Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 12, 1995 TAG: 9506130023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On Sunday at Hidden Valley Country Club, the 31-year-old Roanoker finally knocked down the door.
In workmanlike fashion, Allison buried his past failures with a final round of 1-under-par 70 to beat pesky Jack Allara by one stroke.
``It wasn't doomsday or anything, but I figured I'd had about 10 good years to win this thing,'' said Allison, an internal audit manager for Norfolk Southern Corp. ``I was third one year and I've finished from fifth through 10th a lot of times. You never know how many more chances you'll get, so it's good to take advantage when you can. It's kind of nice to know when you're in this position you can go out there and react.''
It was no gimme. Allison couldn't claim victory until Allara's 35-foot birdie putt to force a playoff slid just by the top edge of the cup at No.18.
While Allison was forced to sweat, his Roanoke Country Club never worked up a lather in its smoke job of the field.
Roanoke Country Club's powerful, deep squad won its tournament-record eighth men's team title by a record margin of 33 strokes over runner-up Hidden Valley. The previous biggest margin was 31 shots, by Hidden Valley over RCC in 1981.
``We've sort of got a unique situation over there,'' Allison said. ``We've probably got 30 guys who can shoot 150 [for 36 holes] on a good golf course. It's hard to simply make the team.''
Allison was the No.6 Hall of Fame qualifier at Roanoke Country Club. But he was No.1 when it counted, shooting 1-over 213 for the 54 holes.
Allara, who tied for third last year, also had a final-round 70. He finished at 214.
RCC's Jack Tuttle, who began Sunday's round with a two-stroke lead, bogeyed Nos.16-17 en route to a final-round 74 and a 215 total.
Bill Burton fired a 69 - the day's low round - to take fourth at 217.
The RCC duo of Chris Clemens (73-218) and Ned Baber (73-219) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
The final round was a four-horse race most of the way between Allison, Allara, Tuttle and Adam Harrell.
Through five holes Sunday, all four were tied at 1-over. Allison, playing a group ahead of the other three, took the lead alone for the first time at No.6, making par while Tuttle and Harrell bogeyed and Allara took double bogey.
Allison birdied No.8 to temporarily take a two-shot lead. But Tuttle countered with tap-in birdies at Nos.8-9 to draw even at the turn.
The two still were tied through 14 holes. Allara was one stroke behind after back-to-back birdies at Nos.13-14. Meanwhile, Harrell cooked his hopes at the par-4 14th, losing a ball in the woods en route to a quadruple-bogey 8.
Tuttle, so solid for 51 holes, then took himself out of it. He drove his ball into the woods at the par-5 16th and was fortunate to escape with a bogey. At 17, his approach from the rough skipped over the green, and he failed to get it up and down for another bogey.
``I'd like to have played those two holes better, but, hey, I'm not complaining,'' Tuttle said. ``The ride was fun while it lasted.''
Allara, a 40-year-old Roanoke dentist, did all he could to catch Allison. After birdieing Nos.13-14, he left an uphill 15-footer for birdie a roll of the ball short on No.16. He salvaged a par at No.17 by making a tough 10-footer.
``I knew I had to make the one at 17 simply to have a chance,'' Allara said. ``At 18, I hit a good putt. It was close, but not close enough.
``Oh, well. I'm not disappointed. I was third last year, second this year. Hey, I can remember coming to Roanoke in 1984 and not being able to break 80 from the back tees at Countryside.''
Allison, who teamed with Waynesboro's Mark Teachey to win the Virginia State Golf Association 4-Ball at Hidden Valley in May, said the Hall of Fame title ranked second only to his 1980 Group AAA title while playing at Northside High School.
``That's still my biggest win because I wasn't supposed to win that,'' he said. ``It was only my third year of playing golf.''
Don't worry, though. This one was plenty big.
``What's next now? The U.S. Open next week?'' Allison said.
``Honestly, this feels great. It's so nice to go out and play well for three days. Plus, it was nice that all the front guys hung so tight. Everybody played well the last round. That doesn't happen often.''
by CNB