Tarheel Tour Returns to Cabarrus for 4th Annual Southern Open

Concord, NC- After two consecutive tournaments in the state of Virginia, the Charlotte, NC based Tarheel Tour will return to the greater Charlotte area for the fourth annual Southern Open at Cabarrus Country Club in Concord, NC.

A field of 168 professionals, the largest of the season, will gather just north of Charlotte at Cabarrus for the second time in 2008, following the Cabarrus Classic in early May. The most recent winner on the Tarheel Tour, Ryan Blaum, will be looking to make it two victories in a row. Blaum took home the title at the inaugural Pete Dye Classic at the Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech by one stroke over Scotland’s Joel Hendry. Blaum highlights possibly the deepest field of the year on the Tarheel Tour. Seven of the nine winners this season are in the field this week as are 17 of the top 20 money winners. The man who currently resides 20th on the money list is defending champion Shaun Norris. Norris, who missed his first cut of the season at the TPGG Classic, is starting to round into form as he has recorded second and sixth place finishes in two of his last three starts. The big South African, who is considered by his peers as the longest hitter on the Tarheel Tour, has proven he can get it done several ways. In his runner-up performance at the Warrior Classic, he shot 20-under par to finish two shots behind Andy Bare. Last week at the Pete Dye Classic he grinded out a final round even-par 72 on the toughest single day course set-up of the season to finish at 2-under-par for the week and record a tie for sixth.

Other favorites who are expected to challenge for the title at Cabarrus Country Club are Kevin Kisner and William McGirt. Kisner, who hails from Aiken, SC, opened the Cabarrus Classic this spring with a course-record tying 9-under-par 63. The former University of Georgia All-American would ultimately finish in a tie for third with several others. Just three weeks later, the 2007 Match Play Champion would record his first victory of the season at the Bermuda Run Open in a playoff over Jason Kokrak. McGirt, the champion of the 2007 Cabarrus Classic, finished tied for third in defense of his title back in May. McGirt was also a co-runner-up last year in the Southern Open. In his last three appearances at Cabarrus, the Boiling Springs, SC resident has finished first, second and third.

As always, the field will have to deal the two most successful players of the spring season, David Robinson and Andy Bare. Robinson leads the money list by about $16,600 over Bare who inched past the aforementioned Kisner into second place last week with his tie for sixth at the Pete Dye Classic. Robinson and Bare are the only multiple winners on the Tarheel Tour in 2008. 2005 Southern Open Champion and Salisbury, NC native Elliot Gealy is also in the field and is expected to contend.

The field of 168 players is likely to see a different Cabarrus Country Club than they tackled in the spring. With temperatures in the 90’s for much of the early summer, the lush bermuda grass rough is expected to be up. The Southern Open is a 54-hole event with a cut after 36-holes to the top 35% and ties. Those surviving the cut will compete for a purse in excess of $135,000 with a winner’s share of $22,000. The Tarheel Tour’s flagship event of the summer will begin on Thursday, July 10th with the first round beginning at 7:30 a.m. on the first and tenth tees. The second round will follow the same procedure on Friday, July 11th, with the third and final round beginning on Saturday morning with and expected finish around 2:00 p.m. The Southern Open, in accordance with all Tarheel Tour events, is open to the public and free of charge.