By Chris Lang
For the 12th time, the USGA will conduct its Men’s State Team Championship, this year’s edition of the biennial event taking place from Sept. 28-30 in Birmingham, Ala.
And for the 12th time, Keith Decker (Chatmoss CC) will be part of the contingent representing Virginia in the championship.
Decker, Scott Shingler (Evergreen CC) and Justin Young (Ballyhack GC) will be the three representatives for the VSGA squad in the event, which features three-man teams from all 50 U.S. States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Decker, who recently won the 69th VSGA Senior Amateur Championship in dominating fashion, is No. 1 in the VSGA Senior Player Rankings and ranks fifth in the VSGA’s Men’s Regular Player Rankings.
“That was one of my goals for this year, and it’s a big honor,” said Decker, who is the only player nationwide to participate in all 12 championships. “And we have a good team. Scott Shingler and Justin, they’re proven, quality players who know how to win. I’m very pleased to be invited to be a part of it.”
Shingler is No. 1 in the VSGA Men’s Regular Player Rankings. In seven player-rankings events, he’s finished in the top 10 in five stroke-play events and advanced to match play at the VSGA Amateur. He and Young, who was the 2015 VSGA Men’s Golfer of the Year, were partners at the USGA Men’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship and at the VSGA Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship, where they lost in a playoff.
Young is No. 3 in the VSGA Men’s Regular Player Rankings. Along with his runner-up finish with Shingler in the Four-Ball Stroke Play, he was a quarterfinalist at the VSGA Amateur, tied for fourth at the Fox Puss Invitational and was second at the Hidden Valley Four-Ball Invitational.
Should any of the three players be unable to play, the VSGA alternates are Buck Brittain (The Virginian GC) and Jon Hurst (Fredericksburg CC).
Decker and Virginia won the first USGA Men’s State Team Championship in 1995, finishing nine strokes clear of Florida. Virginia tied for runner-up honors in 1999 at the Golden Horseshoe’s Gold Course in Williamsburg and took second in 2001 at Hazeltine National in Minnesota. Texas won its record fourth title in 2014, finishing three strokes clear of Florida. This year’s event will be played at the Country Club of Birmingham, which also hosted the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.
“It’s our Olympics, playing for the USGA title,” Decker said. “There are not many people who have a gold USGA medal, or a silver USGA medal, or a bronze USGA medal. You know, Virginia has won a gold, they’ve won two silver and a bronze, through the years. And I can tell you, I know exactly where each one of them is. They’re in my house, right there, in the trophy room.”
Chris Lang is the Editor of Virginia Golfer magazine and the VSGA’s manager of digital media.