Vince Batten Wins Second Straight Tournament in Lynchburg, VA
5 June 2004 - Lynchburg, VA - The last time there was joint weekend in Lynchburg, there was plenty of inclement weather that lurked the region the entire weekend. This time around, the weather did complete reversal. For early June, skies were clear and temperatures barely eclipsed 70 degrees. All this after it had rained the day before.
Vince Batten
Winner of 2004 PPA Virginia State Tour Event in Lynchburg, VAIt was the first of two scheduled joint weekends for the Virginia and North Carolina tours, and a total of 50 members arrived in Lynchburg. The tournament on Saturday was won by Vince Batten, who had won the previous tournament played back in March, and had consistent low scores to escape with a one-shot win over Rick Baird.
It would start out with Mike Brown and Justin Taylor with an opening round 23 to lead by one over Darrell Anderson before Brown, firing a 32 to fall seven shots out of the lead, and Taylor posting a 34 to fall even further off the pace. However, others found way to going low. Batten shot 23 to jump into a tie for first with Gilbert Sharpe. Sharpe shot 22 in the second round and both would go in at 48. Rick Baird, Robert Johnson, and Greg Newport, all were two back in third at 50.
Batten fired a final round 25 to finish at 73, and waited a long time to see if the lead would hold. Batten teed off first in the group, while Baird tee off last in the 33-player field. Baird was 12-under going to the last hole, and needed to make it to force a playoff. His tee shot sailed right and lost his bid for his first win since winning in Columbia last August. Baird would have to settle for second at 74.
Conway Coffey used his local course mastery for the third straight event in a row. Coffey fired rounds of 27, 28, and 27 to pull off a two-shot in the APA Division. Coffey shot 82 to win his third event of the season on the Virginia tour. Bonnie White came in second on Saturday with a score of 84, while Dennis Biesma finished in a tie for third with Barry Moore at 86.
Anderson and Newport finished tied for third at 76 for the Pro Division, while Sharpe finished tied with Brad Lebo for fifth at 78. Baird collected the State and Match Play spots from this event, and also grabbed his second World Match Play spot from this event.
The next tournament is set for Sunday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. on Course 2.
Scores and Article provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Lynchburg, VA Tournament
(Lynchburg, VA - 5 June 2004)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Vince Batten
25 23 25 73 $ 210.00 2 Rick Baird 27 23 24 74 $ 150.00 3 Darrell Anderson 24 27 25 76 $ 112.50 Greg Newport 27 23 26 76 $ 112.50 5 Brad Lebo 26 28 24 78 $ 85.00 Gilbert Sharpe 26 22 30 78 $ 85.00 7 Robert Johnson 25 25 29 79 $ 75.00 8 Thomas Rawles 28 25 27 80 $ 70.00 9 Andy Coradini 28 30 23 81 $ 62.50 James White 25 28 28 81 $ 62.50 11 Peter Neumann 27 27 28 82 $ 57.50 Russell Sigmon, Jr. 30 26 26 82 $ 57.50 13 Bart Bason 27 28 28 83 $ 41.00 Mike Brown 23 32 28 83 $ 41.00 Daryl Freeman 27 28 28 83 $ 41.00 Randal Smith 30 26 27 83 $ 41.00 Rusty Taylor 27 26 30 83 $ 41.00 18 Tom O'Brien 29 26 29 84 Matt Summey 28 29 27 84 20 Ray Guthrie 25 32 28 85 21 Bob Haizlip 32 25 29 86 Gary Moore 25 30 31 86 Buddy Taylor 27 28 31 86 Justin Taylor 23 34 29 86 25 Bill Baus 28 30 29 87 Rick Rybaczek 30 28 29 87 27 Michael Cardwell 27 32 29 88 Billy Caudle 28 27 33 88 Opie Roberts 30 32 26 88 30 Gary Hinshaw 29 30 30 89 31 Wayne Cheatham 27 34 29 90 32 Randy Carter 26 37 30 93 33 Ed Grajewski 34 27 34 95 Amateur Division of Lynchburg, VA Tournament
(Lynchburg, VA - 5 June 2004)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Conway Coffey
27 28 27 82 $ 20.00 2 Bonnie White 28 28 28 84 $ 20.00 3 Dennis Biesma 29 28 29 86 $ 20.00 Barry Moore 30 27 29 86 $ 20.00 5 Malcolm Shumaker 26 31 30 87 $ 20.00 6 Bill Garrett 32 29 27 88 7 Jason Paljug 30 30 29 89 8 Wade Driskill 30 30 30 90 9 Chuck Dibbs 32 31 28 91 10 Chuck Cyr 32 32 28 92 Frankie Peters 32 29 31 92 John Petrie 32 29 31 92 13 David Gregor 32 33 29 94 Mark Lawson 32 35 29 96 Amy Smith 31 36 29 96 16 Walter Kolb 27 37 35 99 17 James LeBrun 39 35 33 107
