Team wins Fortunato Classic with 114

Published 12:00 am Sunday, May 7, 2000

The team of Larry Davis, Gary Farmer, Henry Farmer and Cookie Wilson shot a 55 for a two-day total of 114 to win the Championship Flight of the Seventh Annual Joe Fortunato Celebrity Golf Classic Sunday at the Duncan Park Golf Course.

Davis, Farmer, Farmer and Wilson finished three shots ahead of three other teams who had to go a scorecard playoff to determine second, third and fourth place. The foursome had seven birdies on the front nine for a 28 and five birdies and two eagles, one on the Par 4 11th hole and the other on the Par 5 14th, for a back-nine score of 27

Al Conn, Al Hall, Connie Kanoy and Greg Whitham finished second after winning a sudden death playoff on the fifth extra hole after shooting a 57 for their score of 117.

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Derrick Whittington, B.J. Guido, Paul Sparks and Steve Comeaux came in third place with a 117 after firing a final-round 58. The four-man team had seven birdies on the front nine and six birdies on the back nine.

First-round co-leaders Jimmy Trindle, Bob Davis, Glen Davis and Heath, who shot a 58 on Saturday, shot a 59 on Sunday for their score of 117 to finish in fourth place.

Keith Jackson, William McDonald, Don McGehee and Billy Risher finished in fifth place with a two-day total of 118 after firing a 55 on Sunday.

Tom Matthews, Judy Alford, Jay Lewis and Jason Stringer came in first place in the First Flight with a two-day total of 119 after shooting a 58 on Sunday. One stroke behind was the team of Richard Criswell, Tommy Milligan, Brent Smith and Craig Jackson, who finished with a 120.

Dean Brown, Doug Brown, Dwayne Brown and Louie Brown came in first place in the Second Flight with a two-day total of 118 after a Sunday score of 55.

Two shots back was the team of George Hude, Gil Johnson, Conner Robson and Robert Verucchi with a 120 after shooting a 57 on Sunday.

Jack Benson, Agatha W. Haring, Sonny Jenkins and Ray Poole won the Third Flight in a scorecard playoff with a score of 126 over the team of Charlie Kyzar, Sonia Cothren, Chester Hoover and Michael Mascagni. Poole played for the New York Giants from 1947-52 and Montreal of the Canadian Football League in 1953-54.

&uot;This is my fourth year to be at this tournament,&uot; Poole said. &uot;What keeps me coming back here is the good people. I enjoy it.&uot;

Vaughan Crooks, Jess Hash, Charlie Blaney and Al King came in first place in the Fourth Flight with a two-day score of 127 after firing a final-round 60 on Sunday. David Cothren, John Christian, Bruce Keuhnle and Ed Pickle finished in second place with a 129 after a final-round score of 62.

Other former NFL players who played in the tournament included Billy Shaw, Noland Smith and Eagle Day.

&uot;This is my fifth or sixth year at the tournament,&uot; said Smith, who played for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1967-69 and the San Franciscon 49ers in 1970.

&uot;I keep coming back here because of the friendship. Joe is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and he puts such a great tournament.&uot;

Although this was not the biggest field in the seven-year history of the tournament, Fortunato was pleased with the turnout.

&uot;This is one of the biggest field we’ve had,&uot; he said. &uot;The last two years we’ve had over 200 players. This year we have between 180 and 200 players. We started this tournament to raise money for the National Football Foundation Miss-Lou Chapter Scholarship Fund to give scholarships to scholar-athletes of the seven different area schools.&uot;

Those schools are Natchez High, Cathedral, ACCS, Trinity, Vidalia High, Ferriday High and Huntington High.