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KANNAPOLIS — Steve Isley had a score to settle, but had to beat a good friend to do it.
Isley, of Oak Island, birdied the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with a 12-foot putt to defeat Mocksville’s Jeff Lankford for the Adelphia North Carolina Open championship at the Kannapolis Country Club on Thursday.
Isley, a club pro at the Players’ Club course at St. James Plantation in Southport, thought he had won the North Carolina title a year ago at Nags Head, but he ran into trouble on the final hole and finished second to Wilmington’s Bob Boyd.
“Last year in this same tournament, I should have won.I lost my ball on the last hole. I hadn’t really practiced much up until this tournament, because it’s the only one I really cared about,” said the 30-year-old former North Carolina State University golfer.
Isley hit a 4-iron off the tee and an 8-iron onto the green both times he played the par-4 18th on Wednesday. When he had the 4-iron in his hands, it brought back memories of an ill-fated shot a year ago.
“It hung with me all day and that last hole. It’s the same type hole (narrow fairway), a 4-iron off the tee, but I hit it so far left, I lost the ball (at Nags Head). That 4-iron I was hitting there, I thought about it the whole time,”Isley explained.
He and Lankford, another former N.C. State golfer who won the N.C. Open in 1993, had parred No. 18 the first time to finish tied at 12-under-par 204.
Isley hit his 4-iron down the middle in the playoff hole, but Lankford wound up in the left rough, unable to go for the pin, because he was blocked out by trees.
“All I wanted to do was try to make par and force him to make the putt. Luckily, I did,” said Lankford, a teaching pro at Hickory Hills Country Club. Lankford hit the difficult shot onto the right side of the green, at least 40 feet from the pin. He got his putt close enough to tap in for a par.
“Then he (Isley) was able to make the putt. Hat’s off to him,” said Lankford.
Lankford started the day one stroke ahead of Isley, the first-round leader after a 65. The golfers were tied after Isley birdied the par-4 14th. Both golfers birdied the par-5 15th, then parred in.
They had to contend with each other, but also with 18-year-old amateur Russell Killough of Mint Hill, who surged into a one-shot lead when he eagled No. 15 for the third straight day. Killough hit a 9-iron from 158 yards to within five inches of the cup on his second shot to go 12 under for the tournament and 8 under for the round. The rising senior at Independence High School bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17, shot a 66 and wound up two strokes back of the leaders, taking third place with a 206.
Killough, the youngest player in the field, was playing for a prestigious title, but Isley and Lankford were playing for the first-place cash prize of $6,000. Thus the two pros were playing each other and not worrying about the amateur threat.
“We knew we would get that (money), but we were still wanting to win the title,” said Lankford.
Isley and Lankford, friends for about 15 years, were riding in the same cart and talked about Killough, who had played with Isley in the second round.
“I was just telling him how amazing that was, in my opinion,” said Lankford. “He just spoke about how well he played yesterday and a good kid, too, obviously an exceptional player.”
Isley said, “The guy playing with us (amateur Lance Waggener of Statesville) told us how Russell was doing a couple of times. We were asking, because we saw him close and heard people clapping. It didn’t affect how we played. He could have beat us by 10, and it didn’t matter. I was trying to beat him (Lankford), and he was trying to beat me.”
Lankford said of playing with Isley, “I’ve been good buddies with Steve for a long time. We had a good time out there, and both of us played good. So it was a lot of fun.”
It got more serious when the two golfers had to ride back to the No. 18 tee in the sudden-death playoff.
“We were joking about how we wished we were playing somebody we didn’t like so well. Somebody’s got to lose. He played good; I played good. He made the putt on the last hole,” said Lankford.
The 37-year-old Lankford, who starred at Davie County High School before earning a golf scholarship to N.C. State, collected $3,700 for second place. His biggest paycheck ever, $21,775, came in April when he shot a 7-under 281 and tied for 29th place in the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic.
Boyd, who had won in 1995 and 2000, finished fourth at 207, while Kelly Mitchum of Southern Pines,Bryan Sullivan of Kitty Hawk and amateur Waggener of Statesville tied for fifth with 209s.
A competitive course record was set by Smithfield’s John Yancy, who fired a 9-under-par 63 to finish at 211, sharing 10th with Charlotte’s Kent Stauffer.
China Grove’s Todd Johnson, an amateur, led local golfers, finishing in a tie for 38th at 218.
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