July 3, 2001

WARREN, PA — Kevin Long, Sr. overcame his history of back nine collapses, shooting a 17-over par 88 Monday at Bavarian Hills for a one-stroke lead over Kevin Long, Jr. in the Carl Spackler Summer Open.

While booming long drives and staying out of trouble most of the day, Big Kev finished at top of the leaderboard.  He began the round with a triple-bogey, but on the difficult 17th, with water lining the entire back side, he nearly missed the green on his approach shot, but the ball spun on the back of the green.  He putted in from 25 feet to save his first birdie of the tournament.

Big Kev didn't touch a club for the past two weeks after a debacle in Louisville, KY last month, choosing to practice visualization techniques he learned at Penn State.  "Changing my mental approach and my outlook heading into the round as well as during the round, has allowed me to perform at a higher lever -- to perform at my best," Big Kev said.

"I feel if I can start to work on that and refine that and get better at it, I should be able to close more on the opportunities that I have been giving myself.  On 17, I expected it to fly it about 4, 5 yards behind the hole, then come back.  It wasn't a hard chip on 17, but it gave me a good birdie opportunity."

"Everybody on our tour, I know, is shocked, and still in a state of disbelief," said a visibly shaken Greg Long, the Captain?s Club director.  "This is something that we didn?t expect.  He may have a few more years left in him."

Slick, which shot 4-over par 75 on Tuesday afternoon was struggling all weekend until Hole 6 today.  Slick shot even par after Hole 5 and shot a 1-under 35 on the back nine at Legends of Massillon a few miles west of Canton, Ohio.