CLONINGER CLAIMS 2003 CHAMPIONSHIP

FAYETTEVILLE, NC—Rick Cloninger returned to Fort Mill, S.C two months ago from the Atlanta area. After a closing five-under-par 67 Sunday at Highland Country Club, he won his first Carolinas title.

Cloninger, 46, carded six birdies and one bogey for a 211 total, five under and two ahead of four-time champion Paul Simson of Raleigh, N.C. for the Carolinas Mid-Amateur crown.

"I thought a 65 or 66 would get me into it today. I had not played the front nine well earlier in the week. When I shot 32 on the front today, I knew I had a chance," Cloninger said.

He canned a 25-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole to emerge from a logjam at the top of the leader board. He birdied the 10^th and 13 holes to build a lead that no one challenged on the back nine.

"I was born in Charlotte and grew up in Fort Mill, so it’s been a great homecoming," he said.

Simson gained his fourth second-place finish, to match his four wins, with a closing 75--213, three under par.

Cloninger won two Georgia Mid-Amateur titles, one Georgia Amateur, one Georgia Amateur match play, one Florida amateur and one and one Florida Amateur match play titles before returning home. "It’s nice to be home," he said.

The championship, conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association, was open to male, amateur residents of North Carolina and South Carolina who are aged 30 or more.