Around the Green

Compiled by JAY ALLRED and STEVE WILLIAMS

Pros Retain Tar Heel Cup

For the sixth time in eight years, the pros beat a team representing the Carolinas Golf Association in the one-day competition that features four-ball and singles matches.

The pros, led by Gus Ulrich’s five and a half points out of a possible six, won the event 22-14 on April 2 at Pinewild Country Club’s Holly Course.

In the four-ball matches, Ulrich teamed with Jeffrey Lankford for a 3-0 sweep. The twosomes of Bryan Sullivan-Steve Isley and Bob Boyd-David Thore were also victorious as the pros took a 9-3 lead.

The amateurs fared better in the singles, falling just short in a 13-11 count. Ulrich, Lankford, Boyd, Sullivan and Kent Stauffer were the professional winners.

Chris Logan of Winston-Salem was the amateur team’s top man as he scored a 3-0 singles win after teaming with David Strawn of Charlotte for a 2-1 win in the four-ball.

Complete Tar Heel Cup scores can be found on page 43.

Lankford on Carolinas Tour

Lankford, the 2001 CPGA Player of the Year, has been on a Carolinas pro tour of sorts. He was scheduled to play in PGA Tour events in Hilton Head and Greensboro and will complete the swing with an appearance in the Buy.com Tour’s SAS Carolina Classic, set May 16-19 at TPC at Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh.

Lankford made it through Class A qualifying for the Raleigh event April 8 at the Heritage Club in Wake Forest. He nailed down the third and final spot with a two-under-par 70.

Stan Hodgin of Roxboro Country Club narrowly missed out, shooting a 71. He’s listed as the first alternate.

Carolinas Open

The Carolinas PGA’s first major of 2002 is set for May 7-9 at the Reserve Club in Pawley’s Island, S.C.

Qualifying was held at various sites throughout the two Carolinas in April.

The full field will number 168 with 38 in via exemptions. Ulrich is the defending champion.

The pros who are among the top 60 (and ties) after two rounds will battle for a $50,000 purse.

There will also be a number of amateurs in the field, heading Clemson standout D.J. Trahan, the Carolinas Amateur of the Year in both 2000 and 2001.

Ducey wins at Treyburn

Asheboro’s Tom Ducey, professional at Old North State Club, did some considerable holding on but emerged with a one-shot win in the Pfizer Treyburn Senior Open April 8-9 at Treyburn Country Club in Durham.

Ducey fired a four-under-par 68 in the opening round but followed with a 76, enabling the field to close the gap. Burton Blaine of Weddington came closest with his 75-70 performance that fell a stroke short.

Ronnie Smoak of Spartanburg and Sam Brewer of Raleigh were third, two shots off the pace.

The only other Triad pro to finish in top 10 was Robert Leaver of Oak Ridge. He tied for sixth with 74-75.

Many of the same age 50-and-over players will be on hand for the Carolinas Section Senior Championship at Ocean Ridge Plantation May 21-22.

Decker on Virginia Team

Keith Decker of Martinsville, a regular any time Virginia puts together an all-star team, will be playing in the Virginia-West Virginia Matches April 27-28 at The Homestead’s Cascades Course.

The Virginia team has won the last eight showdowns in the event which is now in its 19th year.

Decker, a former Elon standout, is the reigning Virginias Open champion.

Long-Drive Contest

Carver’s Falls Golf Range in Fayetteville will again be a host site for local qualifying and district finals in the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship.

Qualifying dates at Carver’s Falls are April 28, May 25, June 29, July 20 and Aug. 10 with the district finals set for Aug. 31-Sept. 1.

There are men’s, women’s, senior (45-over) and junior (17-under) divisions. District winners move on to the World Championship October 16 –19 at Mesquite, Nevada.  A total purse of $325,000, the largest in Long Drive history, will be available to the finalists. The finals will be broadcast on ESPN on Christmas Day. 

Shoffner Captures Challenge Invitational

 Randy Shoffner, twice a winner in 2001, has gotten the new season off to a fast start.

Shoffner won the Challenge Invitational April 6-7 at The Challenge at Hideaway Farm, posting a 146 total over two days to outdistance the field by four shots.

Shoffner opened with a 74 and found himself down by three shots to Eric Taylor. But his even-par 72 in round two was the best score of the day as he made move to the top of the leaderboard.

Lex Alexander (76-74) and Jordan Smith (73-77) shared second place at 150. Defending champ Mark Sharp settled for a fourth-place tie with Malcolm Spatz at 151.

Shoffner, 41, won the Alamance County Amateur and the Brookwood Amateur last year. Shoffner said his overall tournament experience plus his course knowledge at The Challenge, where he is a member, was a key to his victory.

Lochmere Golf Course, the Gene Hamm design that opened in 1985 and is Cary’s only semi-private layout, is undergoing efforts to further manicure its course by enhancing and improving the sand traps, fairways and drainage system. The work is being overseen by the course’s most recent hire, veteran superintendent Gene Crews, a N.C. State University graduate with 25 years of course management experience in the state.

“The maintenance crew has been working on an ongoing tree-trimming project to ensure better vision and continually updating the condition of the course,” said Crews. “We are very pleased with the improvements that have been made and we want to keep the course as playable for patrons as possible by offering better putting quality and keeping the golf course fun and challenging.”

Devils Ridge in Holly Springs, a sister course of Lochmere — both are owned by ClubCorp, as is The Neuse in Clayton — has completed its transition from a semi-private to private club and has a membership drive under way. The course also has brought over Jason Cherry from The Neuse to oversee all golf activities at the club. Ardent golf fans may remember Cherry as a member of Division III national championship teams at Methodist College in 1990 and ’91.

PGA Professional Ronnie Reitz will once again be teaching full time at Wake Forest Golf Club. Reitz is offering individual, family and group lessons. He is well known in the area for his junior golf programs offered every summer.

Don’t forget about the Golf Channel’s Drive, Chip and Putt Jr. Golf Skills Competition that’s set for May 15 at The Crossings Golf Club in Durham. This event provides an opportunity for boys and girls, ages 7 to 12, to test their golf skills. The program is free to participants and is targeted at youth who have an interest in golf, regardless of their skill level or previous exposure to the game.

Prizes are awarded for individual events as well as for the best combined score in each of three age groups (7-8, 9-10, 11-12). Winners from local events can advance to regional competition. For more information, call the course at 919-598-8686.

The inaugural Heritage Four Ball Tournament drew some of the area’s best amateurs, and even some former professionals to the new course in Wake Forest in mid-March. The two-day event was won by Raleigh golfers Ronnie Grove and Keith Waters and brought a smile from Danny Agapion, Heritage’s director of golf. “We were very pleased to host our first tournament and bring together such a competitive field,” he said. “It’s wonderful that we were able to get such high-level players.”

Crooked Creek Golf Club in Fuquay-Varina was the host site for another inaugural event, this one the Torry Holt Foundation Golf Tournament on April 8. Sponsored by the former N.C. State and current St. Louis Rams wide receiver, the event featured a cocktail party and silent auction the prior night at the Raleigh Marriott Hotel that was attended by the likes of Holt and two of his All-Pro teammates, quarterback Kurt Warner and running back Marshall Faulk. All told, the combined activities raised more than $50,000 for cancer research.

The state’s top junior golfers 12 and under will return once again to Crooked Creek Golf Club for the U.S. Kids Golf state championship. The event is open to boys and girls entry information can be obtained at www.uskidsgolf.com. Winners will move to the World Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia.

In keeping with the giving theme, the Community Learning Partners of Wake County and Eagle Ridge Golf Club in Garner hosted former U.S. Open Champion Tom Kite — its course designer — on April 21 at the seventh annual CLP Tournament. Over the past six years the tournament had raised more than $200,000, and while the final tally isn’t in, officials are hopeful of adding another $50,000 to the coffers this year, the second with Eagle Ridge as the host.

Gary Woodie of Teed Off 4 Golf has recently moved into a new store at Tanglewood Crossings in Clemmons at the intersection of 158 and 801. The store is located a couple of miles from six golf courses. The expanded store features two fitting centers and additional space for new pro-line equipment. The on-site club fitting shop features Mitchell equipment to modify, repair and adjust clubs. The store offers customers a one-year playability warranty on clubs they build. Woodie said, “We look to elevate the level of service customers expect. We do a lot of trade ins and we sell used clubs.”

Mark Hopkins has been named Director of Golf at Southwick Golf Course in Graham. Hopkins is well known to the area, several years ago when he held the same position he started the popular Southwick Amateur.

PGA Professional Bill Crabtree is now working at Pine Tree Golf Course in Kernersville. Crabtree was the professional at Old Homeplace when it opened.

Professional and amateur golfers gathered at Bermuda Run Country Club on April 15 for the Wake Forest Golf Pro-Am. The annual event, which always brings back a number of Demon Deacons who have played or are currently playing professionally, provides a major portion of the funding for the men’s and women’s golf programs.

Ten professional golfers (who served as team captains) and 40 amateurs participated in Monday’s captain’s choice event.  Professionals included former Wake Forest NCAA individual champions Curtis Strange (1974) and Jay Haas (1975).   Also participating were Billy Andrade and Len Mattiace, both members of Wake Forest’s 1986 national championship team.  Former Deacon Scott Hoch, the 2001 Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic champion, joined the Pro-Am festivities in addition to former Deacon All-Americas and current Senior Tour members Lanny Wadkins and Joe Inman.  Senior Tour member Jay Sigel, a former ACC Champion, as well as Wake graduate Robert Wrenn, a former PGA Tour player who is currently a golf analyst for CNBC, were on hand as well.  Local product Walter Hall, a member of the Senior PGA Tour, also competed in the event.

Members of the 1986 Wake Forest NCAA Championship team were recognized at a reception on Sunday evening.  In addition to Andrade and Mattiace, other members of the 1986 NCAA championship squad present included Phil Bundy, Jeff Carine, Barry Fabyan, Chris Kite, Tim Shoaf and Tim Straub.

Heading the list of 2002 Carolinas PGA Section award winners is John H. Buczek, Director of Golf at Grandfather Golf and Country Club in Linville, North Carolina.  Buzcek, a 29-year member of the PGA of America, was named the Carolinas Section’s Golf Professional of the Year for exhibiting overall excellence as a golf professional, leadership, service, and promotion of the game of golf.  He was the winner of the Carolinas Section’s 1994 Palmer Maples Teacher of the Year and the former Head Professional at Forsyth Country Club in Winston-Salem.

The Carolina Section’s Junior Golf Leader Award went to Bob M. Brooks, Head Golf Professional at Gillespie Golf Course in Greensboro, North Carolina, for his exemplary work with Junior golfers throughout his career.  A major part of Brooks’ focus has been the organization and implementation of T.Y.G.R. P.A.W.S. Junior Golf Program, which provides free golf instruction for underprivileged youth in his community.  Brooks is a nine-year member of the PGA of America.

The winner of the Horton Smith Award is Michael L. Casto, Director of Golf at Fort Jackson Golf Club, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.  Recognized for his teaching skills, innovative instructional programs, and communications ability, PGA Master Professional John A. Gerring, who is with Cliffs Golf and Country Club in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, was named the Section’s Teacher of the Year. 

Eric C. Wilson, Golf Administrator for the Golf Academy of the Carolinas in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, captured the Bill Strausbaugh Award. The Section’s Merchandiser of the Year Awards are presented in three different categories.  These awards recognize the ability to plan and promote successful sales by using innovative merchandising techniques.  The winner in the resort facilities category was Thomas “Tom” Plankers, Director of Golf at Lion’s Paw / Panther’s Run / Tiger’s Eye Golf Links in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina.  The winner in the private course category was Brian K. Thelan, Head Golf Professional at Mount Vintage Plantation Golf Club in Edgefield, South Carolina.  The public course category winner was Wade A. “Skip” Corn, Jr., formerly of Tournament Players Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The Assistant Golf Professional of the Year Award went to Cynthia “Cyndi” Evans of The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Evans was recognized for her all-around performance as an assistant professional in teaching, playing, and golf shop operations. Recently, she also was named one of the Top 50 female teachers in the country by “Golf for Women” magazine.  Evans has been a member of the PGA since 1989.

All winners will be formally honored during Carolinas Golf Night on January 10, 2003.