Ray Guthrie Clips Billy Caudle with Aces on Final Three Holes for Second Win of 2004
Ray Guthrie
Two-time winner in 2004 on PPA North Carolina State Tour1 May 2004 - White Lake, N.C. - It took aces on the final three holes of regulation for Ray Guthrie to win his second North Carolina tournament of the season this past Saturday night in White Lake. Guthrie took his shared second round lead with Bill Kirby and then used a final round 26, including the three aces at the end of the round, to clip Billy Caudle by one shot for the win.
Earlier in the day, players were on the course battling showers and damp carpeting. Before the first scheduled evening tournament on the North Carolina tour in three years, more rain fell, but left in time for the event to get started. Temperatures did drop considerably into the high 50's during the night. With that, the field of 36 pros and 15 amateurs made considerable adjustments and that would pave the way for tighter scores for the Pros and a lower scoring average for the tournament.
Kirby jumped out in front with an opening round 23 and it looked like he would duplicate Vince Batten's earlier efforts when Batten shot a tournament record score of 73. His opening round was only leading by one shot on Guthrie and Rick Rybaczek, who both posted 24's through the first 18.
Kirby stayed out in front through the second round, but now was mired in a share of the lead with Guthrie. Guthrie shot the first of his two 26's for a total score of 50, while Kirby shot 27 to join Guthrie. Caudle also fired a 26 during the round to move into a tie with Brad Lebo for third at 51.
Caudle, playing in the second group, continued to blaze away as he shot another 26 to go in the house at 77. It seemed that the score would hold, but Guthrie, who was the last player on the score sheet, came back and aced four of the final five holes of play, including the final three, to eclipse Caudle and deny him of his second career PPA win. Guthrie won for the second time this season in North Carolina by one shot and would shoot a score of 76. Ironically, both of Guthrie's wins this year has come as a result of being the last player in the Pro Division to tee off. In the afternoon tournament, Batten teed off last and won there in convincing fashion.
Caudle had to settle for second with that score of 77. Lebo finished tied for third with Randal Smith and Randy Carter at 78. Caudle took the State Championship and Match Play spots from this tournament.
Todd Trent aced the sixth hole of sudden death in a playoff against Brian Hutchins for the amateur division victory. The two finished regulation tied at 84, with the help of Hutchins hitting the block on 17 and then made the 15 foot deuce putt to stay alive. In the playoff, both would shoot 29 and the playoff was extended all the way to hole 6. Trent made the tee shot and Hutchins' putt slide off the left rail to end the playoff. The win for Trent is his first of the year and his first in nearly three seasons, ironically last winning a night-time event on the North Carolina tour in Burlington in May of 2001. Steve Helton came in third at 85, missing the playoff by one stroke.
After the tournament, there was a World Match Play spot to be decided based on the outcome of the combined score from the two tournaments held on Saturday. Guthrie's late run forced a tie with Kirby for the spot and would head to the 18-hole playoff, where Kirby would cruise 11-under to 5-under to earn the spot.
The North Carolina tour will rejoin the South Carolina tour on Sunday for the Carolinas' Open, which will be played at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 2. Batten is the defending 2003 Carolinas' Open Champion.
Tournament results provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of White Lake, N.C. Event
(White Lake, N.C. - 1 May 2004)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Ray Guthrie
24 26 26 76 $ 150.00 2 Billy Caudle 25 26 26 77 $ 110.00 3 Randy Carter 26 26 26 78 $ 82.00 Brad Lebo 26 25 27 78 $ 82.00 Randal Smith 26 28 24 78 $ 82.00 6 Frank Warren 26 27 26 79 $ 70.00 7 Vince Batten 27 27 26 80 $ 53.00 Darrell Britt 27 26 27 80 $ 53.00 Jay Klapper 27 27 26 80 $ 53.00 Bill Kirby 23 27 30 80 $ 53.00 Greg Newport 27 25 28 80 $ 53.00 Randy Orr 27 28 25 80 $ 53.00 13 Gary English 30 26 25 81 $ 40.00 Thomas Rawles 25 29 27 81 $ 40.00 15 Robert Johnson 30 27 25 82 $ 40.00 Randy Reeves 28 26 28 82 $ 40.00 Greg Ward 26 28 28 82 $ 40.00 18 Michael Hitt 27 25 31 83 $ 20.00 Rick Rybaczek 24 31 28 83 $ 20.00 20 Andy Coradini 27 29 28 84 Lance Perdue 29 27 28 84 Jeff Spainhour 28 27 29 84 23 Tony Jackson 29 29 27 85 Rusty Taylor 27 29 29 85 25 Rick Baird 26 29 31 86 Tony Varnadore 31 26 29 86 27 Don Thompson 30 28 29 87 28 Daryl Freeman 30 29 29 88 Bob Haizlip 29 30 29 88 Bob Jackson 30 28 30 88 Gary Moore 29 28 31 88 32 Ben Blake 27 32 32 91 Opie Roberts 31 30 31 91 34 Chris Bunting 31 31 31 93 Michael Cardwell 32 31 30 93 36 Robert Ward 33 29 34 96 Amateur Division of White Lake, N.C. Event
(White Lake, N.C. - 1 May 2004)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Todd Trent**
30 24 30 84 $ 10.00 2 Brian Hutchins 28 27 29 84 $ 10.00 3 Jeff Carr 31 26 28 85 $ 10.00 Steve Helton 26 31 28 85 $ 10.00 5 Walter Kolb 32 28 27 87 $ 5.00 Adam Smith 27 30 30 87 $ 5.00 7 Dennis Biesma 25 32 31 88 Ricky D. Schults 28 30 30 88 9 Larry Hoover 30 28 31 89 Chris Hudson 27 31 31 89 11 Chris Alley 30 29 31 90 Keith Waters 29 26 35 90 13 Chuck Nance 30 28 33 91 Frankie Peters 30 32 29 91 15 Mark Lawson 26 30 36 92
** Todd Trent won on sixth hole of sudden death
after both Trent and Brian Hutchins each shot 29 in the 18-hole playoff.