High School Phenoms Wins the NC Four-Ball

Chapel Hill, NC -- Teen phenoms Brendon Todd of Cary and Webb Simpson of Raleigh won the North Carolina Four-Ball amateur golf title Sunday afternoon by one shot.

Todd sank an uphill nine-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a team total of 69--201, 15 under par and one ahead of the defending champions John Marshall and Thomas Riley of Kinston.

Todd and Simpson, both 16, were running away with the event when they counted a triple-bogey eight on the water-laden, par-five 11th hole, cutting their margin to one shot. They maintained the slim lead until Riley sank a 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole with Todd and Simpson watching in the fairway.

"We thought about the triple bogey toward the finish," Todd said. "But I felt real good about my birdie putt to win."

Todd and Simpson birdied four of the first five holes and shot a front-nine total of 32. They also birdied the 10th hole.

Marshall and Riley had a front-nine 34 and counted birdies at the 12th, 16th and 18th holes. "Brendon and Webb led after the second round last year, and they deserved to win this year," Marshall said.

Dirk Fennie and Greg Earnhardt of Greensboro shot 68--203 for third place.

Todd is a junior at Green Hope High School, and Simpson is a junior at Broughton High School.

The North Carolina Four-Ball Championship is open to any male amateur golfer who is a legal resident of North Carolina, is a member in good standing of a club which is a member of the Carolinas Golf Association and has a current CGA handicap index.