Rick Baird Earns
His First Win of 2004 Season
Rick Baird
Winner of 2004 PPA Virginia State Tour Event in Richmond, VAAmong the group in at 48 was Buddy Taylor. Taylor opened up play with a round of 22 to lead by three shots over seven different players. The group did consist of Baird and defending champion Robin Ventura. Although he played well throughout the afternoon, Taylor shot 26 in the second round to maintain a share of the lead with Baird and Rusty Taylor. Those three finished the second round at 48, while Bill Kirby, Vince Batten, and Daryl Freeman all were a stroke back at 49, and three more players were two shots back at 50.
Baird grabbed the opportunity to post his first ever non-combined Virginia tour win by firing a 26 and finished at 74. Baird's success was led by starting each of the first two rounds with a 10 on the front, missing hole 8 both times. On the back, he fired 15 and 13, respectively to get to where he was after 36 holes. Baird fired a 12 on the front, but had enough to shoot 14 on the back to win.
Six players tied for second at 76, which included three members of the Taylor family, Buddy, Dave, and Rusty. The other three players who finished at 76 were Kirby, Darrell Anderson, and Greg Newport. There was a three-way playoff for the World spot in the event. Dave Taylor knocked off Buddy Taylor and Newport to obtain the berth.
In the amateur division, Mike Mathews picked up his first win in nearly two seasons and won convincingly. Mathews posted a final round of 25 to hold off Jeff Carr by three shots on Saturday. Mathews also led throughout the entire field and won for the first time since the eve of the 2002 State Championship in Charlottesville. Mathews finished the tournament with a score of 79. Carr was second at 82, and Dennis Biesma came in third at 84.
The turnout featured 35 professionals and 18 amateurs. Sixteen cash spots were awarded to the Pro field, with the score of 80 earning the last spot.
The Virginia tour will continue its weekend on Sunday for the 20th annual Virginia Open, starting at 9:00am. Greg Newport is the defending 2003 Virginia Open Champion. Action of this major will be contested between Courses 1 & 3.
Scores and Article provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Richmond, VA Tournament
(Richmond, VA - 26 June 2004)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Rick Baird
25 23 26 74 $ 225.00 2 Darrell Anderson 25 26 25 76 $ 110.00 Bill Kirby 25 24 27 76 $ 110.00 Greg Newport 26 26 24 76 $ 110.00 Buddy Taylor 22 26 28 76 $ 110.00 Dave Taylor 26 24 26 76 $ 110.00 Rusty Taylor 26 22 28 76 $ 110.00 8 Greg Ward 26 26 25 77 $ 70.00 9 Vince Batten 27 22 29 78 $ 59.00 Mike Brown 25 25 28 78 $ 59.00 Andy Coradini 28 26 24 78 $ 59.00 Ray Guthrie 26 28 24 78 $ 59.00 Brad Lebo 27 23 28 78 $ 59.00 14 Daryl Freeman 25 24 30 79 $ 50.00 15 Jonathan Moore 28 27 25 80 $ 50.00 Matt Summey 29 25 26 80 $ 50.00 17 Peter Neumann 28 26 27 81 Randy Reeves 26 29 26 81 19 Ed Grajewski 29 26 27 82 Kevin Lacey 28 28 26 82 Thomas Rawles 27 27 28 82 Gilbert Sharpe 26 25 31 82 Robin Ventura 25 29 28 82 24 Bart Bason 29 28 26 83 25 Paul Sample 31 24 29 84 Jeff Spainhour 27 30 27 84 Manfred Stewart 32 28 24 84 28 Gil Logan 32 24 29 85 Justin Taylor 28 30 27 85 30 Rick Rybaczek 25 31 30 86 31 Bill Baus 33 26 29 88 32 Gary Moore 29 29 31 89 33 Gary Hinshaw 27 32 32 91 34 Ken Schooler 32 34 27 93 35 Scott Broaddus 28 32 34 94 Amateur Division of Richmond, VA Tournament
(Richmond, VA - 26 June 2004)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Mike Mathews
26 28 25 79 $ 20.00 2 Jeff Carr 27 29 26 82 $ 20.00 3 Dennis Biesma 29 28 27 84 $ 20.00 4 Amy Smith 28 25 32 85 $ 20.00 5 Terry Clark 25 28 34 87 $ 5.00 Chuck Dibbs 31 27 29 87 $ 5.00 Bill Garrett 30 29 28 87 $ 5.00 Marty Handschuh 31 26 30 87 $ 5.00 9 David Sharp 32 26 30 88 10 Chuck Cyr 31 28 30 89 Barry Moore 29 31 29 89 12 Walter Kolb 29 29 32 90 13 Wade Driskill 30 30 32 92 John Petrie 31 34 27 92 15 Bob Chetister 30 33 33 96 Jason Paljug 33 30 33 96 17 Ryan Carter 33 33 33 99 18 James LeBrun 40 39 30 109
