Brad Lebo |
Vince Batten |
16 September 2008 - Richmond, VA - On an overcast afternoon, 26
two-player teams battled in the PPA National Doubles
Championship, held on courses # 2 and 3 at the Richmond, VA
Putt-Putt Fun Center. The unique 72-hole format included, in
sequence, rounds of alternate hole, better ball, better ball,
and alternate hole competition. In a very tightly-contested
tournament, 2007 PPA Tournament Players Champion
Vince Batten
and 2006 PPA National Champion
Brad Lebo
took advantage of their extensive experience on the Richmond, VA
courses to post rounds of 24, 22, 20, and 23 for a 72-hole total
of 89 to tie 2007 PPA National Champion
Rick Baird
and 1987 Elton Davis Memorial Champion
Steve
Shively for the clubhouse lead at the end of regulation
play. In the ensuing 18-hole, alternate-hole playoff on course #
3, Batten and Lebo seized an early lead and subsequently
strategically laid up several of the dangerous holes on the
inward nine to defeat Baird and Shively, 24-26, and earn the
2008 PPA National Doubles Championship title. The Texas squad of
Joel Baker
and
Cliff
Matthews nearly made it a three-team playoff, as they
narrowly missed the final hole of regulation to shoot 90 and
settle for a third-place finish. A three-team, fourth-place tie
at 92 included the pairs of
Jeff Carr
and
Ricky
Schults,
Randy Reeves and
Tony
Varnadore, and
Andy
Coradini and
Manfred
Stewart. The cash line for the event fell at 94.
Several teams matched existing scoring records in the
low-scoring affair. In the event's second round, the tandem of
David McCollister and
Danny Tatum
carded a perfect better ball score of 18 on course # 3, tying
the existing better ball record. Not to be outdone, the team of
Rick Alessi
and
Tim
Greenert shot a perfect better ball score of 18 on course #
2 in the third round of the event to join McCollister and Tatum
in the
record book.
In the amateur division, Virginia Tour amateur heavyweights
Chuck
Dibbs and
Mike
Matthews dominated the amateur field with a brilliant
performance. Dibbs and Matthews fired rounds of 23, 21, 23, and
24, which included multiple prudent lay up efforts during their
final round of play, for a 72-hole total of 91 and a comfortable
five-stroke victory.
Michael Foster and
Ken
Stanfill notched runner-up honors at 96. Richmond, VA local
stalwarts Marty Handschuh and
Malcolm Shumaker shot 97 to finish in third position.
Another Richmond, VA duo,
Amy Smith
and
James Walker, carded 98 to complete the event in fourth
place. Finishing in a tie for fifth position at 99 and earning
the final amateur division expense reimbursement spots awarded
in the tournament were the squads of
Lynn Self/
Larry
Smith and
Bill Combs/Chuck
Cyr.
The events of the 2008 PPA National Championship week will
continue with the contesting of the 49th annual PPA National
Championship beginning on Thursday, September 18, 2008. Play in
the 12-round, three-day tournament will begin at 10:00 a.m. on
Thursday, September 18; 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 19; and
8:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 20.