By STEVE WILLIAMS

It’s safe to say a couple of area pros will have lasting memories of spring in North Carolina, year 2001.

John Maginnes, a Greensboro resident, and Jeffrey Lankford of Mocksville each had reasons to celebrate as they made their marks at pro tour stops in Raleigh and Greensboro.

Maginnes won the Buy.com Tour’s Carolina Classic May 3-6 at Raleigh’s Wakefield Plantation TPC Course a week after Lankford cashed the largest check of his professional career with a tie for 29th in the Greater Greensboro Open April 26-29 at Forest Oaks Country Club.

Maginnes, who won twice before on the Nike Tour (now Buy.com), had been struggling until finding the touch in Raleigh. He fired rounds of 68, 65, 66 and 70 to finish at 15-under 269, good enough for a two-shot margin over Rjuji Imada.

The victory was worth $81,000 for Maginnes as he rocketed from 122nd on the money list to eighth and earned some instant job security. He was a man without a tour until the win gave him full exempt status on the Buy.com circuit for the remainder of this season and the next.

"It means I’ll can afford to go to all the rest of the tournaments this year because that’s about what I’ll pay in expenses," he told reporters after the Raleigh victory. "I lost all my endorsements. Financially, this was much, much needed. I mean I could have survived with no problem for a while, but it’s nice to know that I can still make a living playing golf."

Maginnes added a 15th place finish on the Buy.com tour the following week in Virginia Beach, winning another $6,375.

Lankford, who plays out of Hickory Hill in Mocksville has been one of the Carolinas PGA’s leading players for the last ten years. He’s had limited chances in golf’s big time but he seized his opportunity at the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic.

Entered as a qualifier from the Carolinas section, Lankford played four solid rounds at Forest Oaks (67-73-69-72) and earned $21,775. It surpassed the $20,000 he claimed for winning the Eastern Club Pro Championship in 2000.

Canadian Brad Fritsch set the course record at Stoney Creek in Monday qualifying for the GGCC with a 65 that included two bogeys. He couldn’t keep it up in the tournament though, shooting 74-75 and missing the cut by seven shots.

One Monday qualifier did make a check. Steve Gangluff, who played in some Triangle Tour events in 2000, tied for 36th with 71-70-72-69 at Forest Oaks and picked up a check for $14,366.

Page Marsh Lea, a Jamestown native who is now the women’s coach at N.C. State University, was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame May 16 in Raleigh.

Lea won the North Carolina Women’s Amateur six times and was an All-American at the University of North Carolina.

Lea’s younger sister, Amber Marsh, has qualified for to play in the U.S. Open at Pine Needles May 31-June 3. She was one of 14 players to make it through the sectional qualifier May 8 at Duluth, Ga.

Among the other 13 amateurs to qualify are Duke University’s Candy Hannemann and Leigh Anne Hardin. The youngest player to qualify is

twelve-year-old Morgan Pressel of Boca Raton, Fla.

LPGA Tour rookie Marcy Newton of High Point, the 2000 U.S. Amateur champ, earned her spot with a 71 at a sectional at Kettering, Ohio, May 15.

Pro-Amateur

The Hickory Hills’ duo of Jeffrey Lankford and Stanley Randall tied for second in the CGA’s Pro-Amateur Championship April 23 at Spring Valley CC in Columbia, S.C.

Lankford-Randall shot a five-under-par 67 (34-33) to share second with two other teams, four shots off the pace set by Columbia Country Club’s Clem King and Robert Dargan. The winners checked in with a 63 (30-33).

Two Greensboro teams were among the six teams tied for eighth place at 70. Cardinal pro Scott Stratton and amateur Chris Cassetta shot 37-33 and the Sedgefield combo of Bobby White and Bubba Judy shot 34-36.

Chip and Putt

Geo Yang of Greensboro finished third in the Regional Drive, Chip and Putt Junior Golf Skills Competition at Pine Lakes Golf Club in Myrtle Beach.

In the competition, held April 22, Yang was second in putting, sixth in chipping and ninth in driving to place third overall in the age 11-12 division.

Yang had qualified for the regional with a first-place finish in the first round of qualifying at Stoney Creek Golf Club April 7.

Two other area youngsters, both in the ages 7-8 group, fared well in the regional event.

Davis Womble of High Point was fifth in putting, sixth in driving and eighth in chipping to place fourth overall. Daniel Brantley of Asheboro used a second-place finish in chipping to help him to a fifth place overall mark. He was ninth in driving and 10th in putting.

Not too many high school golf coaches are swing instructors. Perhaps Phil Ratliff, coach of four-time state champion Raleigh Broughton, said it best.

"The parents and local pros get them ready by the time they're at Broughton," said Ratliff, who has been coaching golf at Broughton for 16 years. "I'm really blessed.

"My job is to motivate 'em and keep 'em focused. I don't tamper with swings. I'm just a social studies teacher who drives the bus for the golf team."