Allen Wall Edges Freeman for
Impact Open Victory25 March 2006 - Spartanburg, SC - The Southern Putting Tour returned to action for the second consecutive weekend of the month of March after debuting its season in Burlington. This time around, the tour headed south to one of the more popular destinations in Spartanburg. For the second weekend in a row, the Southern Putting Tour was marred by chilly weather. Spartanburg hit a record low temperature of 29 degrees and conditions never improved, despite sunny skies the entire day. Bursts of wind gusts were the ideal adventure for the 28 professionals that teed off for the Impact Open held on Course 2.
Allen WallThe afternoon would belong to Allen Wall, who made the 45-minute drive from Shelby, NC, to win in his first attempt on the Southern Tour. Wall led from the opening round on to become the third different winner on the tour in as many events played in just two short weeks.
Wall ran in a stretch of aces from holes 5 to 11 to take the early lead with a 25 for a one-shot lead over Daryl Freeman. The field of 28 all experienced difficulty in the first round as there were a total of 24 bogey strokes in the opening round. By the second round, the wind continued to howl and three more bogeys were recorded.
Wall would be the one that maintained his consistency. Although he started out the round with three consecutive pars, Wall did not get into a major ace run in the second round. The most he had in a streak was two, which was done three times late in the round, but still shot 27 to go in at 52 and would hang on to his lead of one on Freeman. Freeman had a much similar round like Wall and was in at 53 through the second round.
Freeman, in ironic fashion, last won a tournament in Spartanburg in 2003 where winds were of the same magnitude. Back then, winds were blowing around 30 mph. Here, it was anywhere from 15-20 mph, but gusts were at times approaching 30-35 mph.
Spartanburg, SC
Course 2 - Hole #12Freeman did try to take over the lead from Wall, but only got as close by tying him three times in the final round. Freeman aced hole 2 to tie Wall, but Wall took it back with an ace on 3 and then made the next four to follow. While Freeman missed 3 and 4 in succession, he managed to make the next four to pull back to within one shot going into the back nine. Both players made 10 and 11, but Freeman gained a stroke back from Wall's expense. Wall found trouble on 12 by going behind the block and settled for his first and only bogey of the day.
Freeman responded by taking a deuce on the hole to deadlock Wall for the second time in the round. After both made 13, Wall regained the lead with an ace on 14. The lead was once again short-lived as Freeman grabbed the stroke back on 15. Both made 16 and Wall bested Freeman for the final time, this time on the tricky 17th hole. Wall made two on the final hole, and Freeman, in the group behind Wall, missed his tee shot to end any chance for a third consecutive playoff to start the tour season.
Wall posted a final round 26 to finish the Impact Open with a score of 78, good enough to edge Freeman by one as he finished at 79. Tied for third was Brad Lebo and Greg Ward, both at 80. Frank Warren rounded out the top five at 81. In the final round, the winds continued to whip, but scoring lowered themselves from the previous two rounds. Even though the rounds improved in terms of score, there were 37 strokes over par in the final round. There were 14 spots given at this event, with the score of 85 generating a two-way split for the final cash spot.
Wall earned the right to compete for the Southern Putting Tour Championship in High Point later this year and was the fourth entrant to the event. He will also be the first player to tee off for the inaugural PPASouthernTour.com Open that will be played on Sunday, March 26 at 10:00am on Course 2.
Article and scores provided by Opie Roberts and the PPA Southern Putting Tour.
Professional Division of the 2006 Impact Open
(Spartanburg, SC - Course #2 - 25 March 2006)
Round Southern Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Tour Points Money 1 Allen Wall* 25 27 26 78 40.00 $150.00 2 Daryl Freeman 26 27 26 79 34.00 $110.00 3 Brad Lebo 28 27 25 80 32.50 $ 85.00 Greg Ward 30 25 25 80 32.50 $ 85.00 5 Frank Warren 28 27 26 81 31.00 $ 75.00 6 Ricky D. Schults 28 25 29 82 29.00 $ 65.00 Darrell Britt 27 27 28 82 29.00 $ 65.00 Rick Baird 30 24 28 82 29.00 $ 65.00 9 Robert Johnson 28 28 27 83 26.50 $ 50.00 Randal Smith 28 29 26 83 26.50 $ 50.00 11 Tony Varnadore 26 30 28 84 24.00 $ 42.00 Michael Hitt 29 29 26 84 24.00 $ 42.00 Vance Randall 27 28 29 84 24.00 $ 42.00 14 Opie Roberts 29 30 26 85 21.50 $ 20.00 Tony Jackson 30 28 27 85 21.50 $ 20.00 16 Jay Klapper 27 30 29 86 19.50 Ray Guthrie 29 31 26 86 19.50 18 Rick Culverhouse 29 30 28 87 18.00 19 Gary English 31 28 29 88 17.00 20 Lewis Burton 29 30 31 90 16.00 21 Greg Newport 32 32 27 91 14.50 Randy Orr 30 29 32 91 14.50 23 Rick Rybaczek 31 32 29 92 13.00 24 Michael Cardwell 30 28 35 93 11.50 Billy Caudle 30 33 30 93 11.50 26 Bob Jackson 28 31 35 94 10.00 27 Russell Sigmon 29 31 37 97 9.00 28 Steve Toomey 32 36 35 103 8.00 * Earned a qualification spot for the 2006 PPA Southern Putting Tour Championship.
Moore Surpasses Hoover to Claim
Impact Open Crown25 March 2006 - Spartanburg, SC - It took final hole dramatics that determined the winner for the APA Division on Saturday at the Impact Open. Barry Moore erased a one-shot deficit to Larry Hoover when Hoover bogeyed the final hole of the tournament. Moore, who was in the following group, made the final hole to take the title with a score of 81. Much like the Pros on Saturday, the APA group of 20 also had difficulties with the wind. In all, the field committed 57 bogey strokes in the first round, reduced it by 11 after the second round, and then cut out seven more in the final round.
Larry Smith, playing in his first Southern event of the season, got his season off to a tremendous start with an opening round 26 for a two-shot lead over Frankie Peters. Leadership changed over in the middle round as Smith posted a 30 to fall behind and would get worse for him later on.
Moore took advantage of Smith's blunder by posting a 25 to take a share of the lead at 54. Hoover also posted a nice round of 24, which included 13 aces and a 10th-hole bogey, to join Moore for leadership honors. Smith was still in contention at 56, and was tied for third with Jeff Carr.
Hoover gained the upper hand at the start of the final round. Hoover shot 14 and Moore posted a 15 for Hoover to grab the outright lead. The lead would grow to two strokes after Moore took a three on the 12th hole, but gained some momentum as he recovered one of the shots on the very next hole. The lead remained the same for the next four holes before the final hole of the day took an indirect turn in Moore's favor. An errant tee shot by Hoover put his ball toward the back rail and then could not get his deuce putt to fall. After tapping in a long bogey, Hoover finished at 82 and was in a virtual tie with Moore with one hole remaining for him. Moore was initially attempted to send it to a playoff, but thought twice and decided to take a shot at the win. His tee shot was perfect and fell through to pull off a huge one-shot win over Hoover and posted a final score of 81.
The win for Moore is his first of the season and is the third different amateur to take victory honors this season. Hoover ended up in second place at 82. A strong final round 25 for Frankie Peters was good enough to take third on Saturday at 83.
The Southern Tour APA Division will resume action at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 26 for the inaugural PPASouthernTour.com Open. Moore will be the first to tee off the event.
Article and scores provided by AmPutters.com.
Amateur Division of the 2006 Impact Open
(Spartanburg, SC - Course #2 - 25 March 2006)
Round Southern Expense Player 1 2 3 Total Tour Points Money 1 Barry Moore 29 25 27 81 23.00 $ 10.00 2 Larry Hoover 30 24 28 82 19.00 $ 10.00 3 Frankie Peters 28 30 25 83 18.00 $ 10.00 4 Jeff Carr 31 25 28 84 17.00 $ 10.00 5 Larry Smith 26 30 34 90 16.00 $ 10.00 6 Terry Hendrix 30 30 32 92 15.00 $ 10.00 7 Todd Trent 33 32 28 93 14.00 $ 10.00 8 Adam Smith 31 31 32 94 12.50 Caleb Kennedy 31 34 29 94 12.50 10 Tommy Hutchinson 30 32 33 95 10.50 Vanette Block 32 33 30 95 10.50 12 Bo DeBruin 31 32 33 96 9.00 13 Lynn Self 33 32 32 97 8.00 14 Steve Helton 34 31 33 98 7.00 15 Chris Alley 31 35 34 100 6.00 16 Donald Ralph 38 37 31 106 5.00 17 Mark Lawson 37 36 34 107 5.00 18 Robin Trent 35 41 33 109 5.00 19 Linwood Moist 39 38 35 112 5.00 20 Darren Harvey 47 39 45 131 5.00
