Wilfong wins on NGA Tour

BY STEVE WILLIAMS

Chad Wilfong, who finished up at Wake Forest this summer, wasted no time in getting his professional career off to a good start.

The Thomasville native made it through a Monday qualifier and proceeded to make the cut in the Nationwide Tour event in Chattanooga. He picked up a $4,500 check Aug. 3 after shooting 64-71-70-68 and claiming a tie for 23rd. He missed the cut the following week on the Nationwide Tour.

A little over a month later, he got a spot in the NGA Hooters Tour event in Dothan, Ala.

This time, Wilfong walked off with a victory and a $20,000 payday on Sept. 14. He finished at 281 (73-72-67-69) and claimed a one-shot victory over Michael Letzig.

The following week, Wilfong followed the Hooters Tour to Athens, Ala., and narrowly survived the cut with 71-73 the first two rounds. But he fired a 64 in the third round at Canebrake Golf Club, closing with three birdies and an eagle on the final four holes. He posted a final-round 73 and tied for 21st, worth another $1,313.

It was the final event of the 2003 Hooters Tour’s schedule.

Jake Reeves led the Hooters Tour cash count with $109,921 (going into the Tour Championship) while former Methodist College star Chad Collins was third with $84,799 and Salisbury’s Elliot Gealy fourth with $67,990.

Wilfong, like many of the other mini-tour players, plans to try PGA Tour Q-School this fall. The first stage events are set Oct. 21-24 or Oct. 28-31.

 ***

On the Gateway Tour’s Beach Series, a couple of area players finished second and fourth on the money list.

Steve Gilley, formerly of Martinsville, made the cut in all 11 events he played in and had no worse than a 12th place finish. He had three wins and finished with $59,382 for second.

Ryan Gioffre of Greensboro used a late-season charge to wind up fourth on the cash count with $42,845. He made 12 cuts in 14 tries, including a victory in the Burroughs & Chapin Classic Aug. 18-20 at Grande Dunes. Three straight 68s produced a three-shot win and $12,000. He followed that win with a second-place finish at the Surf Club and a tie for third at Barefoot Resort’s Love Course.

***

Korky Kemp of Greensboro notched his first win on the Tarheel Tour Aug. 25-27 at The Point Lake & Golf Club in Mooresville. He shot 71-67-68 for a 10-under-par 206 and a two-shot margin over Matt Cannon of Huntersville.

The field of 54 was the largest in the two-year history of the Tarheel Tour, which plays its events in and around Charlotte.

***

 The Point was also the venue for the Carolinas PGA Section Championship Sept. 9-11 and Jeffrey Lankford was again the winner.

Lankford shot 68-69-71 and scored a three-shot victory over Mike Taylor of Gastonia.

The victory clinched CPGA Player of the Year honors for Lankford for the second time in the past three years. It also earned him exemptions to represent the Carolinas Section in PGA Tour events in the Carolinas in 2004.

 ***

Bob Kulp of Winston-Salem made quite a name for himself in the USGA Senior Amateur Championship at the Virginian Golf Club in Bristol, Va. Sept. 6-11.

Kulp, who set a scoring record with a 66 in the first round of qualifying Sept. 6, won medalist honors with a 36-hole total of 6-under-par 137.

Kulp, 57, was ousted by Preston Davis, 59, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., 3 and 2 in the first round of match play.

Another Forsyth Country Club player also was part of the story. Pete Parker, 69, was the oldest player in the field to advance to match play and he made it to the second round with a 2-up win over Robert Fouke, of Broken Arrow, Okla. Parker then fell by a 1-up margin to Edward Craig, of Orlando, Fla.

***

North Carolina’s teams fared well in the USGA’s State Team Championships Sept. 16-18.

The men’s threesome of Greg Earnhardt of Greensboro, William McGirt of Fairmont and Paul Simson of Raleigh finished in a tie for second at Newton Centre, Mass.

Earnhardt shot 76-68-71, McGirt 70-70-70 and Simson 68-70-71. The best two scores each day counted in the team total and N.C.’s 417 was four shots off the pace of Tennessee and tied with California.

Virginia tied for seventh at 425. Martinsville’s Keith Decker was a part of that squad. He shot 72-68-74.

In the women’s event played at Wellesley Hills, Mass., N.C.’s Shannon Ogg of Charlotte (76-73-76), Patty Moore of Charlotte (76-75-76) and Brenda Corrie Kuehn of Asheville (77-74-84) totaled 451 and finished four shots off the pace of Ohio.

***

The final USGA championships on the 2003 schedule are the Mid-Ams, both scheduled for Oct. 11-16. The women will play at Long Cove at Hilton Head and the men at Wilmington CC in Wilmington Del.

Among the qualifiers are Amber Marsh of Jamestown (shot 79 in the qualifier at Country Club of North Carolina at Pinehurst Sept. 8), Logan Jackson of Winston-Salem (medalist with 68 at Statesville CC Sept. 3), Danny Gurley of Chapel Hill (68 at Statesville), Keith Harris of Concord (70 at Statesville), Preston Edmondson of Morrisville (71 at Statesville) and Keith Decker of Martinsville (71 at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Va., Sept. 3).