2025 APT Independence Open Tournament Results

The APT headed to the North Carolina Mountains in the western part of the state for 2 exciting events.  144 golfers representing 28 different local chapters from across the US descended onto Whittier, NC and our host course at Sequoyah National for an exciting weekend of golf.  A special thanks to Brad Adams, Carr Crowe and the rest of the staff at Sequoyah National Golf Club for hosting us again this year.   

On Friday afternoon, the APT held the Folds of Honor Fourball event.  The event started with our National Anthem followed by short speeches from Army Master Sergeant, Mick Correll and retired Army Staff Sergeant, John Lambert talking from the heart about the importance of what Folds of Honor does for the families of disabled and fallen members of our military. 

In Flight 1, It was Cody Markovich (Upstate, SC) and Jeff Carnacchi (Cincinnati/Dayton) with a score of -13 to take home First place honors.  Just missing out on a playoff and finishing in second place was Terry Upright (Charlotte) and Tyler Phillips (Charlotte) who shot -12.  Shooting -9, Adam Leys (Atlanta) and Dean Crouch (Atlanta) take home third place honors. 

In Flight 2, we had 3 teams shoot 12 under par which forced a playoff.  Battling darkness, there was just enough time for Eric King (Atlanta) and Jason Dale (East Tennessee) to win the playoff and claim the first-place honors.  The team of Tim Nuoffer (St. Louis) and Sitty Mendez (Augusta) shared Second place honors with the team of Marty Brock (Upstate) and Calvin Carter (Charlotte) 

The Main event, The Independence Open, was held over the weekend.  Two days of Modified Stableford scoring created a lot of leaderboard volatility.   

Division 1, Tim Cobb (Florida Southwest) was down 2 points going into the 36^th hole.  Making a birdie earned him 4 points and forced a tie with First round leader Luke Smith (Memphis) who made par on the 36^th hole.  Both players scored 83 points over the 2 days.  This forced the players to head back out and settle the tie.  It didn’t last long as Tim won the playoff with a par of the first hole.  Third place went to Chuck Floyd (Charlotte) who had 80 points over the two-days.  We had a tie for fourth with Ivan Jones (Carolina Triad) and Jody Clary (Upstate) shooting 74 points. 

Division 2, it was another 2^nd day surge that forced another playoff.  Sean Pierce (Atlanta) came into the day 5 points back of overnight leader Rocky Dare (Central PA). At the end of 36 holes, both players had accumulated 71 points.  Both players went back to the course to settle the tie.  Just like Division 1, it only took 1 hole to determine a winner.  Sean Pierce made a Birdie to take home the title.  Dean Crouch (Atlanta) was solo third place shooting 69 points.  Adam Nivens (Charlotte) and TJ Eaves (Charlotte) tied for 4^th with 69 points. Joseph Fyall (Charleston) finished solo 6^th with 66 points.  Rounding out the paying position was Juan Sedano (Carolina Triad) with 63 points. 

Division 3, it was another comeback.  Chad Davis (Virginia Capital) was 3 points back coming into the final round.  Chad came out strong on the front nine shooting 1 under par and accumulating 20 points got him to the lead which he never relinquished.  His 2-day total of 63 was good enough for a 4-point victory.  Wayne Blyer (Upstate) finished in second place shooting 59 points.  Tommy Gilbert (Upstate) was solo third with 55 points.  Rob Luter (Arkansas) was solo fourth with 53 points.  We had a 3-way tie for 5^th with Jason Dale (East Tennessee), Greg Goff (Kentucky) and Michael Shaw (Virginia Capital) all ending with 51 points. 

Division 4, the streak of comeback victories continued.  David Sides (Birmingham) had 3 birdies on the day, including 2 late in the day on holes 16 and 17 to propel him to the lead.  A total of 56 points was good for a 4 point victory.  Bob Koch (Iowa) held the overnight lead and had to settle for second place shooting 52 points.  Zach Walker (Columbus) was solo third after accumulating 51 total points over the 2 days.  Dave Funkhouser (Myrtle Beach) finished in solo fourth place with 48 points.  We had a tie for fifth with Kyle Wilson (St. Louis) and Daniel Henris (Carolina East) who both had 48 points. 

Division 5, Mimi Parisay (Atlanta) continued the streak of the other 4 divisions and came back to win division 5 with a total score of 28 points.  Billy Jones (Carolina Triad) finished only 2 points behind with 26 points. 

Our Open Net Contest saw 26 players compete for extra prizes.  Chad Davis (Virginia Capital) as mentioned above, had a fantastic round on Sunday and captured the Open Net first place prize with a score of 8 under par over the two-days of competition.  Adam Nivens (Carolina East), TJ Eaves (Charlotte) and David Sides (Birmingham) finished in a Tie for second place with matching scores of 5 under par.  Sean Pierce (Atlanta) finished in solo fifth place with a score of 3 under par. 

Our Senior Net Contest had 71 players competing.  Bob Koch (Iowa) takes home the victory with a two-day score of -6.  Chuck Floyd (Charlotte) was solo 2^nd with a score of -5.  We had a 7-way tie for 3^rd place between Cuong Ton (Carolina Triad), Dean Crouch (Atlanta), Joseph Fyall (Charleston), Rocky Dare (Central Pa), Wayne Blyler (Upstate), Kyle Wilson (Kansas City) and Dave Funkhouser (Myrtle Beach) all with matching scores of -2.  Juan Sedano (Carolina Triad) and Dan Eastep (Upstate) finished in a tie for tenth shooting -1.  Rounding out the paying positions, we had a tie for twelfth between Mike Hubert (Augusta), Lane Abernathy (Myrtle Beach) and Steve Daniels (Charlotte) with all players shooting Even par. 

Folds of Honor Raffle. 

Thanks to all the players that bought raffle tickets to help support their cause.  A Total of $2000 in ticket sales were generated due to your generosity.  We had 4 fantastic Raffle Prizes that were drawn on Sunday Afternoon. 

And the winners were: 

• Bridgestone Golf Bag – Cuong Ton (Carolina Triad) 

• Club Glove Travel Bag – Jesse Vanvleet (St. Louis) 

• Vokey Wedge – Freddie Coffey (Charlotte) 

• 10% of Sales ($200) – Joshua Partridge (Augusta) 

• $1,800 – Folds of Honor donation 

Universal Retirement Raffle 

We would like to acknowledge our partners, Universal Retirement, for participating in the event and providing information about their products and services.   Representatives, Chase Burbank and Ali Cummins held a separate raffle and drew out one name in each division for a $100 gift card to the Sequoyah National Pro-shop.  The winners were: 

• Division 1- Randy Hodges (Charlotte) 

• Division 2 – David Wood (Virginia Capital) 

• Division 3 – Pat Ryan (Myrtle Beach) 

• Division 4 – Aaron Baggett (Nashville) 

• Division 5 – Tim Nuoffer (St. Louis) 

Thank You to all the players, spouses and significant others who made the trip for the Independence Open.  We hope to see you again at our next major, The Double Down at French Lick later this month.