Lance Perdue Wins 2005 Elton Davis Memorial Title (13-14 August 2005)

Lance Perdue Makes Final Hole to Win
2005 Elton Davis Memorial

August 13-14, 2005 - Burlington, N.C. - Lance Perdue ended his dream to win the Elton Davis Memorial when he made the final hole of play to win the annual event by one shot. Perdue made up a five shot deficit after the halfway point and fired a second day score of 102 to pull off his first career major victory on Sunday in Burlington.

Lance Perdue
2005 Elton Davis Memorial Champion

The annual Elton Davis Memorial is the second longest running played tournament in the history of the Professional Putters Association. In its 31st rendition, the tournament saw its biggest turnout in three seasons (32 professionals and 17 amateurs). For the second weekend of August in North Carolina, weather was the statement as heat and humidity played a big role, especially on Saturday.

The tournament got underway with the 2004 champion Opie Roberts stepping up and acing the first hole. It looked as if he would start out strong in search of his second consecutive title. Playing under flu-like symptoms this weekend, Roberts started off struggling to find anything on the course and posted an opening round 32. The leader in the first round would go to Bob Haizlip, who teed off second behind Roberts. Haizlip shot 26 in the opening stanza for a one-shot lead over 2002 champion Greg Newport and 2004 Match Play champion Michael Hitt.

The lead throughout the Saturday session on the event would go back and forth between the two local heavyweights from Burlington. In the second round, Newport and Hitt shot a 25 to grab the lead at 52 and led by one over Haizlip and 1997 champion Robert Johnson. Not much change was provided through the third round as Newport extended his lead to two strokes over Haizlip and Hitt. Through 54 holes, Newport was the only player under 80 as he was in at 79, with Haizlip and Hitt both tied at 81 for second and two-time champion Daryl Freeman making his traditional third round move to the top by firing a 24 to move into fourth with Rick Baird, playing in his 22nd consecutive Elton Davis as a professional and in search of his first title, at 82.

Haizlip took over in the fourth and final round of the day. Already off to a strong start with an 11 on the front, Haizlip was -10 after 15 and nursed a one-shot lead with the final three holes to play. In the past, Haizlip was known to have a "horseshoe in his pocket." On the final three holes, Haizlip made 16 after scraping the right cheese down the fairway, then nearly missed the pipe on 17 and had the ball break mysteriously back to the left toward the hole, and left 18 short, but the ball turned left and last-rolled in from the bottom left corner lip to end the round with a 23. That would give him a first-day score of 104 and a three-shot advantage on Newport, who would end the day at 107. Billy Caudle fired his second consecutive 26 of the day to round out the lead pairing at 109. Perdue put himself in contention also when he posted a 24 to go in at 109 and would tee off from the #4 position on the board for Sunday.

Roberts still had a shot himself. After the dismal 32 to start out play, Roberts came back strong to post an 80 on the final 54 holes to go in at 112 and be eight out of the lead. It appeared the same scenario was intact as that was the exact score Roberts shot last season before his miracle run to victory. Only this time, Roberts' deficit was one-stroke and two spots worse. It would be the first time in the last four eight-round events in Burlington (1999, 2003 and 2004) that the defending champion was not leading after the first day.

The APA field had its best turnout since the 2002 season when there were 17 participants as well. Keith Waters was their defender, but had one of the worst starts any defender had. Waters began the day with two even-par rounds of 36 and was down 23 after the first two rounds.

The amateurs had a better time scoring did the pros. The first round was shot by 2003 APA National Champion Bonnie White, who turned a 25 to lead by one Chuck Nance. Nance had mentioned during the week that he would love to win this event as it had meant so much to him. Nance made a courageous charge into the second round. Nance, a winner already on Course 1 this season in Burlington back in March, fired a 23 to jump out to the lead at 49. His lead was by one over local product Robert Boyer, who turned in the day's best round of 22 to move into the second hole at 50. White was third at 53.

Boyer then took the lead in the third round and responded from Nance's misfortunes. Although he fired the bogey-free, Nance only shot 30 to drop down to second. Boyer posted a 27 to go in at 77, with Nance in second at 79 and Asheboro standout Caleb Kennedy in third at 81. In the final round of the day, Nance came back strong with a round of 28 and jumped ahead of Boyer after his 31. With four rounds to go, Nance was in the clubhouse at 107 and a lead of only one on Boyer. Jeff Carr moved to third at 110, with White in fourth place and still alive being five down to Nance.

On Sunday, the presentation of the Elton Davis Memorial Dedication Award was announced about 15 minutes before the tournament began. The 2005 recipient was Andy Coradini and before he accepted the award, Coradini's long-time friend and North Carolina teammate Rick Baird made the presentation in his honor. Baird described Coradini as a friend to his fellow combatants and was also rooting players on whether or not that player was playing well or when he was not playing up to his potential. Coradini had a loss for words in his acceptance speech, but did say that he made a lot of friends over his 25 years of competition.

By the time the fifth round got underway, the thermometer already reached 90 degrees, despite the 10:00am start. Haizlip's three-shot lead in the Pro Division would gradually evaporate as the carpet quickly thickened. Haizlip constantly lagged his tee shots and only shot 31 to lose the lead in an instant. That would progress into the later rounds that would eventual take out of the money.

However, it was Newport trying to gun for his second Elton Davis title in four years. Despite missing the first four holes of the round, Newport fired a 25 to grab a three-shot lead on Haizlip. Newport was in at 132, with Haizlip next at 135. Perdue and Matt Summey were tied for third at 136. There were a pair of 21's in the fifth round committed by Jimmy Comer and Darrell Britt that put them slightly back in contention at 138 and 140, respectively, before backing out with rounds in the 30's that dropped back down to their original starting point of the day.

Carr began his battle to the top in the APA Division. Nance started the round off strong with a 25 to put him at 132. Carr shaved two strokes off the lead with a 23 that moved him into second and within one shot of Nance. Nance began to fade in the sixth and seventh rounds. Although he shot 30 in round six, Carr only posted a 29 and both were tied at 162. The seventh round was the difference. Carr fired the APA's best seventh round 26 to grab a four-stroke lead on Boyer, while Nance dropped to third and five back after a 31 placed him at 193.

Meanwhile, Perdue took command and moved ahead after Newport's demise. Newport again missed the same first four holes, and would be common for the remaining two rounds. Newport ended up with a 29 in the round, but would be passed by Perdue's 24 to give the second place finisher from 2004 the lead at 160. Newport dropped to second at 161 and it was the last time he would see any lead of the tournament. Coradini jumped to third following a 24 of his own to move to within three of the lead and Summey remained in contention being four off the lead.

Johnson made his move to the top of the leaderboard in the seventh round. Johnson shot 23 move from sixth to second. Perdue stayed in the lead with a 27 that put him in at 187. Johnson was at 188, and Coradini was hanging in at 189. Coradini was trying to become the first player to be Dedication Award winner and the tournament winner in the same year. He was also trying to come from nine down after the first day to win, which would be the biggest deficit to overcome

In the APA Division's final round of play, Jeff Carr's four-shot lead was almost erased. Carr would only fire a 30, but it was good enough to hang on to a two-shot win. For Carr, the win was his first Elton Davis title and becomes the first player from the state of South Carolina to take home the crown in the APA Division. Carr also would win for the fourth time this season on the North Carolina tour. Robert Boyer of Burlington, N.C. was second at 220, while Chuck Nance would finish in third at 221. Steve Helton fired a second day score of 107 to finish in fourth at 222, while fifth went to Bonnie White at 224.

Meanwhile in the Pro Division, Perdue's one-shot lead would be challenged by Johnson, Hitt, and even Caudle. Johnson fired a final round 24 to finish at 212. Perdue began with a 5-under front nine and had to basically run the table on the back. Perdue eventually tied Johnson with the final hole remaining. On 18, Perdue played the right rail shot to get over the hill and the ball went in dead center to clinch the victory. Perdue's ace on the final hole marked the first time the Elton was decided with an ace on the final hole since Freeman did it two years ago. His final round 24 was the third consecutive year and fourth in the last six that the winner of the tournament would shoot 24 in the final round.

Caudle turned in the tournament's best round and career best score of 20. Caudle missed holes 6 and 11 by a combined 18 inches, including touching the lip on hole 6, for a shot at third perfect round in PPA history. Caudle finished two strokes off the pace.

Perdue won the 31st annual Elton Davis Memorial with a final score of 211 for his first ever major title. His score matched his second place score from last season, where he lost by two shots to Opie Roberts. Robert Johnson, who was going for his first Elton title since 1997, settled for second at 212. Billy Caudle and Michael Hitt each were tied for third at 213. Matt Summey placed in the top five at 215.

Tied for sixth were Coradini, Ray Guthrie, and Randal Smith, all finishing at 216. Roberts had a final round 23 that placed him in the top ten in ninth place for his 2004 defense at 217. Freeman and Brad Lebo round out the top ten at 218. Caudle received a state qualifying spot and a Match Play spot from this event. Summey grabbed the second Match Play spot offered.

Special thanks goes out to Brian Patterson and his staff for a "job well done" once again in preparations for the 31st annual Elton Davis Memorial.

The North Carolina tour will take the next weekend off and will head to Spartanburg for the final weekend in conjunction with the South Carolina tour program. The events will be played on August 27 & 28 on Course 3 with a 12:00pm tee time on the 27th and 10:00am on the 28th.

Tournament recap provided by Opie Roberts and scores provided by Rick Rybaczek..

Professional Scores from the 2005 Elton Davis Memorial
(Burlington, N.C. - 13-14 August 2005)