Greg Sandlin and David Chisum Win in Lawton, OK30 September - 1 October, 2006 - Lawton, OK - The Oklahoma Tour completed their season with the Oklahoma State Championship in Lawton, OK Saturday and Sunday, September 30 - October 1, 2006. The final medal play event was played on Saturday along with the team competition and the Pro-Am was held later in the afternoon. Qualifying spots were distributed throughout the year to gain placement in the final state championship match play bracket and the match play tournament was played on Sunday. On Saturday, the tour kicked off their final weekend with a 54 hole final qualification medal play tournament. The temperature was mild but the wind did pick up from time to time. Greg Sandlin and Chris Enders opened up the first round tied for first with a 31, but Greg pulled into the lead with the lowest round of the day a 28. Greg slipped a little in the third round with a score of 35, but with his low second round, His 94 was able to maintain an 1 stroke edge on Chris Enders, Lee Messinger and Steve Armstrong who all came in tied for second with a 95. James Taylor and Joel Woodall received state qualifying spots. David Chisum was the man that was on fire with great rounds of 29-30-28 to finish the day at 87, for a wire to wire five stroke victory over Danny Hoel and the lowest score of the day for both pro and amateur. Professional Division
* Earned 2006 PPA Oklahoma State Championship qualification spot. Amateur Division
* Earned 2006 APA Oklahoma State Championship qualification spot. Lee Messinger, Danny Hoel, Mike Chisum and David Chisum win 2006 Oklahoma State Team Championship Simultaneously the team competition was also determined from the individual players score. Each team was made up of four players and in each round the highest individual score was dropped and then a total was taken from the remaining three players. The "Men from T.O.T.T." took the team competition, perhaps aided by the low scoring efforts of team member David Chisum and the support of the second place efforts of team members Lee Messinger (pro) and Danny Hoel (amateur) as well as Mike Chisum (pro) shooting a low second round. The "Men from T.O.T.T." shot a 272 to win by 15 strokes over the team of "Jerico" comprised of Chris Enders, Greg Sandlin, Jimmy and Jason Van Buskirk. Team Championship
Chris Enders (PPA Pro) and Danny Hoel (APA) win The Pro-Am was played in the afternoon with Chris Enders and Danny Hoel winning with a score of 75. Greg Sandlin and Jason Van Buskirk won second with a 75 and third went to Lee Messinger and Trevor Lewin with the score 78. Pro-Am Championship
Steve Armstrong (PPA) and Jason VanBuskirk (APA) win
Sunday was the final for the Oklahoma tour with a state champion to be crowned by the end of the day. With the absence of the defending state champion, Terry Smith, the crown was anyone's for the taking. Steve Armstrong would find himself in the final after going through James Taylor and Greg Sandlin. Lee Messenger made it through to the finals with wins over Jody Kimble and Mike Chisum. The finals had a similar feel to the Arkansas State Championship of 2005 where Steve and Lee found each other in the finals and like the results would eventually be the same. Even though the match stayed close from beginning to end, Steve Armstrong seemed to make the hard shots that were needed to give him a slight edge over Messenger and in the end Armstrong would prevail 2-1.
Donald Halpain was the defending amateur champion, beating Jason VanBuskirk in the final rounds last season 1-up. The two again worked their way through the brackets to meet in the final match, and this year the table turned in VanBuskirk's favor. The win was Jason VanBuskirk's first state championship win. Another side note for the young Van Buskirk, he finished on top in a great year for the putter that found him in the winners circle 12 times on the Oklahoma and Texas (not bad at all!). Greg Sandlin and Jason VanBuskirk was announced as the Tour's PPA and APA Player of the Year. Additionally, both Sandlin and VanBuskirk were awarded with the tour's Low Stroke Average Award. Jason's dad Jimmy received the honor with a perfect attendance on the Oklahoma Tour this year, who shared the honor with Danny Hoel, whose consecutive streak is still alive. Scores and Article provided by James Taylor and AmPutters.com. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
