Joel Baker Wins by Six Strokes in Round Rock, TX on PPA Texas State Tour
Joel Baker playing the 2000 Elton Davis Memorial (Burlington, NC)27 April 2003 - Round Rock, TX - After just missing a win the day before in Waco, Joel Baker jumped out to a three stoke stroke lead with a 10-under 26 in the opening round at Round Rock. A solid 7 under second round kept Joel in lead but Brice Bergesen and Gary Reed managed to close the gap by one sitting two behind. With no other players within 5 strokes of Joel it looked like one of those three players would take the title. Joel blitzed the field in the last round with a 12-under 24 giving him a 6 stroke victory and a state spot. Gary finished second with Brice one behind for third. Joel had the two of the three lowest rounds of the day at 24 and 26 in the win.
In an interesting development in match play the players who finished second and third, Gary Reed and Brice Bergesen, took the match play spots. The same thing had happen the day before in Waco. Gary defeated Lee Messinger and Mike Baldoza to claim his spot and Brice defeated Rodney Phillips and David Lynch for his spot.
In the amateur division Mickey DeLucca jumped out to a two stroke lead at 8-under 28. A solid 7 under 29 second round kept him in the lead by two. Mickey faltered in the last round with a 3-under 33 leaving the door open for most of the field. It was Jason Sheffield and Mike Huckaby who took advantage. Both players shot final round 29's but Jason started the round one ahead of Mike and that lead gave him the title and a state spot.
Mike was able to claim a state spot in the match play portion of the event defeating Allen Thomas and Doug Austin as consolation. The other spot went to James Kile who defeated James Taylor and Mickey DeLucca.
Article and scores provided by Lee Messinger.
Professional Division of Round Rock, TX Event (27 April 2003)
Round Prize Player 1 2 3 Total Money 1 Joel Baker* 26 29 24 79 $140.00 2 Gary Reed* 29 28 28 85 $80.00 3 Brice Bergesen* 29 28 29 86 $50.00 4 Andy Gaiser 33 29 25 87 $30.00 5 Mike Baldoza 30 29 29 88 $20.00 6 Jeffrey Smith 29 30 30 89 7 Randy Wimpy 32 29 32 93 Rodney Phillips 30 33 30 93 9 Lee Messinger 33 31 31 95 Steve Tanton 31 31 33 95 11 Steve Armstrong 32 35 29 96 12 David Lynch 37 34 28 99
Amateur Division of Round Rock, TX Event (27 April 2003)
| Round | |||||
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total | |
| 1 | Jason Sheffield* | 32 | 27 | 29 | 88 |
| 2 | Mike Huckaby* | 30 | 30 | 29 | 89 |
| 3 | Mickey DeLucca | 28 | 29 | 33 | 90 |
| 4 | James Kile* | 33 | 27 | 32 | 92 |
| Kenny Beck | 31 | 30 | 31 | 92 | |
| Steve Willmann | 33 | 27 | 32 | 92 | |
| 7 | Doug Austin | 30 | 32 | 31 | 93 |
| 8 | Dave Blalock | 32 | 35 | 30 | 97 |
| 9 | James Taylor | 36 | 35 | 29 | 100 |
| Trevor Lewin | 37 | 33 | 30 | 100 | |
| 11 | Paul Matsler | 35 | 33 | 34 | 102 |
| 12 | Allen Thomas | 34 | 39 | 33 | 106 |
* Earned TX State Championship Spot.
Match Play Results of Round Rock, TX Event (27 April 2003)
