Randy Reeves' Fifth
Round 23 Secures His First Carolinas' Open Title
17 April 2005 -
Columbia, S.C. -
The field of 33 pros and 18 amateurs participated on a gorgeous Sunday
morning in Columbia. The 21st annual Carolinas' Open held on Course 2
was determined to be one of the best outcomes in Open history. It was
decided after the fifth round, but three players had a shot at the win.
|

Randy Reeves
2005 PPA Carolinas' Open Champion
|
Greg Ward led the way as the defending champion, but got off on the
wrong foot. Ward shot 33 in the opening round and was only beating four
players in the 33-player field. Opening the tournament with the lead at
25 was Andy Coradini. In search of his first Open win of his career, the
Loganville, Georgia product dominated the morning session and was
leading by two shots at 77 after the first half of play.
Coradini was leading by one shot over local favorite
Rick Culverhouse
after the first round. Culverhouse returned the favor in the second
round by firing his second consecutive 26 of the tournament and grabbed
the lead at 52, with Coradini falling into second at 53. Coradini took
the lead right back when he shot 24 to head into the afternoon at 77.
Culverhouse was two back at 79. Next in the clubhouse was
Tony Varnadore
with a score of 82, and Reeves was alone in fourth, a stroke back of
Varnadore.
Ricky Schults dominated play in the APA and would win his first Open
title of his career after he shot 82 in the final three rounds. Tied
with Chris Alley for the lead at 25 through the first round, Schults
moved ahead of the field and posted rounds of 27, 28, and 27. Schults
held on to win the Carolinas' Open in the APA Division by three shots
over Dennis Biesma. Schults would win his second tournament of the
season and his first major win since he won the Virginia State
Championship. Schults has won four major titles spanning the last
two-plus seasons. He has won the Carolinas' Open, last year's Virginia
State Championship, last year's APA National Championship, and the 2003
South Carolina Championship held on Course 1 in Columbia in dominant
fashion.
|

Ricky Schults
2005 APA Carolinas' Open Champion
|
Biesma finished in second with a score of 110, including a final
round 25 to hold off
Chris Hudson. Hudson finished alone in third at
112. Alley was fourth at 115, and
Barry Moore ended up in fifth at 116.
Biesma clinched the two-day low amateur spot for North Carolina from
this weekend.
Action resumed in the Pro Division and not much movement was involved
in the rankings. Coradini still maintained the lead, but would be
trimmed down to one shot as Culverhouse fired a 27 to finish the fourth
round. The fifth round was the round that made the difference. Coradini
found trouble and Culverhouse capitalized. A 31 by Coradini put him in
at 136, and Culverhouse put together a 28 in that round to move ahead of
Coradini at 134. Culverhouse did not see himself leading at this point.
Reeves came out of nowhere to shoot 23 and made up five shots on
Coradini and took the lead. Reeves entered the final round at 133, with
Culverhouse one back, and Coradini and Varnadore tied for third and
three back of Reeves.
There was no room for improvement in the final round for Coradini.
Another 31 put him out of contention as he had to
settle for a top five finish.
Varnadore tried to rally in the latter stages and shot 26 to finish at
162. Culverhouse shot 28 to finish tied with Varnadore. But it was
Reeves who had just enough in the tank to match Culverhouse's final
round score to edge out a one-shot win.
Reeves completed the day as the 2005 Carolinas' Open champion, his
first title. Reeves finished with a score of 161 and earned $300 from
the event. Reeves also accepted spots into the South Carolina State
Championship, and the North Carolina State and Match Play Championships.
Culverhouse and Varnadore both finished tied for second at 162. 2003
Open champion Vince Batten rebounded to finish fourth at 165, while
Coradini and Robert Johnson, who posted a tournament best round of 22,
rounded out the top five at 167. Greg Ward finished strongly after the
disappointing start and would finish in a three-way tie for seventh at
169.
Other spots were handed out from this event. Varnadore won the
two-day NC State spot after defeating Batten in a playoff. Johnson took
the two-day SC State spot after a playoff victory over Rick Rybaczek.
Batten and Varnadore also received the two World Match Play spots from
this event.
Special thanks goes out to Hubert Robertson, the course manager at
Columbia, for providing the event this weekend. The South Carolina tour
will play their State Championship on this very course in the first
weekend of October.
Both of these tours will be in action again in two weeks. They will
play at one of the tour's most popular destinations, White Lake, on
April 30 and May 1. Two tournaments will be played on April 30. Both
tours will play the first event at 11:00 a.m.
and North Carolina will play a sole tour event at 4:00
p.m. Then, the two tours will play
again on Sunday, May 1 at 10:00 a.m.
Tournament
results provided by Opie Roberts and Frank Warren.
|