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By Chris Lang
ZION CROSSROADS — On the fourth hole at Spring Creek Golf Club on a sun-splashed Tuesday afternoon, Evan Beck piped a drive down the fairway, leaving partner Mikey Moyers with about 100 yards left to the hole. Moyers tucked a wedge to 12 feet. Beck made the putt for birdie. Rinse. Repeat.
The longtime friends made everything look easy during the two rounds of the 3rd Virginia State Golf Association Multi-Format Team Championship. They closed a dominating two days with an astonishing 9-under-par 63 in Tuesday’s modified alternate shot round, giving them a two-day, 23-under 121 to win the open division by 13 strokes over three runner-up sides.
The crazy part: Beck and Moyers only made one bogey in 36 holes, with that coming during the much easier two-person scramble portion tournament on Monday.
“It was just super comfortable,” Beck said. “Mikey would hit one in play. And fortunately, I drove it really well today. He’d hit a great iron shot. Then I’d putt first, primarily.”
Joked Moyers: “We could probably play on Tour if I could play his drive and his putter. It was unbelievable today.”
While Moyers (Greene Hills Club) and Beck (Princess Anne CC) became the third different side to claim the open title, the senior division produced a repeat champion. For the second straight year, Jeffrey Klatt (Medal of Honor GC) and Jon Zampedro (Pleasant Valley GC) nipped the Independence GC duo of Hank Klein and Cam Young by one stroke to claim the title with a two-day 12-under 132.
“Jeff and I are starting to play more together,” Zampedro said. “We’re getting comfortable with our games. We play well together, and I know I have fun playing with him.”
Said Klatt: “We’re just very relaxed playing with each other. We both hit it fairly straight and we’re rarely in a lot of trouble.”
Moyers and Beck opened Tuesday with a two-stroke lead over three sides, but it was clear early that there was not going to be much drama in the open division. Outside of Moyers and Beck, no one in the first flight shot below 70. (Colton King and Marshall Tinsley posted a 68 in the second flight.)
Dustin Groves and Ryan Bishop; Conor Trainor and Jed Rasnick; and Matthew Cannon and Samuel Banks finished tied for second at 10-under 134.
“Everything was clicking,” Beck said. “I think our second hole of the day, we had to get it up and down, and that was it. And it was the most basic chip shot. I mean in this format, it can definitely get dicey. It just didn’t happen to us.”
Klatt and Zampedro were the only seniors to shoot under par in the first flight on Tuesday, posting a 3-under 69. (Dave Pulk and Skip Zobel, along with Ben Clayborn and Shannon Saunders did so in the second flight.) Neither Klatt nor Zampedro were particularly interested in following the live scoring to see where they stood as their round neared its end, though they felt like they were probably in the mix.
On the par-5 18th, their penultimate hole in the shotgun event, they chose to Klatt’s drive from about 235 yards out because it was a comfortable number for Zampedro to hit a hybrid. He bulleted it 214 yards and within 10 feet of the hole on the lower right corner of the green, and the side two putted for birdie for what ultimately proved to be the clinching shot.
“If I knew where we stood, I wouldn’t have hit that hybrid as good as I did,” Zampedro said with a laugh. “I would have laid the sod over it because I just would have been too nervous. What works for me is to be process oriented. Hit good shots and not focus on having to make two birdies coming in. Just make good swings and hit good shots.”
Added Klatt: “With alternate shot, you can’t be too aggressive. You can’t leave your partner too far past the hole. So you have to think about one shot at a time.”
Klein and Young made four birdies in their final-round 72, but they also made two bogeys and a costly double at No. 4. As Klein returned to the staging area, he shook his head and said simply, “we left too much out there.”
The brother tandem of Jay and Steve Serrao tied for third with Keith Decker and Jon Hurst, as each side shot identical scores of 61-73—134.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.