Steve Sharpe Claims Interclub Challenge Medal

By STEVE WILLIAMS

SUMMERFIELD – Steve Sharpe won three tournaments in 1999 and added to his victory total with the Gillespie Invitational in 2000. But he went winless in 2001.

“I just didn’t happen to win one,” Sharpe said after returning to the winners’ circle with a three-shot victory in the Triad Golf Today Interclub Challenge individual event April 6-7 at Greensboro National. “I probably didn’t play quite as much either.”

Sharpe, a three-time club champion at Forest Oaks, helped his home club win the team championship of the Interclub Challenge by shooting 76-70. The second-round 70 was one of only four under-par scores in the two days of the event played in conjunction with the Triad Golf Today Tournament of Champions. And the 146 was the best score among 116 players competing in the doubleheader, even beating the 147 totals posted by Todd Chadwick and Chris Cassetta, who met in a T of C playoff. (Chadwick won on the sixth extra hole).

Greensboro National was playing tough both days – a combination of slick greens, some tough pin placements and a cold wind that hampered the first round. But Sharpe handled the elements better than anyone else.

“I kept it in play and I made my short putts,” he said. “I hit it in the right places and kept it below the hole. The way it was set up, it was really easy to lose your cool. But I stayed patient and tried to make a lot of pars.”

Sharpe made his mark on the front nine, shooting one-under-par 35 in the first round and doing one better than that in the second round. He didn’t have a bogey on the front either day.

A double bogey at the 10th sent him reeling to a 41 on the back nine Saturday but he played that side even par Sunday, balancing two birdies with two bogeys.

His birdie at the par-5 15th was the real key as that hole’s severe, back-left pin placement led to more bogeys and “others” than it did pars and birdies. He and Gary Zachary of Blair Park were the only two players to birdie the hole Sunday.

“I hit a perfect shot left of the hole,” Sharpe said. “Hit it anywhere else and you’d three-putt it.”

Sharpe’s 146 was three better than Stoneville’s Johnny Kallam, a member of the Ponderosa team. Kallam fired a 72 in the second round and made a big move up the leaderboard as the players at the top of the 74-player list after Saturday retreated.

Kenny Flynn, a member of the Reynolds Park team, shot 76-75 and shared third place with Forest Oaks’ Chris Brown, who came in at 74-77.

First-round leader Patrick Brady (72-80) settled for a fifth-place tie with Eric Lawhon (74-78) and John Kelley (74-78).

Sharpe, 45, didn’t take up golf until he was in his mid-20s.

“I had to find something to do besides race motorcycles,” he said. “I needed a safe sport.”

He plays mostly in weekend events or ones close to home and thus hasn’t played in a lot of Carolinas Golf Association events.

“I really don’t have time to get out and do a lot of traveling,” said Sharpe, a grading contractor. “It’s hard to get away as busy as I am all the time.”

The fact that the North Carolina Mid-Am at Bryan Park (Sharpe tied for 17th with 72-78-71) and the North Carolina Amateur at Forsyth Country Club (June 13-16) are both close by this year will open some opportunities.

“I’m planning to play a little more this year and I’m hoping to get ranked in the CGA,” Sharpe said.

He’s well on his way.