News >> Hurley Takes The Title

The Terry Moore Ford Open
Presented By 321 Lawn Mower Sales & Service, Inc
Jones Course @ Rock Barn Golf and Spa
March 25-28, 2010
 
Conover, NC (March 28, 2010)…Annapolis, Maryland’s Billy Hurley III finished off an amazing week of golf with a two-under par 70 Sunday in the final round of Terry Moore Ford Open at the Jones Course at Rock Barn Golf and Spa to capture his first career Hooters Tour title.
 
Hurley began the final round with a one stroke lead over second round leader Yohann Benson (Montreal, Canada) and maintained that lead over this first five holes Sunday as both golfers matched each other shot for shot.
 
Benson drew even with the former Byron Nelson award winner at eleven-under after a birdie on the sixth hole but Hurley quickly grabbed the lead back with a birdie on the par 4 seventh hole. On the very next hole disaster struck as Benson’s drive headed left into a hazard and then his next shot hit a limb and went into another hazard giving the young Canadian a triple bogey seven and Hurley a commanding four shot lead. Hurley birdied his 9th hole and his lead was up to five with nine holes to play Sunday.
 
Hurley cruised in to the scoring tent with one bogey and eight pars over his inward nine Sunday for a four shot victory over Benson and his largest check on the Hooters Tour worth $40,000. 
 
For the week, Hurley carded rounds of 72-67-66-70 for a four round total thirteen-under par 275 and the peace of mind that he belongs out here playing professional golf.
 
“I have only been back playing professional golf for nine months now and after missing the cut two weeks ago in Florida I was wondering if my game would ever come back,” said the twenty-seven year old. “I think for me this win solidifies in my mind that my game is back and on the right track.”
 
For most young golfers with a dream one day playing golf on the PGA Tour, turning pro after an amateur career is usually the route that most take to try to attain this goal. For Hurley, a former All-American golfer at the Naval Academy, his dream of playing on the PGA Tour was sideline while he served his obligation to the Navy.
 
“I turned pro in 2006 and played a few PGA Tour events but the Navy denied my request to serve in the reserves and play golf representing them,” said Hurley after his round. “I was sent to Pearl Harbor in the June of 2007 to serve on the USS Chung-Hon and barely played golf during my two years in service.”
 
For Benson, a young pro that didn’t take up the game of golf until the age of seventeen, a four day total of nine-under par 279 was good enough for his first runner-up of the season and a payday of $19,945. (Benson, pictured right)
  
Statesville’s Jakin Fox was the only player with local ties to make the cut in the Terry Moore Ford Open. Fox started the final round tied for 62nd at six-over par and was unable to move up the leader board as the former Lenoir-Rhyne Bear struggled with an five-over par 77 Sunday and finished T-62.
 
Former PGA Tour member and current CBS Sports and TBS analyst Bobby Clampett matched the low round of the day on Sunday with a six-under par 66. Clampett moved from a T-33 to start the day to a solo seventh place finish and a check worth $7,570.
  
The Hooters Tour heads to Gainesville, Georgia next week and Chattahoochee Golf Club for the 2nd Annual Georgia Sports Orthopedic Specialists Classic held April 1-4, 2010.
 
HOOTS: With his eighth place finish Sunday, Michael Welch (Quincy, MA) continues to lead the Race For The Fresh Express Classic Exemption. The Fresh Express Classic exemption will be given to the Hooters Tour member who accumulates the most money over the first four events of the season, Ocala, FL, Amelia Island, FL, Hickory, NC and Gainesville, GA.