Gary Reed Posts Three Stroke Victory
in Waco, TX over Joel Baker26 April 2003 - Waco, TX - The Putt-Putt at Lion's Park in Waco hosted the Texas Putting Tour's 5th event of the year. The first round showed that the course would continue its tradition of tough play. Only one player was able to break 30. Gary Reed in his first Texas event of the year shot an 8-under 28 to take the early lead by two strokes over 5 players with another three players three back. Gary's 7-under 29 in the second round kept him in the lead but things were still tight with Joel Baker one stroke back. With nine other players still within 5 strokes of the lead everything was up for grabs going to the last round.
Gary Reed
Winner of PPA Texas Tour event in Waco, TX (26 April 2003)Nobody was able to make a big push in the last round and as the leaders neared the last few holes it was down to Gary and Joel battling it out for the title. With Gary and Joel playing in the same group it was almost a match play environment. Joel had tied Gary after the front nine but Gary managed to reopen the lead to two strokes by the time both players got to the 17th hole. The 17th is long up and back hole and Gary was up first, his shot pinched off exactly in the back corner killing all his pace and leaving him a long duce putt. When Gary failed to convert the par the door was open for Joel. Joel hit a good putt on the 17th but did not get the required favorable kick and settled for a par. This left Joel one down going to the 18th. Needing an ace on the tough uphill 18th, Joel played an aggressive back door shot, however he was a little over aggressive on his pace and the shot came back down the hill. Joel duplicated the shot on his second putt and ended up with a double bogey. Gary followed with a safe lay-up, a three stoke victory, and a state spot.
Joel Baker got some measure of revenge as he continued his solid work into match play where he defeated Lee Messinger and Jon Drexler to claim a state spot. The other available match play spot went to third place finisher Randy Wimpy who defeated Keith Barfield and Andy Gaiser.
In the amateur division 16 year old Rhet Wylie of Tyler played more consistent than any of the other players and got his second win, and first away from Tyler, on the Texas Tour and a state spot. Second place was shared by five players: James Taylor, Mike Huckaby, Mickey DeLucca, Steve Willmann, and Kenny Beck. Match play spots went to Doug Austin and James Kile.
Article and scores provided by Lee Messinger.
Professional Division of Waco, TX Event (26 April 2003)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Gary Reed* 28 29 30 87 $150.00 2 Joel Baker* 30 28 32 90 $90.00 3 Randy Wimpy* 32 30 29 91 $50.00 Rodney Phillips 30 32 29 91 $50.00 5 Andy Gaiser 31 30 31 92 $10.00 Keith Barfield 34 29 29 92 $10.00 Lee Messinger 30 30 32 92 $10.00 Richard Spitzer 30 30 32 92 $10.00 Steve Armstrong 31 31 30 92 $10.00 10 Wade Sahmel 31 31 31 93 11 David Lynch 30 32 32 94 12 Jon Drexler 33 33 30 96 13 Tom Adair 33 31 32 96 14 Steve Tanton 33 29 35 97
Amateur Division of Waco, TX Event (26 April 2003)
| Round | |||||
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total | |
| 1 | Rhet Wylie* | 33 | 28 | 30 | 91 |
| 2 | James Taylor | 35 | 32 | 28 | 95 |
| Kenny Beck | 33 | 32 | 30 | 95 | |
| Mickey DeLucca | 32 | 31 | 32 | 95 | |
| Mike Huckaby | 32 | 31 | 32 | 95 | |
| Steve Willmann | 29 | 32 | 34 | 95 | |
| 7 | Trevor Lewin | 30 | 32 | 34 | 96 |
| 8 | Allen Thomas | 34 | 34 | 30 | 98 |
| 9 | James Kile* | 29 | 35 | 35 | 99 |
| 10 | Jack Ramsey | 35 | 34 | 32 | 101 |
| 11 | Doug Austin* | 34 | 33 | 37 | 104 |
| 12 | Steve Yancey | 31 | 38 | 36 | 105 |
| 13 | Paul Matsler | 37 | 35 | 36 | 108 |
* Earned TX State Championship Spot.
Match Play Results of Waco, TX Event (26 April 2003)
