Rusty Taylor Posts First Victory of PPA Virginia State Tour in Four Years
Rusty Taylor
Winner of 2004 PPA Virginia State Tour Event in Richmond, VAWith the Nationals coming toRichmond in less than three months, a large number of competitors got themselves an early jump to the festivities. A total of 53 pros and amateurs arrived in Richmond for the first of six Virginia events to be played before the Nationals. This event was on Course 3.
It would be Rusty Taylor who would grab the honor of winning the first tournament of the season in Richmond. Taylor fired a final round 25 and succeeded on his attempt on 18 to post his first Virginia win since the 2000 season and his second PPA win overall this year. Taylor trailed first round leader Buddy Taylor by a single stroke after the first round after Buddy fired an opening round 23 to start the weekend.
Matt Summey fired a 23 in the second round to grab the lead from Buddy Taylor and would go in the house at 50. Rusty fired a 26 to share the honor with Summey, and Vince Batten was in third at 51. Russell Sigmon, Jr., playing as a rookie pro this season, fired the tournament's best round of 22 in the second round to move to within two strokes of the lead at 52, after an opening round 30.
Batten would be in the clubhouse first. He fired an 11 on the front, but only made one hole on the back to finish the round with a 28 and the tournament at 79. Sigmon followed by a round of 26 to hold the lead temporarily at 78. Summey then walked in with a 26 to take the house lead at 76. But, Rusty fired a 25 in the final round when he had to make 18 to win the event outright.
Rusty Taylor won on Course 3 with a score of 75, and with that, he took the World Match Play spot with the win. Summey would be second, and Sigmon would had to settle for third, his highest Pro Division finish after four events he has played, and tied Brad Lebo at 78. Batten finished in fifth with that score of 79.
Malcolm Shumaker made up a three-shot deficit to two-round leader Jeff Carr and virtually won the tournament on hole 15. Shumaker deuced out the remaining three holes to card a 27 in the final round and clip Carr by a single stroke. Carr, who was in at 52, only fired a 31 in the final round to finish at 83. Shumaker followed with a final round 27 to win the APA Division for the first time this season and posted a score of 82. Third went to Rick Overby with a score of 87.
The Virginia tour resumes its play on Sunday, April 25 at 10:00 a.m. on Course 1 in Richmond. After that, their next weekend will be in Abingdon, Maryland on the weekend of May 14th and 15th.
Scores and Article provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Richmond, VA Tournament
(Richmond, VA - 24 April 2004)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Rusty Taylor
24 26 25 75 $ 210.00 2 Matt Summey 27 23 26 76 $ 150.00 3 Brad Lebo 26 27 25 78 $ 112.50 Russell Sigmon, Jr. 30 22 26 78 $ 112.50 5 Vince Batten 24 27 28 79 $ 90.00 6 Daryl Freeman 27 27 26 80 $ 77.50 John Ventura 26 28 26 80 $ 77.50 8 Rick Culverhouse 26 27 28 81 $ 65.00 Robert Johnson 26 29 26 81 $ 65.00 Tom O'Brien 26 28 27 81 $ 65.00 11 Kevin Lacey 27 26 29 82 $ 60.00 12 Opie Roberts 25 28 30 83 $ 55.00 Buddy Taylor 23 29 31 83 $ 55.00 14 Darrell Anderson 28 28 28 84 $ 50.00 Thomas Rawles 28 28 28 84 $ 50.00 Gary Watson 27 31 26 84 $ 50.00 17 Scott Broaddus 28 27 30 85 $ 50.00 18 Jonathan Moore 30 28 28 86 Dave Nutini 28 29 29 86 Justin Taylor 28 25 33 86 21 Kevin Garrett 29 30 28 87 Tim Greenert 30 29 28 87 Randal Smith 27 29 31 87 24 Gil Logan 31 29 28 88 Jeff Spainhour 25 33 30 88 James White 30 29 29 88 27 Ed Grajewski 29 27 33 89 Robin Ventura 33 29 27 89 29 Bart Bason 30 31 29 90 Mike Brown 30 28 32 90 Wayne Cheatham 29 32 29 90 Gary Hinshaw 30 30 30 90 Gilbert Sharpe 27 32 31 90 34 Ken Schooler 33 29 30 92 35 Gary Moore 32 33 30 95 Amateur Division of Richmond, VA Tournament
(Richmond, VA - 24 April 2004)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Malcolm Shumaker
29 26 27 82 $ 20.00 2 Jeff Carr 27 25 31 83 $ 20.00 3 Rick Overby 28 29 30 87 $ 20.00 4 Chuck Dibbs 29 30 29 88 $ 20.00 5 Jason Paljug 29 29 31 89 $ 20.00 6 Bonnie White 33 27 30 90 7 Jonathan Koo 28 30 33 91 Barry Moore 33 27 31 91 9 Dennis Biesma 26 32 34 92 Bill Garrett 30 31 32 92 11 Marty Handschuh 30 32 31 93 Mike Mathews 32 31 30 93 13 Amy Smith 33 32 29 94 14 John Petrie 33 30 32 95 15 Walter Kolb 33 32 32 97 Liz Shumaker 31 32 34 97 17 Bob Chetister 34 34 32 100 Shayne Shiflett 33 34 33 100
