Darrell Britt Wins South Carolina State Tour Opener in a Playoff over Rybaczek
12 March 2005 - Columbia, S.C. - Darrell Britt came from three strokes down after the opening round and won in a playoff over Rick Rybaczek for his first PPA win since 2003. Britt took advantage of Rybaczek's debacle on the back nine to edge him out by one stroke during play in Columbia on Saturday morning.
The South Carolina began the 2005 season in Columbia under typical March conditions, blustery and cool. Winds blew in the neighborhood of 20-30 m.p.h. throughout the morning and it would result in high scoring on Course 1. A field of 25 professionals and 19 amateurs participated in the season opener.
Darrell Britt playing the 16th hole on Course #3 against Gary English in the 2004 PPA World Match Play Championship (19 July 2004).Rybaczek grabbed the opening round lead, along with Randy Orr, at 27 to lead by a shot over Michael Hitt, Manfred Stewart, Tom Comstock, and reigning 2004 PPA South Carolina State champion Brad Lebo. Hitt, winner of the 2004 Palmetto Classic on this course, grabbed the lead after the second round. Hitt fired a 27 to take a one-shot lead going into the final round. Through two rounds, Hitt was in at 55, Rybaczek dropped to second at 56, and Britt moved to third at 57.
Britt shot 27 in each of the final two rounds to finish at 84. Hitt missed the final hole finishing one stroke behind Britt while Rybaczek would fire a 28 to catch Britt and forced an 18-hole playoff.
Rybaczek aced the first four holes but Britt would respond by making four in a row himself after missing the first two. The back nine would decide the outcome as it had played havoc against the field. After both players finished the front nine at 13, Britt managed only two aces to Rybaczek's lone ace on 11. In fact, after making the first four holes, Rybaczek only managed to ace two of the final 14. Britt would win the playoff 29-30 to win his second South Carolina season opening tournament in the last four seasons (Rock Hill - 2000).
Barry Moore posted a wire-to-wire win and held on in the final round, despite a round of 33. Moore, who started out with opening rounds of 27 and 27, won by two shots over Chris Hudson and Larry Smith. Moore shot 87, while Hudson and Smith finished tied at 89. The win for Moore is his first in South Carolina play.
Hitt finished in third with a score of 85, missing 18 to tie Britt and Rybaczek. Fourth went to Robert Johnson at 87 with Dan Anders in fifth at 88.
With the winds blowing, scores on particular holes were high. Hole 7 was played +2, including +9 in the second round, for the Pros, while the APA played in -8 for the tournament. Hole 13 was also dominated by the APA as they shot it -11 to the Pro's -2. Hole 18 was no better as the Pros posted a cumulative -2 for the tournament, but the APA posted a whopping +11.
The next tournament on the South Carolina Tour is set for 5:00 p.m on Saturday on Course 1.
Tournament results provided by Opie Roberts.
Professional Division of Columbia, S.C. Event
(Columbia, S.C. - Course #1 - 12 March 2005)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Darrell Britt*
30 27 27 84 $ 140.00 2 Rick Rybaczek 27 29 28 84 $ 100.00 3 Michael Hitt 28 27 30 85 $ 80.00 4 Robert Johnson 30 29 28 87 $ 70.00 5 Dan Anders 32 26 30 88 $ 60.00 6 Andy Coradini 29 30 30 89 $ 50.00 Brad Lebo 28 31 30 89 $ 50.00 Greg Ward 29 32 28 89 $ 50.00 9 Rick Baird 32 30 28 90 $ 43.00 Randy Orr 27 33 30 90 $ 43.00 11 Randy Reeves 31 29 31 91 $ 27.00 Manfred Stewart 28 33 30 91 $ 27.00 Frank Warren 29 30 32 91 $ 27.00 14 Tom Comstock 28 34 30 92 Rick Culverhouse 31 29 32 92 16 Jay Klapper 33 31 30 93 Randal Smith 33 28 33 93 18 Matt Summey 28 35 32 94 Tony Varnadore 31 35 29 94 20 Tony Jackson 31 32 34 97 21 Tommy Barbour 32 32 34 98 22 Todd Fowler 34 34 31 99 23 Bob Jackson 32 31 28 101 24 Steve Toomey 38 35 34 107 25 Robert Ward 40 44 33 117 * Darrell Britt defeated Rick Rybaczek 29-30 in an 18 hole playoff for the victory.
Amateur Division of Columbia, S.C. Event
(Columbia, S.C. - Course #1 - 12 March 2005)
Round Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Barry Moore
27 27 33 87 $ 10.00 2 Chris Hudson 30 32 27 89 $ 10.00 Larry Smith 27 33 29 89 $ 10.00 4 Dennis Biesma 29 26 35 90 $ 10.00 5 Lynn Self 31 31 30 92 $ 10.00 6 Jeff Carr 31 30 32 93 $ 5.00 Todd Trent 31 31 31 93 $ 5.00 8 Larry Hoover 33 28 33 94 9 Ricky Schults 29 39 27 95 10 James LeBrun 30 33 33 96 11 Chris Alley 30 32 35 97 Steve Helton 32 31 34 97 Terry Hendrix 30 35 32 97 14 Mark Lawson 33 36 29 98 15 Russell Taylor 33 34 32 99 16 Frankie Peters 32 34 34 100 17 Caleb Kennedy 31 37 35 103 18 Donald Ralph 38 39 39 116 19 Darren Harvey 43 39 36 118
