Robinson, Bare Dominate First Half of 2008 Season

Charlotte, NC- The Charlotte, NC based Tarheel Tour just began the second half of the 2008 season last week with the completion of the inaugural Pete Dye Classic in Radford, VA. Eleven of 20 events on tour have been completed and there is a great deal of news to report regarding players and venues.

Among the players who have had outstanding first halves on the Tarheel Tour this season are Jacksonville, FL resident Andy Bare and Sandersville, GA native David Robinson. For the most part, these two players have dominated the first half of the 2008 season. Each player has won twice at the halfway point they sit at Nos. 1 and 2 on the 2008 money list, with Robinson leading the way. After the Patriots Point Classic was cancelled due to high winds, Robinson started the season off with a win in the first event at The Rivertowne Open in early March just outside Charleston, SC. He followed up a pair of top-10 finishes in his next two starts (including a tie for third at the Cabarrus Classic) with his second title of the year at the Northstone Open. Since his most recent victory in early May, Robinson has played five more events on the Tarheel Tour with three top-six finishes to his credit. In nine starts, Robinson has yet to miss a cut and has recorded an astonishing eight top-10 finishes. In fact, Robinson’s cuts-made streak stands at 35 in a row, dating back to the 2005 season. The former Georgia College standout leads the money list through 11 events with $63,575 in earnings.

The closest man to Robinson on the money list is another two-time winner in 2008, Andy Bare. The former UNC-Greensboro golfer, who turned heads with his T20 finish in last year’s Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour, got his season off to a bit of a slow start with T28 and T15 finishes in his first two starts. Since that inauspicious start, Bare has come on strong with a playoff victory over Gregg Jones in the Sapona Open and a victory in the Warrior Classic, where he set the Tarheel Tour 54-hole scoring record at 22-under-par. In eight starts thus far in 2008, the three-time Tarheel Tour champion has made seven cuts and has been in the final pairing an impressive five times. He has six top-15 finishes to his credit and is second in earnings with $46,808.

Several other winners on the Tarheel Tour in 2008 have come as no surprise. Jay McLuen, D.J. Fiese, Kevin Kisner and Ryan Blaum have each followed up 2007 titles with victories in 2008. Walnut Creek Classic champion Jonathan Moore entered the professional ranks with an impressive amateur resume that included the 2006 NCAA Individual Championship and a memorable performance for the United States in the 2007 Walker Cup. Michael Sims, who won the Spring Creek Classic two weeks ago, shared the 36-hole lead in his first event of the season at the Walnut Creek Classic before finishing T8. The Bermuda native and former Nationwide Tour player backed up his win at Spring Creek with a T6 last week at the Pete Dye Classic.

Following the first event of the season at the Rivertowne Open, the Tarheel Tour’s flagship event was launched in late March in Okatie, SC. The TPGG Classic sponsored by the Tournament Players Golf Group of Roswell, GA was conducted over the Oldfield Golf Club. The 156-player field competed for a tour-record purse of $250,000 with a winner’s share of $40,000. Paul Butler of Gaffney, SC, in just his second career start on the Tarheel Tour, won in astonishing fashion by carding the day’s low round in each of the final two rounds en route to a one-shot victory over Kevin Kisner and Fernando Mechereffe.

The Tarheel Tour is excited about launching a successful and interesting second half to the season with some unprecedented events on the horizon. The tour will make two more inaugural visits in July with trips to River Hills Country Club in Lake Wylie, SC and Catawba Springs Golf Club in Hickory, NC. The tour will return to Firethorne Country Club in Marvin, NC after a one-year hiatus as well as returning to the newly renovated River Run Country Club in August.

Beginning with the River Run Classic August 26-28, the Tarheel Tour, in accord with S & K Menswear, will conduct the S & K Fall Finale Series. The Series will consist of four events leading up to the Tour Championship in mid-October, where Tarheel Tour members can earn points for top-20 finishes. At the conclusion of the four events, the top five point earners will receive bonus money and/or bonus store credit to S & K Menswear.

The Tarheel Tour will stage its 12th event of the season beginning on July 10th with the Southern Open at Cabarrus Country Club in Concord, NC. The field of 162 players will be competing for an estimated first-place check of $21,000, making it the second largest winning share on the Tarheel Tour in 2008.

Notes

Nationwide Tour

2007 Sapona Open Champion Justin Hicks, who was a co-leader in the 2008 U.S. Open after 18 holes, defeated former Tarheel Tour player and 2003 U.S. Amateur runner-up Casey Wittenberg in a sudden-death playoff to win the Nationwide Tour’s Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic Presented by Samsung. With the win, Hicks earned just over $144,000 and moved from 160th on the money list all the way to 13th. For Hicks, the win solidified a two-year exemption on the Nationwide Tour and put him in position to earn his PGA Tour card for 2009 via a top-25 finish on the money list at seasons end. Former Tarheel Tour player Matt Every and 2006 Charlotte National Open Champion Kyle Reifers finished fifth and 10th, respectively, to also move up on the money list.

Champions Tour

Former Tarheel Tour player and two-time North Carolina Amateur Champion Mike Goodes fired three consecutive 68’s at the Commerce Bank Championship in East Meadow, NY to finish T6 and earn $57,600. The sixth-place finish was the second best of the season for Goodes after earning $102,000 via a T4 effort at the Regions Charity Classic in May The Reidsville, NC native moved up to 42nd on the current money list with $226,139 in earnings. The top 30 money winners at season’s end are fully exempt for the 2009 season. By virtue of his top-10 finish this week, Goodes is exempt from Monday qualifying for this week’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open on the Champions Tour.