Steve Tanton Wins 2005 West Texas Open (Lubbock, TX

Steve Tanton Wins
2005 PPA West Texas Open

9-10 April 2005 - Lubbock, TX - The Texas Putting Tour held the West Texas Open at the Lubbock, Texas course on April 9th and 10th 2005. The weather is always a question in West Texas during the early spring. You can get anything from 100 degree days to snow storms. The putters got gusty winds this time around with gusts ranging from 15 to 30 miles per hour over the two days.

Steve Tanton
2005 PPA West Texas Open Champion

The first day of competition saw three players distance themselves from the rest of the field. Rodney Phillips fired a 27 under par 81 over three rounds to hold a one stroke lead over Steve Tanton. Gary Reed was in third three strokes in back of Rodney. The next set of players included John Tritz and Joel Woodall who were six and seven strokes behind Rodney respectively.

A poor opening round by Phillips and great opening round by Tritz to start the second day of competition jumbled up things considerably. Steve Tanton now held the lead by one stroke over John Tritz with Gary Reed and Rodney Phillips sitting two back of Steve. The fifth round saw Lee Messinger and Joel Woodall make charges to try and get into contention. Lee fired an 11-under 25 which was best on the day and tied for lowest round for the weekend while Joel shot a 10 under 26. Another solid round in the fifth from Steve left him in the lead going to the last round while John Tritz faltered in the fifth to fall six off the pace.

Tanton's lead going to the last round was now two over Gary Reed and Joel Woodall with Lee Messinger in fourth four strokes back. It looked like both Woodall and Messinger were out of contention early in the last round. Both players had poor front nines but Lee was able to make five of the last six holes to salvage an 8 under par 28. As Steve and Gary came to the 15th it looked like Steve had a lock on the tournament. He was four strokes up on Gary going into the tough 15th hole and was already seven under for round.

A double bogey by Steve Tanton pulled Gary Reed to within two strokes. Even though Gary Reed managed to make two of the last three holes it wasnt enough as Tanton came back beautifully from his double bogey making the last three holes to give him an event total of 169, 47 under par, for six rounds of play. The win also gave Tanton both a state and world spot. Gary Reed finished second three strokes back and Lee Messinger was in fourth four in back of Steve Tanton. Both Gary Reed and Lee Messinger earned state spots. The last available state spot went to Rodney Phillips who defeated Joel Woodall in an 18 hole playoff.

In the amateur division Mark O'Guinn took the first day lead at the 2005 PPA West Texas Open firing a first day total 87, Greg Cole and Carey Bailey were five strokes back tied for second with Donald Halpain another stroke back at 93. Trevor Lewin and David Chisum were tied for fifth at 96 while Adam Sahmel was in at 102.

Mark O'Guinn continued his roll on Sunday shooting a second day total of 86 to finish at 173 and take the win by one stroke over Donald Halpain. Donalds second day score of 27 under 81 was the best score on the day for both divisions but not quite enough to catch Mark for the win. The two were separated from the field, with Carey Bailey the closest competitor 13 strokes behind Donald Halpain at 187. Greg Cole finished forth at 188 with David Chisum fifth at 190. Trevor Lewin finished at 194, and Adam Sahmel finished at 203. State tournament spots were awarded to Mark O'Guinn, Donald Halpain, Greg Cole and David Chisum.

Article and scores provided by Lee Messinger.

Professional Division of 2005 PPA West Texas Open
(Lubbock, TX - 9-10 April 2005)