MEDIA ALERT

october 31st, 2002

bill crouch of thorntown, IN wins $50,000 and crowned "world's greatest pc golfer"

 

atlanta, ga - wednesday, october 30 - with pga superstar sergio garcia in attendance, bill crouch of thorntown, in defeated scott lewington of windsor, ontario in a thrilling final match and took home the championship of the million dollar links virtual golf association (vga) tour.  crouch was presented the $50,000 grand-prize check and offered the opportunity the sink a "real putt" for $1 million. garcia, acting as crouch's official caddie, offered some tips on how to sink the million-dollar putt, but it wasn't meant to be.  crouch narrowly missed the cup, rolling it a little too far left of the hole.

 

the final 18 holes of the vga tour were played, virtually speaking, on the robert trent jones golf trail - cambrian ridge in alabama.  crouch narrowly defeated lewington by winning the 18th hole in a match-play format.  the head-to-head matchup was held in atlanta at the lenox mall.  lewington took home $7,500 as the second place finisher.

 

over the course of four months, the vga tour had over 23,000 participants from over 20 countries, playing on the links tour on zone.com, making it one of the largest online sporting events on the internet.  the vga tour finals marked the launch of links 2003, the latest installment of microsoft game studios' best-selling pc golf franchise.  links 2003 offers gamers a more realistic golf simulation including improved graphics, six all-new championship courses, several high-resolution 3-d characters, a new career mode and an expanded online component.   

 

the battle for third and fourth place saw ricky morris of whittlesey, england defeat george pallas of arcadia, ca 2 and 1.  morris won $5,000 and pallas took home $2,500.  over $75,000 in prize money was distributed during the vga tour finals. 

 

bios:

bill crouch

a car accident cut short crouch's promising baseball career when he was a senior in high school.  he quit baseball to start a family in thorntown.  crouch, a natural athlete, began playing golf when he was 25 years old.  the former third baseman picked up a club for the first time and eagled a par five.  he picked up his first links game in 1998 and has been steadily improving his game and standing with in the links community.  the father of two, crouch worked at a local printing company for 12 years until it went out of business.  crouch decided to start his own printing business and purchased some of his previous company's machinery with his life savings.

 

scott lewington

with a seven handicap on the real course, lewington is excited to meet one of his favorite professional golfers, sergio garcia.  originally from england and now residing in windsor, ontario, he has practiced an hour-a-day for the past four months in preparation for the tournament. lewington began playing links in 2000, but it wasn't until this year that he began competing against others.  an avid hockey fan and pool player, lewington will make the trip to atlanta with his wife, who will be happy to see the tournament end so she can resume spending time with her husband and not he and the computer.

 

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