By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
June 30, 2001
Kelly Swain and Scott Morgan fired a 7-under par 64 Friday to hold a one-stroke lead over Judge Little and Tommy Little after one round of the Bill Davis Memorial/Fourth of July Invitational at Northwood Country Club.
Defending tournament champions Jay Bowen and Joel Nelson are not participating in this year's event.
Due to the Fourth of July falling on Wednesday, this year's tournament will be a three-day four-ball medal play event instead of the usual match play competition after the opening round.
"I'd rather it be match play," Morgan said. "It's really a fun tournament. That's the way this tournament has been even back when it used to be individual match play. But when the Fourth falls on Wednesday, it makes it tough to do any kind of format. You've got to have four days to do match play.
"But this is fun. A lot of people come home for this so it's enjoyable whatever the format is."
Morgan and Swain won the tournament in 1999.
Morgan also teamed with Judge Little to win the Memorial Day tournament at Northwood this year. With different partners this weekend, they're still at the top of the leaderboard.
"Kelly and I have played together the last three years in this," Morgan said. "We always switch around. We have certain ones we play different tournaments with, but we keep it in the group."
Whoever the partner, scoring well is the norm for Morgan.
"We brother-in-lawed pretty well today," Morgan said. "We started out on No. 6 and Kelly birdied No. 7 and I made a long putt on No. 8 which you shouldn't make for birdie.
"We were two-under after the first three holes and then I birdied No. 12 and 15 and Kelly birdied Nos. 1, 3 and 5.
"We probably got a good bit out of our round. We didn't birdie but one par-5 which we need to do a little bit better than that.
"It was fun. We weren't in trouble. We kind of stayed together and one of us was always in the hole for par.
"The weather was nice and the course was in good shape. The greens were a little bumpy, but everybody's got to putt on them."
The Littles birdied five of six holes on the back nine to stay in the hunt for the lead. They finished with birdies on Nos. 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16 to secure second place.
Two teams were tied for third place at 66. Alex Weddington and David Ray and Joey Mabry and Colton Tisdale both finished five-under par.
Weddington and Ray birdied Nos. 7 and 9 on the front side and added three more birdies (Nos. 10, 12, and 16) on the back. They did not have a bogey.
Mabry and Tisdale also avoided bogey and used birdies on Nos. 1, 3, 15, 16, and 18 to finish five-under.
In a two-way tie for fifth place at 67 were the teams of Walter Rogers and Lee Rogers and Tim Fitz-gerald and Justin Elliot.
The Rogers had five birdies (Nos. 1, 9, 10, 12, and 17) to go with a bogey at No. 6.
Fitz-gerald and Elliot had four birdies (Nos. 1, 7, 12, and 18) in a bogey-free round.
Four teams were tied for seventh place with 68s.
Dan Angero and Jimmy Carle had four birdies and one bogey, all of which came on the back side, in shooting their 68.
Paul Entrekin and Mac Barnes had five birdies and two bogeys in their round of 68.
Earl Aycock Jr. and Steve Stewart also had five birdies and two bogeys in their 68. Four of the birdies came on the back nine.
Also at 68 is the team of Chris Crowe and John Kelly. They also had five birdies and two bogeys with four of their birdies coming on the back nine.
Also in the championship flight at 69 were the teams of Bent Moulds and Mike Cantey and Jon Jackson and Chuck Gordon.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. Call him at 693-1551 ext. 3234 or e-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com.