Raleigh, NC - (July 26, 2008) Mike Thomas has played over 40 rounds of golf on the Egolf Amateur Tour over the past three years. Saturday at River Ridge GC he posted the best round he has ever had in Tour competiton. Playing from the par 72, 6,274 yard, Blue tees in the C Flight, Thomas shot an 81 for a 3 stroke win over playing partner Ray Schenkel of Reidsville. Madison's Rus Rilling rounded out the top 3 with an 86. With a 40 on the front nine and a 41 on the back, Thomas stayed away from the really big numbers that have sometimes plagued him in the past. "It's always good to see a long time Tour vet like Mike play up to his potential", said Tour Director Bruce Hallenbeck. "I expect to see more of the same from him now that he's got a round like this under his belt". Playoffs to determine Flight winners have become commonplace on Tour recently and Saturday was no exception as 2 B Flight players had to go extra holes to find out who would emerge at the top of the Flight. Pinehurst's Tom Kubla beat Carrboro's Joe Durrance on the second hole of sudden death for the win. "I was above the hole in regulation", stated Kubla, "and let my first putt roll a little farther by (the hole) than I would have liked. But I felt good about the 4-footer coming back and knocked it dead-center". It was the second B Flight victory of the season for Kubla, who had a 78 during regulation play. Fayetteville's Shone Russell took his 1st career Tour win, as he edged Randleman's Kenny Smith by one shot in the A Flight; 74 to 75. Russell was aided greatly by an Eagle-3 on the 471 yard par 5 18th hole. Russell had nearly missed an eagle earlier on the par 4 8th hole. The Championship Flight, which played from the 6,740 Gold Tees, saw Cary's David Cotton manage a one stroke win over Raleigh's Doug Michal, who was playing in his very first Egolf Tour event. "The Championship Flight guys played a totally different golf course from those back tees" said Hallenbeck. EGOLF AMATEUR TOUR - RIVER RIDGE EVENT TOP FIVE SCORES BY FLIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (6,740 yds) David Cotton, Cary 76 Doug Michal, Raleigh 77 Roger Pinnix, Hamptonville 79 Henry Lister, Chapel Hill 82 Tom D'Ostroph, Lillington 93 A FLIGHT (6,274 yds) Shone Russell, Fayetteville 74 Kenny Smith, Randleman 75 Doug Grendel, Raleigh 76 Tad Galloway, Cary 79 Bobby Elder, Randleman 80 Greg Grabus, Raleigh 80 B FLIGHT (6,274 yds) Tom Kubla, Pinehurst 78 Joe Durrance, Carrboro 78 Chris Riggsbee, Cary 79 Carl Hill, Cary 79 Richard Pfister, Raleigh 79 C FLIGHT (6,274 yds) Mike Thomas, Pittsboro 81 Ray Schenkel, Reidsville 84 Rus Rilling, Madison 86 Jesse Ingle, Gibsonville 87 James Adams, Dunn 87