Vince Batten Holds off Darrell Anderson for His First Virginia Open Title
27 June 2004 - Richmond, VA - For six intense and grueling rounds in Richmond, 34 pros and 20 amateurs battled through low scores on Course 1 and relatively high rounds on Course 3 to make it the highest ever six-round Virginia Open scoring in the history of the major. Two years ago, a new world record was set, while last year 144 was the winner by five shots. This Sunday, no one broke 150 for the six rounds, thanks in part to the nature of the new carpet that had been laid since March and aces had become more difficult.
Vince Batten
2004 PPA Virginia Open ChampionThe Virginia Open featured six former champions with a total of nine out of the previous 19 outings, including defending champion Greg Newport, who was trying to become the first player since Mike Brown did in 1993 to win the title back-to-back. Newport's shot at a defense did not prove well as he would finish in a tie for 17th at 159 and barely slipped into cash.
The format of the event was to take place on two courses. But the tournament would start on Course 1 and then jump over to Course 3 for the second round. The final round of the morning session would revert back to Course 1, but after the 30-minute break, the afternoon would start back on Course 1, leaving the final two rounds on Course 3. The delay between the fifth and six rounds of play left plenty of rust on a lot of players as in the sixth round, the lowest round was 23, but oddly it came from a player nowhere close to contention.
In the first round, five players grabbed the opening round lead of 23 that would include Bill Baus, Randy Reeves, Peter Neumann, Kevin Lacey, and Dave Taylor, who needed the win in this event to complete the Virginia Slam. Seven players were only one off the pace at 24 and another four were just two back at 25. However, Malcolm Shumaker played his best round over the Pros with an opening round 22 to start out with a two-stroke lead.
Dave Taylor was the only player in the amongst the pack in the lead who would maintain his torrid play into the seemingly more difficult Course 3. Taylor shot 24 to put himself alone in the lead at 47 and would take a two-shot lead over three-time champion Mike Brown, looking for his first PPA win of the season. Four others, including Reeves and Vince Batten amongst those, were three back of the lead at 50. Shumaker lost his lead in the APA Division by firing a 29, giving way to Chuck Dibbs' second 24 to be the only amateur under 50. Dibbs led the field at 49, with second going to Terry Clark at 50, and Shumaker in third at 51.
Back on Course 1, the amateurs saw their low scoring back in form. Clark fires a 25 in the round to take a two-shot lead over Dibbs at the break with a score of 75. Dibbs shot 28 to go in at 77, and Bill Garrett fired a 24 in the round, his second on Course 1, to move into third at 79.
Meanwhile, the Pros had a much improved third round as they had played the first round on Course 1. All but one player broke 30 and scores varied all around. Batten and Thomas Rawles posted 23's each to finish the morning at 73. Brown fired a 24 to join the two in the lead pairing for the afternoon. But surprisingly, Bart Bason had held in check. Bason, trying to make a comeback to the ranks after sitting out the last two seasons, posted a 22 to make it a four-way tie at 73. However, there was a player who had a score lower than Bason's that round. A previous winner on Course 1 this season in Richmond, Robin Ventura shot 20 during the third round to make up the seven-stroke deficit to Dave Taylor, only to be one shot out of the lead at 74. Also in at 74 were Darrell Anderson and Randy Reeves, both firing 23 and 24, respectively. Taylor bailed out to post a 29 to drop him to a tie for eighth at 76.
As the afternoon progress, scores on Course 1 jumped higher on average. The lowest fourth round was shot by Greg Ward with a 22, and there were four 23's. But the majority of the field posted anywhere from 25 to 28, and Ventura, after the 20 she posted the round before, collapsed and was the only player posting in the 30's.
Terry Clark continued his hang on to the lead in the APA Division and began to open it up in the fourth round. Clark grabbed a five-shot lead on Garrett in the fourth round and was in the clubhouse with a score of 100.
However, the lead was start to evaporate as Round 5 got underway on Course 3. Clark posted his worst round of 31, but was enough to secure a one-stroke lead. Clark was in at 131, with Shumaker now one back at 132, along with Dibbs, and Garrett now two shots back at 133.
Darrell Anderson and Mike Brown then headed to Course 3 with the lead at 97, with Batten at 98, and Rawles and Bason at 99. The fifth round proved to be challenging and it was not going to get any easier as the afternoon wore on. Batten posted a 25 to move into sole possession of the lead at 123. Anderson was knocked down to second at 124, but Bason moved back into contention and had a realistic chance of pulling off a major upset in the tournament as he was also in at 124.
The delay between Rounds 5 & 6 took a toll on the leaders. Within those in the top 10 after the fifth round, the best round shot in Round 6 was 25. Only one 23 was posted, but it was shot by a player that was in the first group of the afternoon. It also took effect on the amateur field, but not for Shumaker.
Shumaker fired a final round 24 to take solid command of the APA field and won outright. Shumaker took home his second career Virginia Open crown with a final score of 156, good enough to win by three shots over Clark, who finished second at 159. Third went to Garrett at 160.
In the final round, Greg Ward had the temporary clubhouse lead at 153 after a final round 25 for an afternoon total of 73, the best second half score of the day, and it would last for about half an hour. Daryl Freeman and Matt Summey each finished their play at 152 and awaited to see if Anderson, Batten, and Bason could falter.
Bason's delay managed him to only get it to 31 in the final round to finish at 155. Playing in his group, Anderson only shot 27 to get it to 151 and was the leader in the house. After an ace on 14, Batten bogeyed 15 to make the finish interesting. It came down to an all-or-nothing tee shot on 18, where Batten centered it down the line to finish the tournament at 150 and a one-shot win.
The win for Batten marked his first career win at the Virginia Open, his third different major title and now seeks the Putting Classic win in August to complete the Virginia Slam. It is also his tour's leading fourth win of the season and his fifth PPA win overall. The World Match Play went to Manfred Stewart.
Anderson's 151 was enough for a second-place finish, while Freeman and Summey settled for third at 152. Ward's outstanding finish jumped him into a fifth place tie with Brown and Rawles at 153. Bason still managed a top ten finish with a score of 155 that put him in an eighth place tie with Brad Lebo and Gilbert Sharpe.
On this late June day, conditions were sunny and pleasant with very little humidity. Temperatures only got into the low 80's making the elements comfortable for play.
The Virginia tour will return to action on the weekend of July 17 & 18 back in Richmond. The weekend will feature two events right before the Week of the Nationals, which begins on July 19 and will last through July 24. A tournament will be played on Course 1 at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 17, and another will follow on Sunday, July 18 at 10:00 a.m. on Course 3.
Professional Division of 2004 PPA Virginia Open
(Richmond, VA - 27 June 2004)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Money 1 Vince Batten
24 26 23 25 25 27 150 $ 300.00 2 Darrell Anderson 24 27 23 23 27 27 151 $ 225.00 3 Daryl Freeman 26 25 26 25 24 26 152 $ 185.00 Matt Summey 25 26 26 26 24 25 152 $ 185.00 5 Mike Brown 24 25 24 24 29 27 153 $ 150.00 Thomas Rawles 26 24 23 26 27 27 153 $ 150.00 Greg Ward 27 24 29 22 26 25 153 $ 150.00 8 Bart Bason 24 27 22 26 25 31 155 $ 120.00 Brad Lebo 26 26 24 26 26 27 155 $ 120.00 Gilbert Sharpe 27 24 28 23 28 25 155 $ 120.00 11 Manfred Stewart 27 27 25 23 25 29 156 $ 100.00 12 Randy Reeves 23 27 24 29 28 26 157 $ 95.00 13 Ed Grajewski 24 27 26 28 25 28 158 $ 83.75 Kevin Lacey 23 29 25 25 27 29 158 $ 83.75 Peter Neumann 23 30 24 24 27 30 158 $ 83.75 Robin Ventura 27 27 20 30 26 28 158 $ 83.75 17 Rick Baird 28 28 26 24 26 27 159 $ 20.00 Greg Newport 28 26 27 28 25 25 159 $ 20.00 Paul Sample 25 27 28 29 24 26 159 $ 20.00 Dave Taylor 23 24 29 28 27 28 159 $ 20.00 21 Gil Logan 29 27 25 28 27 25 161 Buddy Taylor 25 27 29 27 23 30 161 23 Andy Coradini 27 30 25 25 29 26 162 Ray Guthrie 24 26 28 27 28 29 162 Gary Moore 27 28 24 29 22 32 162 26 Bill Baus 23 28 26 23 29 34 163 Jonathan Moore 25 27 27 28 26 30 163 28 Gary Hinshaw 26 32 25 27 29 25 164 Bill Kirby 26 26 26 27 29 30 164 Randal Smith 28 28 27 27 27 27 164 31 Scott Broaddus 28 29 26 28 31 27 169 32 Rick Rybaczek 27 30 27 25 29 32 170 33 Rusty Taylor 28 33 28 28 33 23 173 34 Ken Schooler 29 38 33 WD
Round # 1, 3 and 4 played on Course #1 - Rounds # 2, 5 and 6 played on Course #3
Amateur Division of 2004 PPA Virginia Open
(Richmond, VA - 27 June 2004)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Money 1 Malcolm Shumaker
22 29 30 25 26 24 156 $ 25.00 2 Terry Clark 24 26 25 25 31 28 159 $ 25.00 3 Bill Garrett 24 31 24 26 28 27 160 $ 25.00 4 Chuck Dibbs 25 24 28 29 26 30 162 $ 25.00 5 Chuck Cyr 25 35 26 24 29 26 165 $ 25.00 6 Mike Mathews 31 25 26 27 27 32 168 $ 25.00 7 Dennis Biesma 34 29 28 26 27 27 171 Jeff Carr 32 32 23 24 29 31 171 Conway Coffey 27 31 27 29 29 28 171 10 David Sharp 31 26 27 27 32 29 172 Brandon Whitton 24 30 29 28 32 29 172 12 Marty Handschuh 23 33 29 29 30 30 174 13 Amy Smith 25 35 28 26 31 31 176 14 Walter Kolb 27 26 31 30 32 34 180 15 John Petrie 26 28 29 31 35 33 182 16 Ryan Carter 30 31 30 28 36 31 186 Barry Moore 27 30 31 30 34 34 186 18 Liz Shumaker 34 28 31 32 34 31 190 19 Bob Chetister 28 33 31 34 32 33 191 20 James LeBrun 32 34 30 33 32 34 205
Round # 1, 3 and 4 played on Course #1 - Rounds # 2, 5 and 6 played on Course #3