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By Chris Lang
NELLYSFORD — Two sides posted 9-under-par rounds of 63 in Wednesday’s
first round of the 37th Virginia State Golf Association Senior
Four-Ball Championship at Wintergreen Resort to share the 18-hole lead. One of
the sides at the top of the leaderboard, featuring 28-time VSGA champion Keith
Decker and recent VSGA Four-Ball champion Matt Sughrue, was a surprise to no
one.
The other one shouldn’t come as
a surprise to anyone either, considering its success in recent four-ball
competitions. Charlottesville’s Neil Davis and Haymarket’s Randy Newsome were
finalists in last year’s VSGA Four-Ball Match Play Championship, and they kept
that momentum going Wednesday with a bogey-free opening round on Wintergreen’s
Stoney Creek Course to put themselves in position to again compete for a title.
Those two sides will enter
Thursday’s second and final round with a two-stroke lead over Leesburg’s Bill
Apple and Mark Rallas, who returned a 7-under 65. Wytheville’s Daniel Suthers
and Tim Moore, a member at The Virginian in Bristol, are tied for fourth at
6-under 66 with Front Royal’s David Sharpe and Middletown’s Mike Nicewarner.
Six sides will enter Thursday
four strokes back of the lead after shooting 5-under 67s.
STEADY, STEADY: Davis and Newsome warmed up for the championship by
competing in last week’s Cascades Invitational, and Davis noted in one round
that the side had quite the colorful scorecard. They didn’t make a par in that round
until the 8th hole at The Homestead Resort’s Cascades Course –
several birdies, several bogeys.
They had no such issues in
Wednesday’s round at Stoney Creek, where players navigated the Monocan and
Tuckahoe nines. They birdied five of their first seven holes, including three
straight from 5-7 on Monocan, and added another four-birdies-in-five-holes run
on the Tuckahoe nine to come in unscathed at 63.
They’ll play Thursday’s final
round with Decker and Sughrue, with the final group going off No. 1 at 10 a.m.
“Neil beat me a couple of years
ago in match play over at Keswick (in the VSGA Senior Amateur), and he played
really well,” Decker said. “I didn’t play bad. He just beat me. He and Randy,
they’re both steady. Neil hits it a long way. They’re good players. It’ll be a
good match for everybody tomorrow. There are still several other good teams in
it too.”
DOUBLE PLAY? Plenty of players have won titles in both the VSGA’s
regular and senior four-ball championships. But no one has ever done it in the
same year. Arlington’s Sughrue is in prime position to make that sort of
history on Thursday if he and Decker can find their way to the top of the leaderboard.
“I have thought of it,” Sughrue
admitted. “But I don’t want to get too far ahead. We have a lot of good
competition out here, and we’ve got to shoot another good score tomorrow if we
want to win.”
Decker has won three Senior
Four-Ball titles with Pat Tallent, but with Tallent unable to play due to knee
and back trouble, Decker reached out to Sughrue. The friends have partnered
before and won multiple events in Florida, but this is their first appearance
together in the VSGA Senior Four-Ball Championship.
Consider that debut a success.
They finished with seven birdies on the Monocan nine, a run only blemished by a
bogey on No. 3. After making the turn to Tuckahoe at 6 under, they finished
with three birdies and no bogeys on the back to finish tied for the lead.
“We’ve known each other for a
long time,” Decker said. “The opportunity arose, and I needed a partner, and it
worked out great.”
Joked Sughrue: “He picked me up
on waivers.”
NICE RECOVERY: Apple and Rallas started on the Tuckahoe nine and
opened their round with a bogey, generally an ominous sign in a four-ball
competition. But they rallied quickly, making birdie on their next two holes
and adding another on 15 (Tuckahoe No. 6) to make the turn at 2 under. Then
they started their back nine (Monocan) with an eagle and a pair of birdies to
surge toward the top of the leaderboard.
Apple and Rallas weren’t the
only ones at the top of the leaderboard to mark eagles on their scorecard.
Suthers and Moore made one on Monocan No. 3 and Leon Roday and Scott
Reisenweaver notched one on Tuckahoe No. 12.
CHAMPS OUT: Steve Serrao and Cam Young’s title defense ended before
it started. The pair won the title last year at The Virginian but were forced
to withdraw on Tuesday before the start of the event due a lingering injury
that has bothered Young for months.
HOW LOW? With two sides sitting at 63 after one day, the tournament
record of 126 is in play Thursday. Bob Morris and Tallent set the record at
Spring Creek in Zion Crossroads in 2011, posting rounds of 65 and 61 on their
way to a three-stroke victory. Decker and Tallent recorded the second lowest
score in tournament history in 2017, shooting 62-66 for an aggregate 128.
Chris Lang is the Editor of Virginia Golfer Magazine and Manager,
Digital Media for the VSGA.