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By Chris Lang
ZION CROSSROADS – Different format. Familiar names.
The season-ending
Virginia State Golf Association Multi-Format Team Championship concluded on
Saturday at Spring Creek Golf Club, and two sides that have won season finales
in the past hoisted trophies.
In the open
division, Spring Creek member Kyle Bailey and Ashburn’s Jeff Long posted a
15-under-par two-day aggregate 129 to claim the title by one stroke over Spring
Creek’s Vincent Nadeau and Chatmoss CC member Brandon Grogan. Bailey and Long
won the final edition of the VSGA Four-Ball Match Play Championship last
October up the road at Keswick Golf Club.
In the senior
division, the winners of the inaugural Four-Ball Match Play won the first
edition of the new event, as Martinsville’s Keith Decker and Fredericksburg’s
Jon Hurst returned a 17-under-par 127 to finish two strokes clear of Dave Pulk
and Skip Zobel.
The event opened
Friday with a two-man scramble. Saturday’s play featured a modified alternate
shot format. In Saturday’s second round, only five sides across the two
divisions shot in the 60s.
“I liked it,”
Bailey said. “You could definitely feel the pressure out there, even right from
the beginning.”
Said Decker: “There
are certain points in the round where I might not putt for six holes. It can
get you out of your rhythm a little bit. It’s different in that respect. It
makes it tough.”
Bailey and Long opened
the day a stroke behind 18-hole leaders Brandon LaCroix and Matt Chandler.
After opening with a bogey, they made six birdies against just one bogey to chase
down Nadeau and Grogan, who were 5 under for their round before making
consecutive bogeys at Nos. 6 and 7.
On No. 7, Bailey
made a birdie putt and Nadeau missed a short par putt, a crucial two-shot
swing.
“That was
unexpected,” Long said of Nadeau’s miss. “That was the big reversal right
there.”
LaCroix and Chandler—who
finished third at 132, three shots behind the winners—started their round well,
making birdie on No. 10. But they couldn’t sustain that momentum. A bogey on
No. 14 started a rough five-hole stretch that included another bogey on 17 and
a double bogey on 18. LaCroix and Chandler posted an even-par 72 Saturday.
Adam Houck and
Conrad Rickers finished fourth at 11-under 133 after shooting a 2-under 70 in
modified alternate shot.
Decker and Hurst
won their second team competition of the month, having won the senior division
at the Willow Oaks Four-Ball earlier in October. The title added to Decker’s
record VSGA tally, which now stands at 29. Hurst turned 50 in August and this
was the first VSGA competition that he and Decker could play together as
seniors.
“I feel like I’m
competitive again,” Hurst said. “I felt like I was losing any competitive edge
against these young guys.”
Their round didn’t
get off to the best start. They were 1 over through five holes before making a
birdie on the par-4 7th hole. They’d make six more birdies to surge
past 18-hole co-leaders Leon Roday/Scott Reisenweaver and Tim Vigotsky/Danny
Hopkins.
“We finally made a
putt,” Decker said. “We just hadn’t made anything up to that point. … We had
some decent shots, but we just didn’t get anything into the hole. But we played
well after that.”
After shooting 59
in Friday’s two-man scramble, Roday and Reisenweaver posted a 3-over 75 and
finished ninth. Vigotsky and Hopkins returned an even-par 72 and finished
fifth. Pulk and Zobel needed to make an eagle on the par-5 18th to
tie Decker and Hurst and make a playoff, but Zobel’s pitch from the rough
settled right of the hole, sealing the win for Decker and Hurst.
Chris Lang is the
editor of Virginia Golfer magazine and the VSGA’s manager, digital media.