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Michael Hitt Survives
First Round Loss and Wins
2004 North Carolina Match Play Championship
12 September 2004 -
Burlington, NC -
Michael Hitt
became the first player in the 11-year history of the North Carolina
Match Play Championship to lose in the first round of play and
win all of his matches afterwards to win
the Championship held Sunday on Course 2 in Burlington. Hitt
defeated
2002 North Carolina Match Play Champion
Robert Johnson
5 & 4 to force a second match and then won that match 2-up with an
ace on the final hole to win his first ever North Carolina
individual State title.
Hitt was paired against
Tony
Jackson in the opening round and lost
that match. Hitt had not had much success in his
initial match as he lost his first played match for the
fourth time in the last five years. Dropping to the loser's
bracket brought the best out for Hitt. He opened up that
portion of the bracket with a solid win over
1999 North
Carolina Match Play Champion
Andy
Coradini. That was followed by several down to the wire
matches, starting with a win over
2004 Elton Davis champion
Opie
Roberts 1-up, making a difficult deuce putt from the
left side of hole 18 to win the match.
Hitt would then take
Randy
Reeves down to the wire before winning the match on the
final hole. Hitt would then beat
Jay
Klapper on the first hole of sudden death and then
defeated
Bob Haizlip 1-up forcing a rematch with Jackson, where
he won that one. Then came a match with
Randal
Smith for the right to play Johnson for the
championship. Both players were tied going into 18. Hitt
aced it for the fifth consecutive time, and then Smith
lagged the hill to lose the match and finish third. Hitt
would move on to his first championship.
Johnson won five matches to get to the championship round
himself. He defeated 1998
North Carolina Match Play Champion
Bill Kirby,
Andy
Coradini and
Daryl Freeman. Johnson would then face local product
Bob
Haizlip before facing
Randal
Smith, where he won that match.
In the championship round, Hitt easily took care of
Johnson 5 & 4 in their first match
to force a second 36-hole match. Hitt was 5-up with seven
holes remaining before Johnson made a late surge. Johnson
won four of the next six holes to stay alive and was 1-down
going into the final hole. Johnson missed the hole to the
right, settling for a deuce. Hitt proceeded to make the ace
for the eighth consecutive time and won his match 2-up.
Hitt becomes the first player in history to lose a first
round match and manage to win the Match Play. Hitt won nine
excruciating matches to win the title. For the win, Hitt
receives $350, while Johnson $250. Smith's third place
finish garnered him $225, and Jackson came in fourth that
would credit him with $175.
The North Carolina tour will conclude its season on the
weekend of October 2 & 3 in Forest City for the North
Carolina State Championship on Course 1. The tournament gets
underway at 12:00 p.m.
on Saturday and 10:00 a.m.
on Sunday. Vince Batten will be there to defend the title.
Scores and story provided by
Opie Roberts.
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