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By Chris Lang
MIDLOTHIAN — Robb Kinder’s spring included one of the top accomplishments of his golf career, a T-2 finish at the NCAA Division III national championship. The Christopher Newport University junior is looking to keep the momentum rolling through the summer, and the 18-hole lead at the State Open of Virginia presented by Virginia lottery isn’t a bad place to start.
Kinder, a member at Williamsburg Golf Club, posted a 6-under-par 65 on a sizzling Friday at Independence Golf Club and holds a one-stroke lead over four competitors heading into Saturday’s second round. The field will be cut to the low 60 players and ties after Saturday for Sunday’s third and final round.
The 20-year-old Kinder started his day with a three-putt bogey on No. 1, but that was one of the only mistakes he made. He notched consecutive birdies on holes 3, 4 and 5, added an eagle on No. 8 and posted three more birdies on the back nine, where his only blemish was a bogey on No. 11 when he missed the green on the par-3 hole to the right and failed to get up and down.
“Nothing felt that great, but once I got on the green, the putter got hot,” Kinder said. “I wasn’t hitting the ball that great, but I hit good shots when I needed to.”
Among the four chasing Kinder at 5-under 66 are three past State Open champions and one of Kinder’s CNU teammates. Defending champion Mark Lawrence Jr., 2019 champion Jack Montague, 2010 champion Evan Beck and CNU junior Alex Price all posted 5-under-par 66s. Of those five players at the top, only Price went off in an afternoon that featured merciless sun and a heat index that reached 100 degrees.
“I birdied half the holes, so that’s getting it done,” Price said. “There are a couple of things that I need to clean up here and there in terms of thought process and putting myself in a better spot on a couple of holes instead of missing in the wrong spots.”
Price made nine birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on No. 15.
“I just had an uncommitted second shot,” Price said. “I put myself in the bunker and tried to get cute with it and left it in the bunker. That’s one of those times where you have to take your medicine and take bogey there instead of bringing double into play.”
Lawrence, who is playing in his first tournament as a professional, started off No. 10 and got going with back-to-back birdies on his front nine (17 and 18).
“I’ve been kind of struggling with my irons,” said Lawrence, an Independence member. “I’ve been hitting this straight pull shot for the last week. And on 18, I had 173 yards and I hit an 8 iron that was a baby fade, just right on the flag. It was exactly how I wanted to hit it. It gave me some confidence making the turn, knowing I had that shot, and if that’s a shot I want to play, it’s just there, and I’ll be fine.”
Lawrence added another three birdies on a bogey-free back nine.
“The greens were a little softer than what we played on Wednesday,” he said. “It’s a little bit more gettable when they’re softer. I didn’t drive the ball particularly well today. But with the greens being a little bit softer, I was able to drive it reasonably close. I gave myself some good opportunities there.”
Beck also started on No. 10 and made the turn at 1 under before catching fire on his back nine. He made birdie at No. 2 then eagled the par-5 4th and added another birdie at the par-4 5th.
“Nothing spectacular,” Beck said. “I kept it in front, wedged it close and made the putts I feel I should have made.”
Oddly enough, it was the lone bogey on his back-nine scorecard that saved Beck’s round.
“Got really dicey on that last hole,” Beck said. “It could have been a seven. That was a bad place to miss. The only place you can miss on that hole, and I missed it there. I didn’t hit the chip hard enough and it came right back to my feet. So yeah, I’m glad I made four there.”
Montague, who missed last year’s State Open at Ballyhack with a shoulder injury, rallied from a double bogey on No. 13, closed his front nine with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18, and ended his round by holing it from the bunker on No. 9 to record his 66.
“I just made a bad swing on my tee shot on 13,” Montague said. “I went from 1 under to 1 over. I just tried to stay patient. The 14th hole, the par 3, that’s not a hole you want to press on. I was just trying to stay in my routine, pick good spots and hit smart shots. I had a good run there, I birdied 17, 18 and 1 to get myself back to 2 under, and I felt like I had some momentum again. I made a couple more coming in, so that was nice.”
Montague’s bunker hole-out brought a cheer from the gallery gathered around the 9th green.
“I hit a pretty poor 8 iron into that bunker to start,” Montague said. “In the bunker, my ball was just kind of on a slight upslope. Once it got past the hole, it looked like it was going to run away, so I was just trying to not get carried away and leave it a few feet short. I hit it, it came out perfect, and it just rolled in. It was perfect.
“That was definitely big. That could have been a two-shot swing if I didn’t get up and down there. Leaving with birdie as opposed to bogey was definitely huge.”
Three players are tied for sixth after returning 3-under-par 68s: Radford University teammates Nick Taliaferro and Patrick Gareiss, and University of Virginia fourth year Sam Jung. Six players are tied for ninth at 2-under 69. In all, 19 players posted under-par rounds, including two of the oldest players in the field—70-year-old professional Dick Mast, who shot 69, and 61-year-old Matt Sughrue, an amateur from Arlington who shot 70 and won the Senior Open of Virginia on this course last September.