Brad Lebo Fires 72 to Earn Two-Stroke Victory in Richmond, VA 16 July 2011 - Richmond, VA - Course manager, host professional, and PPA Hall of Fame member Gary Hinshaw welcomed a field of 27 professionals and 18 amateurs to historic course # 3 at the Richmond, VA Putt-Putt Fun Center to contest the first of two weekend Virginia PPA Tour events which provided participants with invaluable practice for the upcoming PPA Eastern Open weekend to be held in Richmond on August 6-7. Players failed to take advantage of the rather benign conditions experienced on the sun-drenched but calm and unseasonably temperate afternoon, as only seven of 27 professionals managed to break 80 in the 54-hole event.
2006 PPA National Champion Brad Lebo entered the final round of action trailing opening-round and second-round leader Rick Culverhouse by two strokes. The chances of victory looked bleak for Lebo as he aced only 9 of the first 14 holes in the final round, but an inspired run of consecutive aces on the tournament's final four holes gave him a surprising two-stroke triumph. Carding steady but unspectacular rounds of 25, 24, and 23 for a 54-hole total of 72, Lebo notched his third win of the 2011 PPA season. With a closing-round 26, Culverhouse settled for runner-up honors at 74. Lebo and Culverhouse tied for the low round in the professional division at 23. Reigning PPA National Champion Greg Newport fired 75 to finish in third place. At 76, reigning Virginia Open Champion Rick Rybaczek completed the event in fourth position on the eve of his title defense. Jeff Spainhour continued his stellar 2011 PPA campaign, posting 77 to tie 2010 Richmond, VA Local Player of the Year Manfred Stewart for fifth place. The cash line for the fourteen money spots awarded in the event fell at a three-round score of 82.
In the amateur division, two-time APA National Champion Clayton Craft, Esq. litigated a heroic final-round 24 to emerge out of a significant logjam near the top of the 36-hole amateur leaderboard and earn his initial victory of the 2011 season. After posting opening rounds of 26 and 28, Craft began the closing round one stroke behind a quartet of co-leaders which included Dr. Chris Chafin, three-time VA APA State Champion Conway Coffey, five-time VA APA State Champion Chuck Dibbs, and Richmond, VA local player Kyle Fitzgerald. As the second-round leaders struggled in the third round, Craft cruised to a relatively effortless three-shot triumph with a 54-hole total of 78. Two-time APA National Doubles Champion Malcolm Shumaker matched Craft's final-round 24 to surge into a tie for second place at 81 with Chafin and Coffey. At 82, James LeBrun rounded out the amateur division's top five finishers. Craft, Shumaker, and Coffey shared amateur division low-round honors at 24. The final of the nine amateur division expense reimbursement spots allocated in the tournament came at a 54-hole score of 87. Article provided by Brad Lebo |
Professional Division
(Richmond, VA - Course # 3 - 16 July 2011)
Round Points Prize Player Name 1 2 3 Total Earned Money 1 Brad Lebo 25 24 23 72 25.00 $ 175.00 2 Rick Culverhouse 23 25 26 74 24.00 $ 130.00 3 Greg Newport 24 27 24 75 23.00 $ 105.00 4 Rick Rybaczek 25 25 26 76 22.00 $ 95.00 5 Jeff Spainhour 25 27 25 77 20.50 $ 77.50 Manfred Stewart 27 25 25 77 20.50 $ 77.50 7 Rick Baird 26 28 24 78 19.00 $ 70.00 8 Ken Hastings 26 24 30 80 18.00 $ 60.00 9 Tony Jackson 26 25 30 81 16.50 $ 57.50 Kevin Rutledge 27 27 27 81 16.50 $ 57.50 11 Rick Shelton 29 25 28 82 13.50 $ 51.25 Ed Grajewski 30 27 25 82 13.50 $ 51.25 Dennis Biesma 29 27 26 82 13.50 $ 51.25 Bill Kirby 26 28 28 82 13.50 $ 51.25 15 James Walker 27 28 28 83 9.50 Thomas Rawles 27 29 27 83 9.50 Bill Baus 26 30 27 83 9.50 Daryl Freeman 28 26 29 83 9.50 19 Danny McCaslin 27 28 29 84 6.50 Jeff Carr 30 28 26 84 6.50 21 David McCollister 30 26 29 85 5.00 22 Robert Johnson 28 33 26 87 4.00 23 Gary Hinshaw 30 28 30 88 3.00 24 Michael Hitt 29 26 35 90 2.00 25 Ken Schooler 33 28 33 94 1.00 Matt McCaslin 32 31 31 94 1.00 27 Matt Summey 34 31 32 97 1.00 Amateur Division
(Richmond, VA - Course # 3 - 16 July 2011)
Round Points Expense Player Name 1 2 3 Total Earned Money 1 Clayton Craft 26 28 24 78 20.00 $ 20.00 2 Malcolm Shumaker 29 28 24 81 17.00 $ 14.66 Chris Chafin 27 26 28 81 17.00 $ 14.66 Conway Coffey 29 24 28 81 17.00 $ 14.66 5 James LeBrun 25 30 27 82 15.00 $ 12.00 6 Chuck Dibbs 27 26 31 84 13.50 $ 11.50 John Petrie 30 28 26 84 13.50 $ 11.50 8 Bill Petrie 26 31 28 85 12.00 $ 11.00 9 Mike Matthews 28 31 28 87 11.00 $ 10.00 10 Joey Graybeal 31 27 30 88 9.00 Kyle Fitzgerald 25 28 35 88 9.00 Wade Driskill 27 31 30 88 9.00 13 Rodney Ashley 30 30 30 90 7.00 14 Ben Blake 31 30 32 93 6.00 15 Scott Anderson 29 29 36 94 5.00 16 Chris Matthews 33 35 28 96 4.00 17 Chuck Nance 33 29 35 97 3.00 18 Jerry Sanner 32 34 34 100 2.00