June 28, 2004

WINSTON-SALEM, NC — "These guys are good", says McElroy regarding the opening hole of the opening round at 2004 Carl Spackler Open.  "The signature of the PGA Tour might as well be used with these guys because they just good."

The opening round paired McElroy with Slick, Tommy McCauley, and Jason Ridgeway of Ohio.  All hit their drives down the middle like the pros to open the tournament.

"The photograph does McElroy no justice", says partner Greg Long.  "Nobody realizes that McElroy's ball was lying directly under him in the middle of the fairway when we took our show off photo", says Long.  "He actually beat us all and opened the tournament with a long-putt birdie.  That 11 pointer definitely lead the tournament for at least the first hour."

After a steller start, McElroy finished his opening round with a disappointing 105, while Ridgeway shot 73 and opened with 60 points acquiring 2nd place in the tournament.  Long bogeyed the first hole from 70 yards.  His disasterous round of 94 strokes tied him for 46th place in his 4th major, while Tommy McCauley opened the front nine with an amazing 29 NOOG points.

Ridgeway finished his rookie major in 2nd place, while Slick fired up the leaderboard on Friday and Saturday to finish tied for 17th.  McElroy slipped to 25th place after hacking on Friday, while McCauley slipped beyond terrible to tie Jimmy Campbell with 41st place.