Vince Batten Shoots 73 and Posts Seven Stroke Victory at White Lake, NC Course
Vince Batten1 May 2004 - White Lake, N.C. - From the first ace on the first of play on in, Vince Batten led in dominating fashion and captured his first North and South Carolina wins of the season on Saturday in White Lake. Batten won by a commanding seven shots over Brad Lebo in one of the most dominating performances on this record setting day at Goldston's Beach.
Batten's opening round 23 was good enough to take a two-shot lead over Randy Reeves. With showers falling during the afternoon prompting a five minute delay between the first and second rounds, Batten fired the 23 that included an ace on 18 after the delay was over. Through the first round of play, Batten was leading by two over Reeves and by three on Ben Blake and Thomas Rawles.
Batten extended the lead to five strokes on Lebo and Reeves by using a 26 in the middle round to be the only player in the 40's for two rounds. Batten was in at 49, with Lebo and Reeves in at 54 and Bill Kirby in fourth at 55.
Another shower came through in the final round, but this particular one did not hinder play. In the final round, Batten continued to blister up the soaking carpet, which was just laid a couple of days prior to the weekend of play. Batten fired a final round 24 to finish at 73 and won by seven over Lebo.
The score of 73 set a new tournament record in White Lake and eclipsed the old mark of 76 set on two prior occasions, the most recent being held last season when Robert Johnson and Tony Jackson were both tied at 76 at the end of regulation before Johnson would win the playoff. Lebo, playing in the final twosome with Batten, was second at 80. Finishing out in a tie for third were Kirby, Reeves, and Tony Varnadore, all nine shots back at 82.
For the second time this season on the two state tours, Jeff Carr pulled off a win and did so by coming from behind. Carr fired a final round 30, but would surpass Walter Kolb in the final round. Kolb shot 26 in the second round to take the lead at 58 and led by one on Brian Hutchins. Carr would find a way to winning his third APA event of the year and second between the two tours with a final score of 89 to win by one over Hutchins. Hutchins finished alone in second at 90, and Kolb ended up tied with Frankie Peters for third at 91.
There were 37 pros and 16 amateurs taking part in the first of two scheduled tournaments on Saturday leading to the Carolinas' Open that will be played on Sunday, May 2. The spots for the North Carolina State Championship and Match Play, and the South Carolina State Championship went to Reeves after he won in a playoff over Kirby and Varnadore.
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 Vince Batten
23 26 24 73 $ 150.00 2 Brad Lebo 28 26 26 80 $ 110.00 3 Bill Kirby 30 25 27 82 $ 82.00 Randy Reeves 25 29 28 82 $ 82.00 Tony Varnadore 29 27 26 82 $ 82.00 6 Ben Blake 26 32 27 83 $ 65.00 Daryl Freeman 29 27 29 83 $ 65.00 Randal Smith 28 31 26 83 $ 65.00 9 Ray Guthrie 27 29 30 86 $ 55.00 10 Darrell Britt 28 28 31 87 $ 46.00 Gary English 31 29 27 87 $ 46.00 Robert Johnson 28 30 29 87 $ 46.00 Greg Ward 31 26 30 87 $ 46.00 Frank Warren 28 29 30 87 $ 46.00 15 Rick Baird 29 30 29 88 $ 40.00 Bob Haizlip 32 26 30 88 $ 40.00 Randy Orr 31 29 28 88 $ 40.00 18 Andy Coradini 30 31 28 89 $ 20.00 Thomas Rawles 26 32 31 89 $ 20.00 20 Michael Hitt 31 30 29 90 Jay Klapper 29 30 31 90 Rick Rybaczek 31 29 30 90 Steve Shively 30 32 28 90 24 Tony Jackson 31 30 30 91 Gary Moore 28 33 30 91 26 Bob Jackson 29 32 31 92 Jeff Spainhour 29 31 32 92 28 Billy Caudle 31 30 32 93 Greg Newport 31 31 31 93 30 Randy Carter 31 32 31 94 Opie Roberts 32 30 32 94 32 Rusty Taylor 33 33 29 95 33 Lance Perdue 34 32 30 96 Don Thompson 34 30 32 96 35 Chris Bunting 36 30 32 98 36 Michael Cardwell 33 36 32 101 Robert Ward 35 36 30 101 Amateur Division of White Lake, N.C. Event
(White Lake, N.C. - 1 May 2004)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Jeff Carr
28 31 30 89 $ 10.00 2 Brian Hutchins 29 30 31 90 $ 10.00 3 Walter Kolb 32 26 33 91 $ 10.00 Frankie Peters 32 27 32 91 $ 10.00 5 Chris Hudson 30 30 32 92 $ 10.00 6 Dennis Biesma 31 32 30 93 Todd Trent 31 35 27 93 8 Steve Helton 33 30 31 94 Larry Hoover 33 29 32 94 Ricky D. Schults 31 30 33 94 11 Mark Lawson 32 30 34 96 12 Chuck Nance 33 34 30 97 Adam Smith 34 34 29 97 Keith Waters 33 32 32 97 15 Chris Alley 34 33 31 98 16 Robin Trent 34 33 38 105
