.00 1.00
