By David Droschak
Here’s a quiz. Who is the greatest golfer to come out of the Pinehurst area? Or has there ever been one?
Harvie Ward doesn’t count. He was born in Tarboro. If you guessed Billy Joe Patton, well, that would be wrong, too. Patton, who finished third in the 1954 Masters, was from Morganton. LPGA Hall of Famer Peggy Kirk Bell was born and raised in Ohio, while four-time Majors champion Raymond Floyd and Chip Beck don’t count, they were both from Fayetteville.
And while Kelly Mitchum and Drew Scott each played professional golf within the last 10 years, neither would fit the classification of “great.” Mitchum won less than $60,000 on the PGA Tour and is now a teaching pro at Pinehurst Resort, while Scott, a former Union Pines High School graduate, made more noise as head golf coach of the Rice Owls than he did in his four years on the Canadian Professional Golf Tour.
