usgrandprix
THREE STRAIGHT FOR CARDO
Powered by his singles victory at the 2019 USCA 6-Wicket National Championship in November, Randy Cardo went on to claim his third straight USCA Grand Prix Open title, which also comes with three straight men’s titles as well. The three-peat is the first since John C. Osborn took three straight titles from 1991-1993. Osborn also won four straight titles from 1984-1987 and Cardo will now have the chance in 2020 to try to match that feat. Cardo’s win now puts him in a select group of five players that have won the USCA GP three times or more overall. He joins Osborn (9), Ben Rothman (3), Jeff Soo (3) and Danny Huneycutt (3). While Cardo finished with a solid gap, just more than 6,000 points, second place through seventh featured a range of just more than 5,000 GP points. Stephen Morgan made the late push to reach 26,585 GP points and snag second place from his previous position of fourth at the start of November. Sherif Abdelwahab closed from eighth in the same time frame to snag the final “podium” spot and third place just 985 points off Morgan’s pace. FAST MOVERS: Several other players surged as well in November with Matt Griffith moving from 11th to reach a spot in the top 10 with fifth place. Rick Sheely was just a bit better as his single and doubles Seniors wins helped him move from 12th to grab a fourth-place finish. Notably, Griffith helped the cause as Sheely’s partner in for the Seniors doubles title. Former GP Champion Doug Grimsley (2008) jumped from 19th in November to claim ninth place.
WOMEN’S GP: SUDDERBERG HOLDS OFF RUGART
Lynda Sudderberg led the Women’s GP pretty much from the start in 2019, but a couple of players continued to keep just close enough to make it interesting. In the end, it was defending champion Jodie Rugart positioned in third place at the start of November that claimed a big batch of points in the Seniors singles event with a second-place finish. Sudderberg tied for fifth in the event and that was just enough to hold on as she tallied 16,180 GP points. Rugart was just 192 points off that pace. Notably, the GP rivals were partnered together in the Seniors doubles event, so neither player gained an advantage. Beverley Cardo was strong enough to hold on for third place at 12,629 points as the top three were the only women’s players to finish above 10,000 points. FAST MOVERS: Overall, the top 10 didn’t have much change in the final segment of the year. Mary Rodeberg moved from eighth place to sixth, but the biggest jump was Linda Huxtable moving from 11th to eighth to get into the top 10.
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2019 US GRAND PRIX OVERALL TOP 60 # Player Handicap Singles 01 Randy Cardo -3 20900 02 Stephen Morgan -2.5 13580 03 Sherif Abdelwahab -3 14720 04 Richard Sheely -2 15424 05 Matthew Griffith -2 11790 06 Chris Patmore -2.5 15500 07 Macey W. White -2 11984 08 Richard Sullivan -1.5 13800 09 Doug Grimsley -3 13400 10 Shane Hettler -1.5 16220 11 Danny Huneycutt -4 13564 12 Matthew Essick -1.5 14610 13 Stuart Lawrence -2.5 15100 14 Bob Chilton -1 10750 15 Jeff Soo -3.5 10052 16 Lynda P. Sudderberg -1 8125 17 Jodie Rugart -1 11430 18 Brian Cumming -3.5 12400 19 David Ekstrom -1.5 9000 20 Simon Jenkins -1 8850 21 Webster Bull -1 8556 22 Scott Spradling -1 8280 23 Beverley Cardo 1 5438 24 David McCoy 0 4200 25 James M. Spoonhour -0.5 5290 26 Paul T. Bennett -2.5 9324 27 Chris Barley -1.5 9806 28 Timothy Rapuano -1.5 9110 29 Rich Lamm -2.5 7000 30 Thomas Cooper -1.5 6540 31 Richard G. Curtis -1.5 4500 32 Zack Watson -0.5 9750 33 Mike Taylor -2 7261 34 Thomas C. Balding 3 7374 35 Preston Stuart -0.5 4112 36 Paul Neubecker 1 2210 37 Gene Raymond 0 5430 38 Kevin Hansley 0 5050 39 Conner L. Helms -0.5 3560 40 Bob Worrell -1.5 7800 41 Rob Byrd 0.5 4701 42 Mark Fields 0.5 3730 43 George Cochran -2 4123 44 Arthur Olsen -0.5 5420 45 David Isaacs -1 3050 46 Jay Hughes -0.5 5510 47 Conrad Rugart -0.5 4910 48 Loretta Cooper 2 3911 49 Britt Ruby -1.5 5650 50 Horace W. Hayworth -0.5 2950 51 John C. Osborn -2.5 3600 52 Michael Albert 4.5 5552 53 Norris Settlemyre -1.5 4700 54 Dawn Jupin 1 3870 55 Charles Xavier 0 5900 56 William B. Trower 1.5 4840 57 William C. Rinaman 0.5 2400 58 Matt B. Smith -2 4000 59 Ron Huxtable -0.5 2950 60 Lee C. Jorde 4 4474 Updated January 2020.
Doubles Total Points 12866 33766 13005 26585 10880 25600 8596 24020 10962 22752 6785 22285 9552 21536 6980 20780 7200 20600 3600 19820 4958 18522 3222 17832 2400 17500 6348 17098 6707 16759 8055 16180 4558 15988 3300 15700 6180 15180 6100 14950 5808 14364 4791 13071 7191 12629 8330 12530 6868 12158 2600 11924 2014 11820 2100 11210 4200 11200 4620 11160 6570 11070 1200 10950 3314 10575 2557 9931 5272 9384 6750 8960 3460 8890 3833 8883 4922 8482 600 8400 3108 7809 3732 7462 3330 7453 1960 7380 4298 7348 1560 7070 1788 6698 2680 6591 912 6562 3536 6486 2800 6400 732 6284 1548 6248 2340 6210 0 5900 832 5672 3200 5600 1568 5568 2401 5351 690 5164
