Joel Baker Posts Second Win of 2003 on
PPA Texas State Tour
Joel Baker playing the 2000 Elton Davis Memorial (Burlington, NC)17 May 2003 - Arlington (Parks), TX - The Parks course in Arlington hosted the 9th event of the season on the Texas Putting Tour. With 23 players it was the largest turnout at a regular state event in recent memory. The first round saw Rodney Phillips set a torrid pace with a 13-under 23 which gave him a three stroke lead over David Lynch and Marc Portugal, who was playing in his first event since 1999. Joel Baker fired and second round 11-under 25 that put him tied with Rodney at 53. With Marc Portugal and Cliff Matthews three back and Tom Adair one more behind, unless Rodney and Joel struggled in the last round it looked like one of those two players would take the title.
With Cliff and Marc both in the first group they finished well ahead of both Rodney and Joel. Both players fired 9-under 27's that put them in position to win if Rodney and Joel faltered. Rodney had a solid front 9 at 4-under but the 10th hole was his downfall. A double bogey 4 put him in a position where he had to make five of the last eight holes to pass Marc and Cliff. Rodney only managed three aces and finished one back of Cliff and Marc in fourth. Joel, meanwhile, was playing a mistake free last round, he got to the needed 7-under mark by the time he reached the last two holes and was able to lay-up 17 and 18 to take the win and state spot.
In the match play for the other two state spots Chris Conradi, defeating Cliff Matthews in a forfeit, Randy Wimpy, and Mike Baldoza and Tom Adair who beat Mark O'Guinn, Steve Tanton, and Lee Messinger took the available spots.
The amateur division came down to a playoff between Mike Huckaby and James Kile. Both players had shot 93's for the three rounds prior to the playoff but had got there in divergent ways. Mike shot 3 consistent rounds of 31 while James was anything but consistent with a 31,34 and 28 to get to 93. Mike won a tight playoff battle shooting 6-under to James's 5-under. This gave Mike his first win of the year and a state spot.
The available match play spots went Gary Plain and James Taylor.
Article and scores provided by Lee Messinger.
Professional Division of Arlington (Parks), TX Event (17 May 2003)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Joel Baker* 28 25 29 82 $190.00 2 Cliff Matthews 27 29 27 83 $115.00 Marc Portugal 26 30 27 83 $115.00 4 Rodney Phillips 23 30 31 84 $80.00 5 Jeffrey Smith 30 28 27 85 $65.00 Mike Baldoza 27 30 28 85 $65.00 7 Keith Barfield 30 31 25 86 $45.00 Tom Adair* 27 30 29 86 $45.00 9 Pat Simpson 29 30 30 89 $30.00 10 Randy Wimpy 33 28 29 90 $20.00 11 Lee Messinger 28 31 32 91 Mark O'Guinn 32 30 29 91 Steve Armstrong 33 28 30 91 14 David Lynch 26 33 34 93 Jon Drexler 33 28 32 93 16 Chris Breedlove 29 34 31 94 Steve Tanton 31 31 32 94 18 Chris Conradi* 31 33 31 95 19 Charles Simpson 33 32 31 96 Steve Wood 32 35 29 96 21 Greg Simpson 33 33 32 98 22 Bob Hambor 37 36 30 103 23 Al Simpson 35 35 35 105
Amateur Division of Arlington (Parks), TX Event (17 May 2003)
| Round | |||||
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total | |
| 1 | Mike Huckaby* | 31 | 31 | 31 | 93 |
| 2 | James Kile | 31 | 34 | 28 | 93 |
| 3 | Rhet Wylie | 32 | 30 | 34 | 96 |
| 4 | Trevor Lewin | 37 | 35 | 28 | 100 |
| 5 | James Taylor* | 32 | 35 | 34 | 101 |
| 6 | Gary Plain* | 32 | 36 | 35 | 103 |
| 7 | Mike Wellborn | 35 | 34 | 35 | 104 |
| 8 | Aaron Armstrong | 40 | 34 | 38 | 112 |
| 9 | Allen Thomas | 34 | 45 | 48 | 127 |
* Earned TX State Championship Spot.
Match Play Results of Arlington (Parks), TX Event (17 May 2003)
