COLLINS 1-OVER TAKES HARRIS TEETER SR TOUR WIN
Posted: 5/29/2009 10:18:30 AM
Lexington, NC - (May 28,2009) Pinehurst's Terry Collins is an international golfer. He generally spends most of his time between October and April in the Far East, where those months represent the region's "high season" for golf. "There's good senior golf associations there also", says Collins, who has played in New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Phillipines among other locations on the Pacific Rim.
Collins won the 54-hole Singapore Senior Amateur in December of 2008, and finds numerous other tournament venues to his liking amongst the Asian countries. "There's a lot of competitive golfing opportunities I can take advantage of there", added Collins.
Collins brought his golfing prowess back home to North Carolina as he shot a 1-over 73 at Sapona Country Club to capture a victory in the Championship Flight of the Harris Teeter Senior Amateur Tour event held here today. Collins was 3 strokes clear of Raleigh's Bill Rockenstein, who carded a 76.
There have been few Harris Teeter events recently where at least one Flight hasn't been determined by sudden-death playoff after the top participants have been deadlocked after 18 holes of competition. Such was the case today in the A Flight as Southern Pines' Wiley Barrett and Lewisville's Mike Smith both turned in 76s.
The golfers returned to hole #10, a 383 yard, downhill par-4. After playable drives, Smith's errant iron found the greenside bunker and he was not able to convert the sand save. Barrett however, didn't take immediate advantage, because his second shot found the green, but left a lengthy putt. "I left myself about 40 feet from the hole", he said. "Not an easy 2-putt on that green". But Barrett rose to the occasion and parred the hole for the win.
In the B Flight, the margin of victory was 2-strokes, as Advances' Ron Vanderklok shot a 77 to edge Greensboro's Terry Dearman. The C Flight results were even tighter than those of the B Flight as Lenoir's Larry Wagoner nipped 2 Tour members, High Point's Danny Keever and Winston's Tim Story by a single shot apiece after posting an 83.
"The scores in the B and C Flights were very impressive", stated Tour Director Bruce Hallenbeck. The last few years no one has approached those numbers in either flight during this event - it's a tough course. I have a feeling that some of the guys in those lower flights could be moving up soon in flight after we check their Tour handicaps - that number is the law".
THE HARRIS TEETER SENIOR AMATEUR TOUR
SAPONA COUNTRY CLUB EVENT
TOP FIVE SCORES BY FLIGHT
CHAMPIONSHIP (6,157 yds)
Terry Collins, Pinehurst 73
Bill Rockenstein, Raleigh 76
David Michaels, Greensboro 79
Brent Massey, Raleigh 80
James Ribet, Durham 87
A FLIGHT (6,157 yds)
Wiley Barrett, Southern Pines 76
Mike Smith, Lewisville 76
William Hiner, Pinehurst 78
Dick Skobo, Seven Lakes 78
Randy Coppedge, Greensboro 78
Wilson Shelton, Madison 78
Tom Fagerli, Yadkinville 78
B FLIGHT (5,820 yds)
Ron Vanderklok, Advance 77
Terry Dearman, Greensboro 79
Travis Jones, Greensboro 80
Mike Johnson, Knightdale 80
Darrell Hagwood, Raleigh 82
C FLIGHT (5,820 yds)
Larry Wagoner, Lenoir 83
Danny Keever, High Point 84
Tim Story, Winston-Salem 84
TJ Warren, Greensboro 85
Elby Hatfield, Archdale 86