Pros Extend Ryder Cup Lead

With a solid group of experienced players, the professionals extended their lead over the amateurs in the Highlands County Ryder Cup competition on Saturday at Sun 'N Lake Country Club.

After leading by a score of 3 1/2 to 1 1/2 after Saturday morning's best-ball matches on the Deer Run course, the professionals won three of Saturday afternoon's six alternate-shot matches on the Turtle Run course to take a commanding 7-4 advantage into Sunday's 12 singles matches.

"We played well and I like our position heading into the singles matches," said Andy Kesling, who is a Sun 'N Lake assistant professional and captain of the pro team. "We have a solid group of players and everybody seems to be hitting it pretty well.

"We know it's not over because the amateurs have some talented players, but we only have to win five of the singles matches to retain the trophy and I'm pretty confident we can do that."

Pros John Dean and Bill Newman defeated Gary Williams and Dan Eslinger 4 and 3, while Mike Lamere and Dave Schumaker eased past amateurs Jeff Gaddy and Dana Harris 5 and 4.

Pros Jason Beatty and Nell Hays edged Dick Butler and Frank Gugleilmi 1-up, Val Patarini and Cory Decoteau tied with amateurs Mike Shawver and Mike Moore, Mike Wells and Jim Casey slipped past pros Marty O'Hora and Jason Laman 2 and 1 and amateur captain Mike Browning and Randy Proctor defeated John Phillips and Shane Ward 3 and 2.

The amateurs lead the overall series 9-4, but have an uphill battle with some of the top players in the county not competing in the Ryder Cup event.

"We're missing a couple of players we'd like to have, but we have a great bunch of guys and we're playing as hard as we can," said Browning. "The pros are pros for a reason and they've played well.

"This is a great event, we're having a lot of fun and we're going to give it our best shot in the singles matches and see what happens."

For the complete story and pictures from Sunday's final round be sure to check out Tuesday's Highlands Today sports section.