2015 ppa southern Tour Kicks Off $20,000-Plus Season

      The 10th Renewal of the annual Professional Putters Association Southern Tour  opens March 28-29 on Amelia Island and overlooking Fernandina Beach as a prelude  to the 56^thAnnual PPA National Championship, which is scheduled for September. The PPA Southern Tour again pays homage in memory to the late PPA National Champion  Tracy Moore, PPA National Tournament Director Roger Moore, PPA Pioneer John Connor  and the late June B. Lecka. The Amateur Putters Association, meanwhile, will remember Bo Kurash, Rick Carter, Randy Carter, Art Koerber and Wayne Hancock.

              Johnny Brown To Defend Florida State Title 
          “We're Excited the 2015 PPA Southern Tour Is Coming Back,” Frank Blake Says
  

   Johnny Brown is scheduled to defend his PPA Florida State Championship when the 2015 PPA Southern Tour kicks off with a $3,000 prize-money weekend on March 28 and 29 at the Putt-Putt Golf & Games in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

   “We are very excited the 2015 PPA Southern Tour is coming back to Fernandina Beach,” says Frank Blake, the franchise owner. “We have worked hard over the winter to ensure the course is where it should be and we are expecting the highest level of competition as never seen before at Fernandina Beach. Equally, my wife Janet and I are grateful the PPA has also chosen Fernandina Beach for the 2015 PPA National Championship in September. This is a great honor and the community is very excited to host such an event. The work has begun to ensure the PPA National Championship players – pros and amateurs – have the best experience and level of competition all have come to expect over the 56 years of PPA Tour competitions and events.”
   Brown, from Wilson, North Carolina, claimed The Enterprise Rent-a-Car Florida State Championship in 2014 his first professional victory – in an 18-hole playoff over Jeff Spainhour after both players deadlocked at 95, 49 under par, in the 72-hole regulation event. Former PPA National Champion Greg Newport of York, South Carolina, was third at 98. Joey Graybeal won the Florida State Amateur with a 103, with local favorite Jim Last at 111 and David Myers of High Point, North Carolina, at 112.

   Before Brown defends his Florida State title, pros and amateurs will open their respective seasons on March 28 in the inaugural $800 Bo Kurash Memorial, scheduled for noon, and the $1,000 John Connor Memorial, scheduled for 3 p.m.

   The Florida State Championship is scheduled for 10 a.m. on March 29, with PPA entry fee $60, plus a $7 greens fee, and APA entry fee at $15, plus a $7 greens fee.

   Entry fees for the Amateur Putters Association is $10 in all $800 and $1,000 events, and $15 in all major events. Pros and amateurs will compete on Course No. 2 by the park pavilion.

   All events will offer two qualifying berths in the PPA Southern Tour Championship, which is scheduled for September 13 at White Lake, North Carolina. Qualifying fees are $150, and qualifers will be required to play $50 at the site of their qualifying berth, with $100 at the Southern Tour Championship. 

Others include two-time PPA National Seniors Champion Frank Warren of Martinez, Georgia; Ricky Shults of Spartanburg, S.C.; Tony Jackson of Spartanburg, S.C., who was as a three-time Southern Tour winner in 2014 season with victories in the Mid-Atlantic Championship, the Harry G. Womble Invitational and the 30^th Annual Carolinas Open;  2013 PPA Western Open Champion Thomas Rawles of Portsmouth, Va.; former PPA Florida State Champion Tim Jones of Altamonte Springs, Flordia; Darrell Britt of Loganville, Georgia; Chris Chafin of High Point, a former North Caroina PPA Champion; and Jeff Spainhour of Chesapeake, Virginia, winner of this past weekend’s Commissioner’s Open and Lynchburg Open in the PPA Virginia Tour openers.

Others expected to participate in the PPA Southern Tour opening weekend are Lee Messinger of Dallas, Texas; Greg Simpson, host of the 2014 PPA National Championships from Lake Charles, Louisiana; Wade Sahmel, Huffman, Texas, already off  to a quick start on the PPA Southwest Tour with a victory in the Webster, Texas Open; Danny Tatum, DeRidder, Louisiana;  and David McCollister, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Tatum claimed the 2014 John Connor Memorial for his first professional victory.

PPA newcomers likely will include Mike Johnson of Gibsonville, North Carolina, and Joey Graybeal of Bristol, Virginia. Johnson won the 2014 APA National Championship and Graybeal is a two-time National Amateur Champion.  

David Myers of High Point, North Carolina, heads the amateur field as defending champion along with local favorite Jim Last and Randal Smith of Eden, North Carolina.  Myers turned in scores of 24, 31,29, 28, 30, 29, 23, and 32 – 226, 62 under par, to claim the 2013 Florida Amateur by two strokes over Todd Trent and Randal Smith.

    PPA entry fee is $20 per team. APA entry fee is $10 per team. Customers and celebrity guest entry fee is $6 per team or $3 each. 

Other 2015 Southern Tour stops are:

The $800 Roger Moore Memorial, 11 a.m., 54 holes ,Blue Course, May 2; the $1,000 Tracy Moore Memorial, 3 p.m., 54 holes, Blue Course,  May 2; the $1,200 Georgia State Championship, 10 a.m., 72 or 108 holes subject to Southern Tour Committee, Blue Course, May 3.

The $800 2^nd Annual Rick Carter Memorial, 11 a.m., 54 holes, Course 2, June 27; the $1,000 5^th Annual Randy Carter Memorial, 3 p.m., 54 holes, Course 2, June 27; the $1,200 2^nd Annual June B. Lecka Memorial, 10 a.m., 72 holes, Course 2, June 28.

The $800 2^nd Annual Lloyd C. Collier Memorial, 11a.m., 54 holes, Course 1, July 11;; the $1,000 Old Pro Classic, 3 p.m., 54 holes, Course 1, July 11.

 The $1,200 2^nd Annual  PPA Mid Atlantic Championship, 11 a.m., 108 holes, Course 1,  July 12. 

The $800 Annual Howard Loy Memorial, 11 a.m., 54 holes, Course 1, August 22; the $1,000 Elton Davis Memorial Classic, 3 p.m., 72 holes, Course 1; the $1,200 40^th Annual N.C. State Championship, 10 a.m., 108 holes, Course 1.

 $1,000 Purse Based on 20 Contestants @ $50 Entry Fee