Gilbert Sharpe Pulls Off Miracle Finish to Win the 2003 Virginia State Championship

5 October 2003 - Lynchburg, VA - Gilbert Sharpe has been known by many of his tour buddies as the luckiest player on the tour. He may now be considered the luckiest State Champion ever as he came from far behind in the final round to win his first ever Virginia State title. Down eight strokes with 13 holes to play, Sharpe made up the strokes by acing 11 of the final 13, including a run of eight of the final nine.

Gilbert Sharpe 2003 PPA Virginia State Champion

The win overshadowed Mike Brown's run to a title, despite running in a couple of 22's in the championship. On two occasions, the round of 22 opened up a five-shot lead when the round was completed. After the third round, his lead was three shots and was taking in the clubhouse lead with a score of 76. Sharpe was in second at 79. A charging Andy Coradini moved into third at 80.

Brown held on to the lead in each of the next two rounds and was up five shots after his second 22 of the day in the fifth round put him at 126. Coradini, who was going for his second state title in the last three seasons, was in second at 131, while Sharpe was in third at 132.

Brown jumped out and tried to drop the hammer early in the final round. Brown aced four of the first five to lead by eight over Coradini and Sharpe. He would cool off down the stretch from there. Brown then missed the next seven playing the holes 1 over par, opening the door for Coradini and Sharpe. Coradini had some difficulty in the middle stretch as well and would not get back in. Sharpe, however, started to play his best round starting on hole 5. Sharpe would ace 10 of the next 12 to take the lead and then aced 18 to clinch the victory. Sharpe would fire a final round 23 to mark the most incredible finish in Virginia State Championship history.

Sharpe's ace on the final hole resembled the last State Championship held in Lynchburg when Randal Smith aced the final hole to claim his first state title of his career back in 1999. Sharpe would win this one with a final score of 155 and won $800. Brown shot a final score of 156, while Robert Johnson finished in third at 158. Coradini finished in fourth at 161, and Thomas Rawles' solid afternoon run was good enough to finish in the fifth spot at 162. Defending champion Greg Newport finished in a tie for ninth at 166.

Bill Garrett 2003 APA Virginia State Champion

Bill Garrett started out in the APA Division by using an opening round 24 for a two-shot lead and led throughout the first half. By the end of the third round, he was tied with Chuck Dibbs for the lead at 79. Although he would shoot rounds of 27, 27, and 29 to finish at 162, Garrett would win his first APA State title by five shots over a trio of players. Chris Kern shot an afternoon score of 79 to finish tied with Dennis Biesma and John Petrie for second at 167. Dibbs finished fifth at 168.

Awards were given out at the end of the tournament as Bob Chetister received the APA Sportsmanship Award and Daryl Freeman received the honor for the Pro Division. The 2004 Committee was announced as well. The new committee will consist of Gary Hinshaw, Brad Lebo, Mike Brown, Vince Batten, Jonathan Moore, Buddy Taylor, and newcomers Daryl Freeman and Jeff Spainhour. The APA Committee will return Amy Smith, but will have new inductees Chuck Dibbs, Bill Garrett, and Dennis Biesma.

The Clayton Cup teams have also been announced. The Virginia team, who will host this year's event in Fredericksburg will have captains Brad Lebo and Vince Batten, with Mike Brown, Darrell Anderson, Matt Summey, Gilbert Sharpe, Thomas Rawles, and Jeff Spainhour. Daryl Freeman and Jonathan Moore were selected as the ninth and tenth members of the team.

This concludes the regular season of the 2003 season. The tour will head up to Fredericksburg on the weekend of October 18 & 19 for the Teams and Match Play Championship. They will also host the Clayton Cup and Hancock Cup matches on the weekend of October 25 & 26.

APA Recap (by Chuck Dibbs)

The quiet, friendly, and religious town of Lynchburg, Va. beckoned putters to compete in the Virginia State Championship on the brisk autumn weekend of October 4th and 5th, 2003. Chuck Cyr, although a few holes late for his tee off time Sunday, managed to keep his appointment with the Lord as he attended church the morning of the event. His priorities in order, perhaps Chuck knew hed be needing help from above later in the day. In fact, we all would.

Soft spoken APA veteran Bill Garrett was not the favorite going into the Virginia State APA championship weekend. But with over 20 years of experience to his credit, and his confidence rising with a recent win on the Va. State tour, Bill was poised to make a run at the season ending championship. With a steady performance, Garrett strung together rounds of 24-28-27-27-27-29 and lead the championship wire to wire. As Walter Kolb was nearly taking a splash into the pond next to the 14th hole, Bill was putting the final touches on his opening round of 24 to lead by two over Chuck Dibbs. In fact, this was the third tournament of the weekend Garrett commanded the first round lead. Although unable to win the other two events, the third time would indeed prove to be a charm.

His two round total of 52 led Dibbs by one and Amy Smith and Wade Driskill by three. After three rounds Chuck Dibbs was able to tie Bill for the lead at 79 going into the lunch break. Wade Driskill also put himself in the final pairing with an 82. Unbeknownst to Dibbs and Driskill, however, this would be as close as they would get. As Dibbs started the fourth round 2-4-2, Garrett began 1-1-1 to open up a 5 shot lead, and from there he simply didnt look back. As Dibbs and Driskill struggled, Garrett rarely ran into trouble. Playing steadily, he kept the field at bay, and even with a sizeable lead he went for and aced the challenging 17th hole in the final round.

Chris Kern, Dennis Biesma, and newcomer John Petrie made late charges to each tie for second place at 167, with the fourteen year old Petrie downing them both in a playoff. This was Bills fourth major title, and his first Virginia State Championship. Bill Garrett is also a member of Virginias Hancock Cup team.

The two warm up tournaments on Saturday saw Chuck Dibbs sneak out a win with a final round 26 for 85 in the first event. The real story of the day came in the second tournament, however, when young John Petrie burst onto the APA scene with a final round 24 and a 79 total for his first win. His smooth stroke and cool demeanor will make him a force to be reckoned with in years to come.

Professional Division of the 2003 Virginia State Championship
(Lynchburg, VA - 5 October 2003)

		Round							Prize
	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Money
1	Gilbert Sharpe	26	27	26	28	25	23	155	$800.00
2	Mike Brown	26	22	28	26	24	25	156	$600.00
3	Robert Johnson	28	28	27	26	24	25	158	$400.00
4	Andy Coradini	27	28	25	26	25	30	161	$350.00
5	Thomas Rawles	30	30	26	25	24	27	162	$320.00
6	Brad Lebo	24	30	29	29	28	23	163	$290.00
7	Vince Batten	28	31	26	27	25	27	164	$260.00
8	Rick Baird	25	28	29	29	27	27	165	$230.00
9	Greg Newport	27	28	30	25	28	28	166	$175.00
	Dave Taylor	28	28	27	27	27	29	166	$175.00
	Rusty Taylor	30	27	27	26	28	28	166	$175.00
12	Darrell Anderson	26	28	32	27	27	28	168	$112.50
	Jonathan Moore	29	27	29	28	27	28	168	$112.50
14	Manfred Stewart	31	30	27	24	28	29	169	$100.00
15	Daryl Freeman	27	32	29	27	28	27	170	$90.00
16	Opie Roberts	27	27	30	31	27	29	171	$90.00
17	Rick Rybaczek	29	29	32	26	27	30	173	$80.00
18	Jeff Spainhour	30	26	32	30	30	26	174	$80.00
	Justin Taylor	31	29	28	27	27	32	174	$80.00
20	Kevin Garrett	30	26	30	27	31	31	175	$80.00
21	Ed Grajewski	30	25	33	25	32	31	176	$80.00
22	Gary Hinshaw	30	29	33	28	27	30	177	$80.00
23	Gary Moore	30	27	34	28	29	30	178	$80.00
24	Matt Summey	30	29	33	28	30	29	179	$80.00
25	Buddy Taylor	30	32	30	32	28	28	180	$80.00

Amateur Division of the 2003 Virginia State Championship
(Lynchburg, VA - 5 October 2003)

		Round							Expense
	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Money
1	Bill Garrett	24	28	27	27	27	29	162	$30.00
2	Dennis Biesma	29	28	27	26	27	30	167	$30.00
	Chris Kern	26	33	29	29	25	25	167	$30.00
	John Petrie	30	29	30	27	24	27	167	$30.00
5	Chuck Dibbs	26	27	26	31	29	29	168	$30.00
6	Wade Driskill	26	29	27	31	30	29	172
	Amy Smith	27	28	28	34	29	26	172
8	Walter Kolb	31	29	28	31	29	30	178
	Malcolm Shumaker	30	33	26	29	31	29	178
10	Mike Matthews	35	32	37	28	28	29	179
11	Larry Hoover	30	31	26	32	28	35	182
12	Chuck Cyr	41	29	29	28	28	31	186
13	Duane Johnson	32	31	34	30	29	31	187
14	Bob Chetister	33	32	37	29	30	29	190
15	Shayne Shiflett	34	37	32	41	32	31	207
16	James LeBrun	42	38	33	34	35	28	210

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