THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406290131
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, CURRENTS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
THE EASTERN AMATEUR, limiting its field to 168 golfers this year, has attracted players from 20 states and Canada.
The 38th annual Eastern will be played at Elizabeth Manor July 21-24.
At present, the field stands at 148 after a few withdrawals. Eight players will be selected from a standby list and the other 12 will be qualifiers from the First Flight Tournament, a 36-hole preliminary event to be held July 18-19.
Tournament director Galen Hill said Tom McKnight of Galax will defend his championship. He is one of 45 state players in the field.
McKnight posted an 11-under-par 269 last year with rounds of 69, 65, 68 and 67. At 38, he became the oldest player to win the Eastern.
A three-time State Amateur titlist, McKnight will be going against a host of new challengers. Only two other players who finished in last year's top 10 are returning - Jimmy Flippen and Brian Bock.
Flippen is a University of Virginia player from Danville. Bock, from Lincoln, Neb., is a member of the golf team at UCLA.
``We have two other players coming from California,'' Hill said. Jim Skinner, who plays for California Berkeley, is from Santa Monica and Matthew Ferraro, a Tulsa player, is from Pebble Beach.
There are 27 entries from North Carolina, 20 from New York, nine from Pennsylvania and eight from Florida.
Other states represented include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, Nebraska, Alabama, Connecticut, New Jersey, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona.
Tournament chairman David Whitener pointed out that 16 players are on the standby list to fill vacancies.
A few players were lost because the tournament will conflict with the Southern Amateur. The Eastern shifted its date from the usual first weekend in July when the Rice Planters moved to that week.
This also enabled the Eastern to cease conflicting with the Anheuser-Busch PGA Golf Classic in Williamsburg.
Entries also are being accepted now for the First Flight Tournament, which will be directed by Elizabeth Manor pro Tim Newsom.
Following is a state-by-state listing of the 148 players now entered in the Eastern:
VIRGINIA
Tom McKnight (defending champion), Paul Avis, Worth Banner, Mac Barnhardt, Harry Black, Larry Brinn, Ross Cash, Warnie Conley II, Lewis Conner, Curtis Deal, Matt Dilday, Michael Dunn, J.W. Entsminger, Troy Ferris, Jimmy Flippen, Thomas Garner, Conlin Giles, Scott Griffin, Jim Groves, Hugh Hamilton, Adam Harrell, Scott Hunter, Billy Jahn, Ryan Jenkins, Todd Jenkins, Denny Kamencik, Jeff Kight, Mike Krulich, J.P. Leigh, Doug McCarthy, Bill McClanan, Scott Moore, Mike Moraghan, David Oakley, Richard Ogden, Brady O'Neill, Brett Pendergast, Jason Pool, William Power, Jay Rickles, Michael Smith, Jim Sullivan, Monte Sykes, Chris Tuttle, Ken Zecchini.
NORTH CAROLINA
Nick Biesecker, Paul Carpenter, David Copley, Josh Dickinson, Greg Earnhardt, Bill Harvey, William Harvey, James Heidel, Will Huntley, Keith Kemp, Kevin Kemp, Chris Krueges, Preston Lilly, Matt Lindley, David Mathis, Jacob May, Trey Mitchell, Cannon Morgan, Ernie Newton, Scott Newton, Ryan Parker, T.G. Smith, Richard Son, Dow Taylor, Stephen Waters, Billy West, Jamie Whitley.
ALABAMA
Brett Boner.
ARIZONA
Eric Weiskopf.
CALIFORNIA
Matt Ferraro, James Skinner.
CONNECTICUT
Christian Chernock, Jack Kiernan, Charles Kohn, Tim Touloukian.
FLORIDA
Chris Almond, Erik Bertrand, Chad Lucousky, Will McClave, Gary Shankland, Steve Sowards, Chris Stobs, Ben Taylor.
GEORGIA
Joshua Cobb, Scott Crawford, Josh Crayton, Sam Hogan, Bob McDonnell, Ken Shelton.
ILLINOIS
Jerry Maatman, Scott Rowe.
INDIANA
Chad Hilderbrand, Todd Klem, David Krizman.
MARYLAND
Michael Hayden, Chad Hossack, Nicu Nastase, Chris York, Alan Zimmerman.
MICHIGAN
Richard Allen, David Hall, Doug Labelle, William Lyle, J. J. Modell, Eric Spencer.
NEBRASKA
Brian Bock.
NEW JERSEY
David Chubinsky, Michael Dolan, Scott Samanchik, Michael Stamberger, Matt Stanchek.
NEW YORK
Greg Bisconti, Joshua Cupp, Dom Istorico, Thomas Jung, Tommy Pisano, Chris Sladish, Jason Sladish, Noel Volpe, Gage Weekes, Michael Woodson.
OHIO
Michael Isaac, Richard McPhail, Bret Rhodes, Greg Shelton.
PENNSYLVANIA
Andrew Achenbach, Michael Banzhoff, Byron Clift, Richard Cole, Tim Crooks, Michael Danner, Michael Griffith, Robert Murray, Herb Zimmerman.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Brian Cunning, David Seawell, Scott Summers.
TENNESSEE
Scott Hunt, Chad Starliper.
TEXAS
Jerry Barrier, Jason Hebert.
CANADA
Jeff Froese, Jeremy Julie. ILLUSTRATION: File photo
Tom McKnight, winner of the 1993 Eastern Amateur, walks up the
fairway with Kelly Mitchem, who was the runner-up.
by CNB