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By Chris Lang
ZION CROSSROADS — Evan Beck and Mikey Moyers have spent more than two decades battling against each other, first in youth golf, then in college, and now as mid-amateurs.
A chance pairing in last year’s Virginia State Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship gave the two of them an idea: Why not play together?
The powerhouse pairing showed its muscle on Monday at the 3rd VSGA Multi-Format Team Championship, the opening event of the men’s championship season. They shook off a lone bogey on No. 5 to post a 14-under-par 58 to take a two-stroke lead in the Open Division after one round of the event.
“I texted him, and we wanted to play in the Four-Ball Championship, but I had a conflict,” Beck said. “So we decided to try this one. Mikey and I have known each other since we were like 8 years old. It’s nice to play with each instead of against each other.”
Monday’s round was played in two-person scramble format, a big reason for the low scores. Tuesday’s second and final round will be modified alternate shot, a format players rarely play in competition.
While Beck and Moyers stood alone atop the Open leaderboard, three senior sides posted 11-under rounds of 61 to enter Tuesday tied for the lead: Keith Decker and Jon Hurst, the brother tandem of Jay and Steve Serrao, and the Independence GC pairing of Cam Young and Hank Klein.
Tuesday’s second round will begin at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start.
Beck (Princess Anne CC) and Moyers (Greene Hills Club) hold a two-stroke edge over three sides: Brian Rolland/Robert Zehnder, Conor Trainor/Jed Rasnick, and Matthew Cannon/Samuel Banks.
The defending Open Division champions, Brandon Ramsuer and Ryan Taylor, are tied for seventh after posting a 65. The defending Senior Division champions, Jeffrey Klatt and Jon Zampedro, are tied for fifth after returning a 9-under 63.
Beck and Moyers got off to a hot start with birdies on their first three holes. A three-putt bogey on the par-3 5th represented a brief setback, but they played the rest of the round at 12 under par, including an eagle on 12 and five straight birdies to end the round.
“We missed the two footer (on 5), and I think that lit a little fire under us,” Moyers said.
In the senior division, Hurst (Fredericksburg CC) and Decker (Chatmoss CC) hold a share of the 18-hole lead for the second straight year. They struggled in alternate shot at The Dominion Club last year to fall down the leaderboard. They’ll take a simple strategy into Tuesday’s round.
“We’ve got to do better in alternate shot,” Hurst said. “We put too much pressure on ourselves.”
Said Decker: “We need to relax and play our own games. I know I’m not going to disappoint him, and he’s not going to disappoint me. But when we put too much pressure on ourselves, it hurts. We just need to play our own game.”
None of the three senior co-leader sides made a bogey. Young (a past VSGA Senior Amateur champion) and Klein (a past VSGA Amateur champion) opened on No. 10 with a birdie and rattled off four straight birdies from holes 2-5 to make a run up the leaderboard.
“Hank really hit the ball great off the tee all day long,” Young said. “We bingo-bongoed, hit a few iron shots in there. I made a few putts, and when I didn’t make them, Hank made some good ones. … We team really well together. We have great chemistry together. We’ve had it for a long time.”
The three senior co-leaders are a shot clear of Bob Bailey and Robert Nussey, who posted a 10-under 62, and two shots clear of the three sides tied for fifth.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.