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Former high school teammates Karl
Mitchell and Lee Frick made a strong bid for medalist honors on Saturday in the
49th annual Goode Crowder Dorsett Memorial Labor Day Four-Ball Invitational golf
tourney.
Mitchell and Frick, former East
Rowan golfers, shot a 5-under-par 66 for the qualifying lead at the Country Club
of Salisbury.
One stroke behind the Mitchell-Frick
duo after the fist two days of qualifying are Friday’s 67 shooters Gary
Miller-Todd Johnson and Joey Boley-Thad Sprinkle. Miller is a two-time champion,
while Boley and Sprinkle have finished second twice in the past six years.
Richard Cobb and Gerald Staton are
next with 68s, while John DeRhodes-JimmyHubbard, Coe Brier-Bob Zimmerman shot
69s. Also breaking par with 70s were Tommy Trexler-Jon Allen and George Benfield-Dusty
Holder. Benfield was runner-up with son Shane last year.
The 1999 champions, John Murphy and
Christopher McCoy are not defending their title, so the medalists after today’s
final qualifying scores are posted will be top-seeded.
Fifteen teams have shot par or
better, indicating that a playoff for the championship flight could be held at 5
p.m. Monday for teams that shoot 72.
With 50 regular division teams
scheduled to qualify this morning, the cutoff for berths in the tournament could
be around 78. The tourney had 146 entries with only 96 regular division spots
available. Any playoffs would be held at 5 on Monday.
Hoyt Pope and Burl Brady are ahead
of the pack in the senior division, qualifying with a 71 on Saturday. Former
champions Van Benfield and Jerry Allman are next at 72. Robert Clewell and Bruce
Rogers shot a 74. With defending senior champs Jack Casey and ChipLogan not in
the field, Pope and Brady are in the driver’s seat for the top seed.
The senior division has 24 teams
entered and 24 berths, so the only possible playoff on Monday could be for
berths in the championship flight, unless one of six teams were to match Pope
and Brady’s 71 today.
Match play in the popular tournament
gets under way with the first round on Saturday, followed by semifinals in most
flights on Sunday and the finals on Monday.
Championship flight golfers will
play the first round on Saturday, quarterfinals Sunday, and semifinals and
finals on Labor Day. First-round losers will play twice Sunday in the
championship consolation flight.
The championship match is set for
approximately 1:30 p.m. on Labor Day.
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