Gary Reed Uses Final Round 25 to Earn Victory in Longview, TX

15 May 2005 - Longview, TX - The Texas Tour had its biggest turnout of the year at the Longview course for its sixth event of the year. Among the players in the eighteen man field were two former national champions, Bryan Boyd and Marc Portugal, and world champion Mike Baldoza.

The first round saw Marc Portugal and Byron Kirby jump to a three stroke lead. Both players fired 10 under 26s. Another group of four players were tied four third. Marc and Byron both slowed down in the second round but Marcs 7 under 29 kept him in the lead by three strokes going to the last round. A poor last round of 4 under 32 opened the door for another player to take the win. Both Joel Baker and Wade Sahmel, playing in early groups, passed Marc but Gary Reed fired an 8 under 10 on the front nine to put himself in position to take the win.

With three holes to play, Gary only had to par out for the title. A bogey on the 16th hole gave the leader in the clubhouse, Joel Baker, a brief moment of hope he might still get a chance at the win but Gary made the tough 17th and played it safe on the easy 18th hole to take the win, a state spot, and the available world spot. Additional state spots went to Lee Messinger and Steve Tanton in match play competition.

The amateur division was a two man competition just about from the beginning. After two rounds Chance Marett held at least a five stroke lead over the field with the exception of Anthony Driver who was sitting two in back of Chance. A very poor last round by Chance of 2 under gave other players a chance to catch him. Steve Willmann missed catching Chance by one stroke with a 9 under 27. Anthony Driver 4 under 32 was enough to force an 18 hole playoff. Chance jumped to early lead but was not able to put Anthony away until the end of the round. The win also gave Chance a state spot. Additional spots went to David Chisum and Steve Willmann.

Article and scores provided by Lee Messinger and Adam Sahmel.