Michael Hitt Wins 2004 Palmetto Classic for First Major PPA Career Title
Michael Hitt
2004 Palmetto Classic Champion4 July 2004 - Columbia, S.C. - The Fourth of July will always be remembered as the birth of the nation when the Declaration of Independence was signed. On this nation's birthday, this day would also be remembered as Michael Hitt's first ever career major victory, something that has eluded him over the past five seasons, including four State Championships taken away from him in the final round.
In the last three South Carolina State Championships, a 1999 North Carolina State Championship, and a previous South Carolina Championship in 1997, Michael Hitt had the lead in the final stages, only to slide away in the final round and finish no worse than fourth. On Sunday, Hitt grabbed an opening one-shot lead and held it through the next two rounds. It was back in a perfect setting for Hitt in hopes to reverse the trend. Hitt would fire a final round 26 to not only win the Palmetto Classic, but would win it by two strokes over local favorite and Saturday night's winner Rick Culverhouse, who had played Hitt nip and tuck all day.
Hitt started out with an opening round 23 to lead Culverhouse, who opened with a 24, and would also lead by two shots on Opie Roberts. The late morning heat that soared temperatures into the low 90's with a heat index into the upper 90's, not only kept the scoring in higher fashion, but would make it a contest for first between five players.
After two rounds, Hitt posted his worst score of 28 to remain as the leader at 51. Culverhouse could not take advantage of that and also shot 28 to remain in second at 52, and was sharing the lead with Daryl Freeman. Freeman posted the round's lowest score of 25 to move to within a stroke of the lead. Although he fired a 30 in the second, Roberts remained in contention at 55 and was tied with Tony Varnadore for fourth.
The race began to lessen to just two players. Both Hitt and Culverhouse broke 80 and was in the clubhouse at 78 and 79, respectively. Randal Smith made a move in the third round to jump into third at 82, after he shot the round's lowest score of 26.
But in the final round, Hitt would let all of the memories that haunted him from a major win on the South Carolina tour go away for good. Hitt outlasted Culverhouse in the final round 26 to 27 to win out by two strokes and would carry home his first PPA major win. Hitt won the 8th annual Palmetto Classic with a final score of 104 for his first PPA win of the season. Culverhouse fired a 27 in the final round to finish at 106 and solidly in second. The win also continued a streak of non-South Carolina residents in winning the Classic in every one held in its history. Although, he is a member of the South Carolina Committee, Hitt resides in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Jeff Carr took home his second career major victory on the South Carolina tour program. Carr fired a final round 26 to overtake third round leader Chris Alley in the final round to win his first Palmetto title with a score of 109. Alley and Carr shared the lead through three rounds before Carr bested him by two shots in the final round. Alley's performance was overshadowed by Chris Hudson's final round antics. Hudson found himself finishing in second after he posted a 26 to slip into second, one shot off the winning score. Carr's 109 gave him his sixth South Carolina win of the season, leading the APA. Hudson was second at 110 and third was Alley at 111.
Andy Coradini finished in third with a strong final round of 26 that would put him in at 109. Roberts made a huge recovery after second and third round 30's barely kept him in the cash line. Roberts posted his second 25 of the tournament in the final round to finish in fourth with Smith at 110. That was enough to give Roberts the State Championship qualifying spot. Rick Rybaczek also obtained a berth into the State by posting the entire weekend's low score.
Special thanks to Hubert Robertson and the staff in Columbia for hosting the Palmetto Classic, which was held in Columbia for the third consecutive season and the first time ever on Course 1. Columbia will be the host site for the 11th annual Clayton Cup matches later in October.
The South Carolina tour resumes its schedule this coming weekend. The tour plays with the North Carolina program on the weekend of July 10 & 11 in Forest City, which is the site of the North Carolina State Championship. The events are on Course 1 and will get underway at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 10.
Tournament recap and scores provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of 2004 Palmetto Classic
(Columbia, S.C. - 4 July 2004)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 4 Total Money 1 Michael Hitt
23 28 27 26 104 $ 200.00 2 Rick Culverhouse 24 28 27 27 106 $ 150.00 3 Andy Coradini 27 29 27 26 109 $ 100.00 4 Opie Roberts 25 30 30 25 110 $ 85.00 Randal Smith 28 28 26 28 110 $ 85.00 6 Daryl Freeman 27 25 31 29 112 $ 65.00 Tony Varnadore 27 28 28 29 112 $ 65.00 8 Rick Baird 27 30 30 26 113 $ 35.00 Steve Lyon 30 26 27 30 113 $ 35.00 Frank Warren 30 29 27 27 113 $ 35.00 11 Tony Jackson 30 27 27 30 114 12 Jay Klapper 26 30 30 29 115 13 Rick Rybaczek 31 31 30 25 117 14 Randy Orr 30 31 29 28 118 15 Allen Wall 31 29 28 31 119 16 Darrell Britt 31 27 29 33 120 Bob Jackson 33 26 32 29 120 Robert Johnson 30 32 27 31 120 19 Russell Sigmon, Jr. 27 31 31 33 122 Amateur Division of 2004 Palmetto Classic
(Columbia, S.C. - 4 July 2004)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 4 Total Money 1 Jeff Carr
27 25 31 26 109 $ 15.00 2 Chris Hudson 25 31 28 26 110 $ 15.00 3 Chris Alley 27 27 29 28 111 $ 15.00 4 Larry Smith 29 31 27 29 116 Russell Taylor 32 26 29 29 116 6 Terry Hendrix 30 32 28 30 120 7 Ricky D. Schults 31 31 30 29 121 8 Lynn Self 34 32 33 24 123 9 Todd Trent 28 33 33 32 126 10 Dennis Biesma 35 30 35 30 130 11 Robin Trent 33 29 38 33 133 12 Bill Bryson 31 34 36 34 135 13 Larry Hoover 39 41 33 35 148
