Dennis Biesma Captures
2008 Howard Loy Memorial for First Professional Victory

16 March 2008 - Burlington, N.C. - Just a day after his pro debut, and camouflaged by playing deep in the pack, Dennis Biesma quietly snuck up on the field by firing a 45 over the final two rounds of the Howard Loy Memorial Tournament, and earned his first professional victory. Biesma finished at 74, three strokes better than the trio of yesterdays winner, Rick Baird, Darrell Britt, and 2007 ProPutters.com champion, Greg Newport. Randy Carter finished off a good weekend by tying PPA Hall of Famer, Daryl Freeman for fifth place, both players carding 30-under par 78s.

Brad Lebo, of Shippensburg, PA, opened the tournament with a 12-under par 24 for the early lead. Coming in near the end of the professional rotation, and equaling Lebos effort was Newport. Both players enjoyed a two-stoke lead over their nearest competitors. A quartet of players, including Baird, Carter, Randal Smith, and Ricky Schults, tied at 26, for third place. Tony Jackson and 2007 SPT Co-Player of the Year Caleb Kennedy were tied for seventh, just another stroke back at 27. Five players were tied for ninth, at 28, while six players, including Biesma, finished the round at seven-under par 29, and tied for 14th place.

The second round turned into the Moving Round. Newport was able to hang on to the lead shooting a nine-under part 27, finishing the round at 51. Biesma and Britt made up the most ground; firing 23 and 24 respectively, to finish tied for second place at 52, along with Baird who managed a 10-under par 26. While Lebo found some difficulties in the middle round, he only dropped two strokes off the pace and a fifth place tie with Jackson, at 53. Four more putters were just another stroke back at 54, while tied at 55 were three more players.

Baird was the first player in contention to finish, firing an 11-under par 25 to finish at 77. Lebos struggles continued in the third round, almost dropping him out of the money, while Jackson carded a 26, falling back to what eventually turn out to be a seventh place finish. Biesma opened the final round acing the first eight holes, and 13 of the first 14, before laying up the 15th hole, which if over hit and not aced, leaves a very deceiving and easily missed deuce from the bottom tier. While Biesma barely missed the next two holes, he did ace the 18th hole, to finish with a 14-under par, 22, and take the clubhouse lead at 74.

Both Britt and Newport made valiant final round charges, with both players blasting 11-under par 25s, but came up three strokes short, and tied with Baird for second place at 77. Carter and Freeman fired a final round 24 and 23 respectively, to finish tied for fifth place at 78, while Jeff Carr finished alone in eighth place at 81. Rounding out the top ten were Matt Summey and Caleb Kennedy in a ninth place tie at 82.

The Southern Putting Tour would like to extend their thanks to the Burlington Course owner/manager, Brian Patterson for a wonderful weekend, and a course in spectacular condition. The Southern Putting Tour returns to action in two weeks at Willetts Mini-Golf in Asheboro, NC. That Saturdays tournament, March 29, will start at 12:00 p.m., and the following days tournament will start at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.

Article and scores provided by Frank Warren, Dennis Biesma and the PPA Southern Putting Tour.

Professional Division of the Howard Loy Memorial
(Burlington, N.C. - Course # 1 - 16 March 2008)

    Round   Southern Prize
  Player 1 2 3 Total Tour Points Money
1 Dennis Biesma* 29 23 22 74 40.00  $ 150.00
2 Rick Baird 26 26 25 77 33.00  $   94.00
  Darrell Britt 28 24 25 77 33.00  $   94.00
  Greg Newport 24 27 26 77 33.00  $   94.00
5 Randy Carter 26 28 24 78 30.50  $   73.00
  Daryl Freeman 29 26 23 78 30.50  $   73.00
7 Tony Jackson 27 26 26 79 29.00  $   65.00
8 Jeff Carr 28 27 26 81 28.00  $   60.00
9 Matt Summey 29 28 25 82 26.50  $   53.00
  Caleb Kennedy 27 30 25 82 26.50  $   53.00
11 Tony Varnadore 28 26 29 83 24.50  $   45.00
  Rick Rybaczek 32 28 23 83 24.50  $   45.00
13 Vince Batten 29 27 28 84 21.50  $   40.00
  Rick Culverhouse 30 26 28 84 21.50  $   40.00
  Bob Haizlip 31 28 25 84 21.50  $   40.00
  Lance Perdue 27 28 29 84 21.50  $   40.00
17 Jay Klapper 30 31 24 85 17.00  $   16.00
  Brad Lebo 24 29 32 85 17.00  $   16.00
  Frank Warren 28 30 27 85 17.00  $   16.00
  Steve Shively 29 25 31 85 17.00  $   16.00
  Matt McCaslin 31 27 27 85 17.00  $   16.00
22 Randal Smith 26 28 32 86 14.00  
23 Stan Seethoff 31 25 31 87 13.00  
24 Randy Reeves 29 29 30 88 12.00  
25 James White 31 28 30 89 11.00  
26 Bob Jackson 31 30 29 90 10.00  
27 Lewis Burton 32 28 31 91 8.50  
  Steve Toomey 30 29 32 91 8.50  
29 Ricky Schults 26 36 30 92 6.00  
  Allen Wall 30 33 29 92 6.00  
  Chris Bunting 32 28 32 92 6.00  
32 Tom O'Brien 32 31 30 93 5.00  
33 Bill Baus 31 30 33 94 5.00  
  Frankie Peters 34 31 29 94 5.00  
35 Michael Cardwell 34 34 27 95 5.00  

* Earned a qualification spot for the 2008 PPA Southern Putting Tour Championship.

Bonnie White Makes It Two Victories in
Two Starts with Weekend Sweep

16 March 2008 - Burlington, N.C. - After eking out a win in Saturdays APA tournament, Bonnie White fired a 26-under par 82, and led wire-to-wire to win the 2008 Howard Loy Memorial Tournament. Topping Mark Lawson by two strokes, White swept the weekends events, just as Frankie Peters did last year to open the SPT season. Billy Caudle and Vanette Block finished in a third place tie, a distant seven strokes off the pace.

White jumped into the lead with an opening round 27, which was only matched by Adam Smith, of Salisbury, NC. David Gregor lurked in third place a stroke back at eight-under, 28. Caudle and Todd Trent were tied for fourth place at 29, and Lawson was just another stroke back at six-under, 30.

Just as in the pro division, the middle stanza turned out to be the Moving Round. White maintained her lead through the round, shooting a seven-under par 27, to finish the round at 56. Lawson and Trent were the big movers in the APA division, posting a 27 and 28 respectively to close the round just one stroke back of White at 57. David Myers, of High Point, NC matched Trents 28, and jumped into a fourth place tie with Gregor, who struggled to a 31, with both players posting a 59 total for the two rounds. Caudle was also only able to manage a 31 in the second round, dropping into sixth place at 60.

Whites final round 26 removed any doubt as to who was going to win the tournament. Lawson almost matched serve, but fell another stroke off the pace, to finish in second place at 84, two stokes behind Whites 82. Whites victory also gave her a sweep of the weekends events.

Caudle improved his score in the final round, carding a 29 to finish at 89, tied with Block, who matched Lawsons 27 to catch Caudle for the third place tie. Trent struggled in the final round, finishing at 90, in a fifth place tie with Art Koerber, who fired a third round 29 to catch Trent. Trent and Koerber earned the final two expense reimbursement spots.

The Southern Putting Tour would like to extend their thanks to the Burlington Course owner/manager, Brian Patterson for a wonderful weekend, and a course in spectacular condition. The Southern Putting Tour returns to action in two weeks at Willetts Mini-Golf in Asheboro, NC. That Saturdays tournament, March 29, will start at 12:00 p.m., and the following days tournament will start at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.

Article and scores provided by Frank Warren, Dennis Biesma and the PPA Southern Putting Tour.

Amateur Division of the Howard Loy Memorial
(Burlington, N.C. - Course # 1 - 16 March 2008)

    Round   Southern Expense
  Player 1 2 3 Total Tour Points Money
1 Bonnie White 27 29 26 82 23.00  $   10.00
2 Mark Lawson 30 27 27 84 19.00  $   10.00
3 Billy Caudle 29 31 29 89 17.50  $   10.00
  Vanette Block 32 30 27 89 17.50  $   10.00
5 Todd Trent 29 28 33 90 15.50  $   10.00
  Art Koerber 32 29 29 90 15.50  $   10.00
7 David Gregor 28 31 32 91 14.00  
8 Rodney Ashley 35 31 26 92 13.00