December 2, 2002

ROCKY MOUNT, NC — A good start apparently doesn?t mean a whole lot for Chris Lashley.  The Macho Stallion survived a 49.5 point effort, to hold the lead for seven months and finish off a victory in the 2002 Carl Spackler On Tour Championship, holding off Don McFarland by 4.7 points.  His 32 rounds of golf in 2002 was the 2nd most within the large field of players.

?I guess that's the only way I can do it now," Chris said with a laugh. "Now I know I have to get off to a good start for the On Tour Championshiop if I hope to repeat as champion."  The victory ended a 11-year drought since Chris won the cheerleading championships in high school.

The 2002 Open Champion Mike Trojanowski, had his best round in September (90 strokes), but it just wasn?t enough.  He struggled with his short irons and putter during the first half of the season. "I'm not too disappointed," said Troj, who picked up his biggest check -- $337 ? in the April 2002 Open victory. "I have been hitting the ball solid as of late and lingered at the 16th spot.?

The 2002 Championship officially ended on Saturday evening, where the leaderboard was turned off until January 1, 2003.  The 2002 On Tour Championship field will be released with new NOOG points at this time.  NOOG points for each player will be adjusted with a slight edge to the lowest handicapped players.  This move indicates the higher the handicap, the larger room for improvement.