Opie Roberts Wins 2004 Elton Davis Memorial Title (14-15 August 2004)

Opie Roberts Shoots 97 on Course 2 to
Capture First PPA Major Victory

Opie Roberts
2004 Elton Davis Memorial Champion

August 14-15, 2004 - Burlington, N.C. - For the first time since 1995, the annual Elton Davis Memorial Classic was being threatened by a tropical system. Hurricane Charley slammed into Florida on Friday and then tracked the Eastern seaboard on Saturday, bringing in wind and rain to Burlington that prompted a one-hour delay in the start time of the 30th annual event held here. This was also the second straight year that the Elton Davis went completely down to the final round and that a player recover himself from a huge deficit to start the second day of action.

It would appear that the Elton Davis would not get underway at all until Sunday that would revert the tournament into a six-round format. Nonetheless, a 1:00 p.m. tee time was announced and Saturday's play ran as scheduled without delay. Defending champion Daryl Freeman led the group of the 25 professionals, while Brian Hutchins came in behind to defend his title against 15 other amateurs participating this weekend.

As play began on Course 1, it would be Billy Caudle and Greg Ward that would head the list out in front. Each player posted an opening round 25 and it would be the only time they would have the lead in the tournament. In the second round, the leadership changed over to Robert Johnson, the 1997 winner of the tournament, as he shot 26 in the second round, the second consecutive such round for him, to take the lead at 52. Johnson's lead was by one on Ward and two on Caudle.

But in the third round, Freeman decided that he wanted to make himself known that no one should count out the defending champion. Freeman, who had difficulty on the back nine in the previous two rounds, finally had the ball fall in his direction by posting an 11 to end the round at 23 and take the lead at 78. The lead would be by two shots over Johnson and by three over local players Tommy Barbour and Lance Perdue heading into the final round of play on Course 1.

The fourth round would be the testy round for the field as winds began to persist from Charley. Only five players in the Pro Division field shot 10-under or better to start their move into Sunday. Freeman shot 27, but the chasers did not break 30. Freeman was within four rounds of his second consecutive and third overall title as he was sitting comfortably at 105 and a five-shot advantage on Barbour, Johnson, and another local Bob Haizlip.

Daryl Freeman
1975 and 2003 Elton Davis Memorial Champion

Although Freeman had a five stroke lead, the amateurs had played tight throughout the first day. Reigning APA National Champion Ricky Schults and Dennis Biesma each started out with an opening round 26 to lead by two shots. Then, Biesma posted a score of 35 to slip out of the top five, while Schults took the lead by himself at 54. Schults proceeded to lead every round throughout the first day of play and was heading into Sunday with a score of 110 and a one-stroke lead on Larry Hoover and 2002 APA Elton Davis Champion Keith Waters.

The weather forecast for Sunday was calling for clearer weather, but the players were completely fooled when they woke up with a gentle rain that fell from the morning on. There still was a special presentation to be awarded from Bill Kirby, who helped organized the Elton Davis Memorial along with former pro and course owner Bobby Gilmore. For the past 29 seasons, Kirby presented the Elton Davis Memorial Dedication Award to one player who had given back to the PPA. The 2004 recipient of the award was Pennsylvania's Brad Lebo and in an acceptance speech, Lebo was describing the acceptance as bizarre and he never saw this coming. Lebo has been a very dedicated player and has traveled to North Carolina from Pennsylvania almost every weekend.

Action resumed this time on Course 2 with Freeman starting the day leading by five shots. That lead would begin to shrink rapidly. Perdue, who started the day six back of Freeman and tied for fifth, started to make a quick move to the top. Perdue posted a round of 23 to put himself in a tie for second at 134. Haizlip also had a solid round in the rain with a 24 that had him tied with Perdue. Freeman posted a 28 to hang on to the lead, but it was trimmed to just one. Freeman entered the sixth round with a score of 133.

Vince Batten

Lance Perdue

The rain began to make a few holes unplayable and the committee called for a delay that lasted 12 minutes. When the rain began to let up and a few of the holes were swept away of the water, play resumed. The delay may have affected several players who were in contention after the fifth round, except for Opie Roberts. Roberts began the day trailing by seven shots to Freeman and was still down seven after he shot 28 in the fifth. Already acing the first three holes of the sixth round before the delay, Roberts went on a tear by acing 12 of the next 13 and missed the last two holes to end the round with a tournament best round of 21. The next best round was 22, shot by Biesma in the APA Division (before the delay), and the next best Pro Division round was 24 set by Vince Batten.

Roberts' 21 put him in a tie for first with Freeman at 161. Batten and Perdue were two back at 163, and Haizlip and Ward were fifth at 164. The seventh round would become a deciding factor. Freeman fired a 27, but Roberts had another solid round of 24 and put himself up by three shots over Batten, Perdue, and Freeman. Roberts entered the final round at 185, with the other three at 188.

Keith Waters
2004 Elton Davis Memorial (APA) Champion

Meanwhile, Waters took the lead in the fifth round by one shot over Hoover by posting a score of 23. Waters would completely dominate from there and would go on to win his second Elton Davis title in the last three years. Waters would post closing rounds of 23, 28, 28, and 26 to end the weekend with a score of 216. Waters would go on to win by six shots over Schults, who shot 112 on Sunday to finish in second at 222. Biesma's 22 was enough to make him finish in third at 227. Hoover finished fourth at 228, and Hutchins, who was the defending champion, ended up in fifth at 230. Waters also collected his first win of the season.

In the final round, Roberts began to pull away early as he aced the first three holes again. However, he was in trouble on hole 4 as he hit the point of the left ring and had a bogey out of it. Batten and Perdue began to take advantage by making a late charge. Roberts answered it on his own as he aced the next six holes after the bogey.

Batten, playing in the group in front of Roberts and Perdue, aced 14 through 16 in succession and played a straight shot on 17 that curled to the right and behind the cup. Batten proceeded to make the final hole to finish at 23 and a score of 211 and was still alive. Perdue made a run of his own. Perdue trailed by three shots heading to hole 16. Perdue made 16 before Roberts received the lip out making it a one-shot lead over Batten. Perdue would ace 17 to cut to within one. But, Roberts also played the up and back shot that Perdue played previously and would make it to clinch the win. Roberts would go on to tap in his deuce putt on 18 and would win by two shots over Batten and Perdue, both firing 23 but not enough to overcome Roberts' second consecutive 24.

Roberts would post an incredible score of 97, including the three final rounds totaling 69 (21, 24, 24), to finish the weekend with a score of 209, the same score he posted in an eighth place finish last season in what he describes as "the one that got away from him". At one point, Roberts was down nine shots after the third round to Freeman and was 17th out of 25 players. It would be his first win of the season, his first PPA win in two seasons, his first on the North Carolina tour since 2001, and his third career win. Most importantly, it was his first career major victory. The win also earned him his 2004 North Carolina State Medal Play spot. A second spot was also awarded to Bill Kirby. Barbour grabbed the Match Play spot in this event. The weekend APA spot went to Chris Hudson.

The next weekend on the North Carolina tour will be in three weeks in High Point. For the first time in tour history, the events will be on Course 2. They will play the NCPutters Open on Saturday, September 4 at 12:00 p.m. and they will play the Triad Open on Sunday, September 5 at 10:00 a.m.

Tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts and scores provided by Rick Rybaczek..

Professional Scores from the 2004 Elton Davis Memorial
(Burlington, N.C. - 14-15 August 2004)