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By Chris Lang
ROANOKE — Fresh off an appearance in the Virginia State Golf
Association Amateur Championship semifinals and a top-10 finish in the Eastern
Amateur, Peter Gasperini is feeling pretty good about his game. And with good
reason.
Those good vibes continued
Thursday in the first round of the Delta Dental State Open of Virginia.
Gasperini, who went off in the afternoon, posted a 7-under-par 65 at Ballyhack
Golf Club, matching the low score professional Mason Stutler set in the morning
wave. Those two will enter Friday’s second round with a share of the lead.
Thanks to a severe weather delay
of nearly three hours, 42 players did not complete their first round and will
resume play at 7:30 a.m. Friday. Second-round starting times will begin at 8
a.m., with all starting times pushed back 30 minutes from when originally
scheduled. Thursday’s play ended at 8:43 p.m. due to darkness.
Gasperini, a Radford University
senior from Halifax, and Stutler, a PGA professional who works at Kinloch Golf
Club in Manakin-Sabot, hold a two-stroke lead over Old Dominion University’s
Carter Morgan, who signed for a 5-under 67.
Three amateurs ended the day
tied for fourth: Haymarket’s Scott Shingler, Blacksburg’s Christopher Zhang,
and Richmond’s Charlie Kennedy.
Gasperini is making his second
State Open appearance, though the first one two years ago didn’t go so well. He
said he didn’t learn much from that first tour of Ballyhack, adding that he’s
simply a better player now than he was then.
His recent results make that
hard to deny.
“I think one of my biggest
factors is probably my optimism,” said Gasperini, who finished with eight
birdies and one bogey. “I always have positive vibes going into events. I’m a
very confident player. When you have those two things working for you, and you’re
swinging well, things can go well.”
Stutler is a new Middle Atlantic
PGA member, having relocated to Kinloch from Pikewood National in West
Virginia. His first taste of Ballyhack came in Tuesday’s pro-am, and he made
sure to soak in as much knowledge of the course as possible.
“I had no clue,” he said. “Two
practice rounds, two go’s at it. I really tried to pay attention in those two
rounds, even in the pro-am, just looking around the backside of the green
complexes, checking out different bunkers, that kind of thing. This is a
visually intimidating golf course. But I think it’s more than fair if you just
kind of take what it gives you off the tee and you really don’t force the
issue.”
Stutler, who was an All-American
for a Methodist University team that won a Division III national title, birdied
his first three holes, turned at 5 under and cruised in for his 65.
“I really couldn’t have scripted
it any better,” he said. “I hit my first three shots inside of two feet.
Starting off, I got fortunate. I was just trying to put it in the right place
on the green. There are some slopes you can use out here. I had a couple of
nice breaks, balls running off slopes down pretty close. After that, it was
kind of the same recipe. Try to hit the right quadrants of the green, try to
keep the ball below the hole. I had good speed with the putter and a couple of
them went in.”
Morgan, who is from Tappahannock
and plays out of Hobbs Hole GC, kept himself within striking distance of the
co-leaders by turning in a clean scorecard with five birdies and no bogeys.
Morgan reached match play at the VSGA Amateur and recently qualified for the
U.S. Amateur.
“It’s just staying disciplined
and hitting fairways and greens,” Morgan said. “I hit 16 of 18 greens, which
made my day a lot easier. I’m just keeping the ball in front of me, getting the
ball on the green and giving myself a chance to make birdies. … The best way to
play this course is to have the putter in your hand as much as possible,
because chipping around these greens can get pretty goofy.”
Of the three players tied for
fourth, two are juniors and one is a veteran seeking an elusive State Open
title.
Kennedy, a rising junior at
Richmond’s Mills Godwin High School, was the stroke-play medalist at the recent
VSGA Junior Match Play Championship and has enjoyed a strong summer. He
credited his putting for his recent strong play, and he managed to stay patient
after the long delay to come in with a 68.
“I was a little worried at
first,” Kennedy said. “I did not want to wake up at like 4 or 5 o’clock
tomorrow and come back out here and warm up and play early. I was really hoping
and praying that we got back out there, and thankfully we did.”
Zhang, finalist at the VSGA
Amateur and recent Blacksburg High graduate, continued his successful summer
with a fine round Thursday. He finished with six birdies, though bogeys at the
beginning and end of his round left him frustrated.
“There were a couple of chances
I left out there,” Zhang said. “I had a three-putt par on 6 (after driving the
green). No. 10 (a par-5), I was almost on in two and hit a terrible chip. Had a
really good chance for birdie there and just didn’t make it.”
Shingler has won the VSGA
Amateur, VSGA Four-Ball and VSGA Mid-Amateur championships, and he hopes to add
a State Open title to his trophy case as well. He was in great position last
year after shooting 67 in the opening round. But he struggled to a 74-73 finish
that left him outside the top 10.
“I started off hot last year and
didn’t finish well. But I can’t think about that,” Shingler said. “There’s a
lot of golf shots and putts ahead of me. I’ve just got to stay focused.”
He did end his round on a high
note, draining a 35-foot putt on 18 from below the hole for birdie, a putt he
described as a “gift.”
“A nice way to end the day,”
Shingler said. “It feels great. It makes lunch taste better. But it’s going to
be the same process tomorrow, the same plan, just try to keep the ball in front
of you. We’ll see where the pins are. They’ll probably be in some higher spots,
so it’ll be tougher to get to them. Just be patient. Two putt when you need to
two putt. You’re going to get in some bad spots out here.”
Professional Josh Speight
finished just before darkness set in, returning a 3-under 69 to stand alone in
seventh. Five players finished at 2-under 70.
Chris Lang is the Editor of Virginia Golfer Magazine and Manager,
Digital Media for the VSGA. The Delta Dental State Open of Virginia is
conducted jointly by the VSGA and the Middle Atlantic PGA.