59th VSGA Four-Ball Championship

Championship website | Scoring | Preview | Record book

Dates: Monday, May 20 and Tuesday, May 21

Format: Two rounds of four-ball stroke play. If there is a tie after 36 holes, a sudden-death playoff will be utilized to determine a champion.

Host site: Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech

Day 2: Highlander highlight -- Taliaferro and Gareiss claim victory on home college course

Photo gallery

RADFORD -- It would have been easy to look at the entry list for the 59th Virginia State Golf Association Four-Ball Championship and conclude that it was Radford University versus the field. With the championship contested at Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech -- home course for the Highlanders as well as the Hokies -- and four sides of RU players in the field, betting on a Radford side to win would have been a wise choice.

One of those sides -- Nick Taliaferro (Salisbury CC) and Patrick Gareiss (Greenbrier CC) -- emerged from the pack on Tuesday, posting an 8-under 64 for a two-day aggregate total of 13-under-par 131 to claim the championship by one stroke over three sides tied for second at 12-under 132.

Taliaferro claimed his second VSGA Four-Ball Championship and third VSGA championship overall. He won the 2022 State Open of Virginia and teamed with another Radford teammate (Andrew Kennedy) to win the 2020 VSGA Four-Ball Championship at Poplar Grove. Taliaferro and Kennedy also claimed a runner-up finish in 2021 at Hermitage Country Club, where they lost in a playoff.

Home-course knowledge played a clear role in for those finishing at the top of the leaderboard. Radford teammates Channing and Benson Blevins, members at Wytheville Golf Club, were among those tied for second, as were former Virginia Tech standouts Joey Jordan (Willow Oaks CC) and Drew Brockwell (The GC at The Highlands). The final runner-up side featured Loudoun G&CC members Logan Reilly and Nick Alexander. Reilly is a top junior who is committed to Auburn and won last weekend's Scott Robertson Memorial at Roanoke CC. Alexander plays at Christopher Newport University.

Patrick Hineline and Miller Carr (Princess Anne CC) tied for third at 11-under 133 with Jake Albert and Major Ewing (Blacksburg CC) and Scott Shingler (Dominion Valley CC) and Justin Young (Roanoke CC).

Albert and Ewing had the best chance to catch Gareiss and Taliaferro and force a playoff. Albert hit an excellent approach from 95 yards out on 18 that settled 8 feet past the hole. After Bryce Corbett--playing in the same group--holed a long putt on roughly the same line, Albert's birdie attempt slid past the hole to the right. He was unable to make the comebacker and the side finished with a bogey to drop into the tie for third.

NOTABLE

• Ben Beach and Sam Beach, the 2023 champions, posted a 2-under 70 on Tuesday to finish at 6-under overall, tied for 17th.
• The 2002 champions, Adam Houck and Blake Carter, tied for 11th at 9-under 135. They shot a 4-under 68 on Tuesday.
• All four Radford sides that entered finished in the top 10, with Corbett and Bobby Dudeck Jr., and Jack Urban and Nathan Piatt each finishing in a tie for 8th at 10-under 134. The Urban/Piatt side joined Reilly and Alexander and the winning side of Taliaferro and Gareiss in low round of the day honors, as each shot 64.
• The first-round leaders, Jed Rasnick and Daniel Houchins, posted a 2-under 70 to finish a 9-under 135 and in a tie for 11th.
• The top five sides and ties earned exemptions into next year's VSGA Four-Ball Championship.
• Allen Clarke (Ivy Hill GC) made an ace on No. 5 on Tuesday, using a 4-iron from 235 yards out. He paired with Alex Brocato to finish tied for 21st.

QUOTABLE

• Please see the video below for an interview with champions Nick Taliaferro and Patrick Gareiss.
• The Blevins brothers made birdies on four of their final five holes but a par on No. 15 ended up costing them a chance at forcing a playoff with their RU teammates. "I had a pitching wedge in, and I pushed it a little bit. I had a 40-foot putt, and at that point Channing was out of the hole, so I wasn't really thinking of making that putt. I just wanted to make a two-putt par and make something happen on the last three holes."
• "It was fun. The front nine, we had one birdie. We were hitting greens but just could not make a putt. It was good to see it finally go in on the back." -- Channing Blevins
• "Honestly, yes. I was going to be surprised if one of us didn't. Home-course advantage, we play here so much." -- Channing Blevins on expectations that a Radford side would win.
• "As soon as we found out it was here, we knew that we were all going to try to qualify and try to beat each other." -- Benson Blevins
• "They both just strike the ball really well, and that works well in four-ball. When you're both on the green, you have multiple looks at it most times." -- Benson Blevins on Taliaferro and Gareiss.

Day 1: Rasnick/Houchins side posts 65 to snag one-shot lead

(Jed Rasnick, left, and Daniel Houchins, solo leaders at the 59th VSGA Four-Ball Championship. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)

Photo gallery

RADFORD -- Jed Rasnick and Daniel Houchins lead a packed leaderboard after one day of the 59th Virginia State Golf Association Four-Ball Championship. The duo posted a 7-under-par 65 on Monday at Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech to take a one-stroke lead over five sides tied at 6-under 66. Four more sides posted rounds of 5-under 67, setting up an exciting finish in Tuesday's second and final round.

Rasnick (The Hollows GC) and Houchins (Nottoway River CC) notched six birdies and an eagle to work around a bogey in posting their score. The five sides in the chasing pack are all accomplished. Playing on their home college course, Radford's Bryce Corbett and Bobby Dudeck III are in the group at 66. Blacksburg High School students Jake Albert (last year's VSGA Amateur finalist) and Major Ewing joined them, along with former Virginia Tech golfers Drew Brockwell and Joey Jordan; Ryan Bishop and Marshall Tinsley (past VSGA Mid-Amateur champion); and Scott Shingler and Justin Young.

Shingler paired with Keith Decker to win the VSGA Senior Four-Ball Championship last week at Westwood Country Club in Vienna, and the side became the only one in VSGA history to win both a VSGA Four-Ball and Senior Four-Ball Championship. Shingler, the only senior in the field, is looking to turn an unprecedented double as no player has ever won the VSGA Senior Four-Ball and Four-Ball titles in the same year.

Adam Houck and Blake Carter, the 2022 VSGA Four-Ball champions, are in the group tied for seventh at 5-under, along with Radford's Patrick Gareiss and Nick Taliaferro (past State Open of Virginia and VSGA Four-Ball champion); Radford's Channing and Benson Blevins; and Miller Carr and Patrick Hineline.

Play continues Tuesday with starting times off both No. 1 and 10, starting at 8:30 a.m. The final group featuring Rasnick/Houchins and Shingler/Young will tee off at 10:30.

NOTABLE

• Defending champions Sam and Ben Beach posted a 4-under 68 and are tied for 11th. They began last year's second round at The Piedmont Club four shots off the lead before rallying for a second-day 64 to win with a birdie on the final hole.
• Shingler and Young are two-time runners-up in this event, finishing a stroke back in 2020 and falling in a playoff in 2016.
• Shingler and Young will participate in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club, which begins on Saturday.
• Logan Reilly, who is paired with Nick Alexander, is coming off a big weekend in which he won the prestigious Scott Robertson Memorial at Roanoke Country Club. He's the first Virginian to win since 2019, when Michael Brennan won the event. Past VSGA Junior Stroke Play champion Connor Johnson Jr. won the Robertson in 2018. Reilly and Alexander are tied for 11th at 4-under.
• The Rasnick/Houchins side got an early boost thanks to Houchins' wedge. He nearly holed out for eagle on No. 1 from about 100 yards out, settling for a kick-in birdie. Then on No. 3, he holed out from nearly the same distance for an eagle.
• Albert (last year's VSGA Junior Boys' Golfer of the Year) and Ewing finished with eight birdies and one double bogey, when both players struggled to get out of a greenside bunker on No. 15 and took six on the par-4 hole.
• The other past champion side in the field -- 2016 winners Harold Dill III and Kyle Bailey -- posted an even-par 72.
• River Course was playing at nearly 7,300 yards on Monday. The track yielded three eagles: Houchins' eagle on No. 3, Dellon Baker's eagle on 3, and Sam Beach's eagle on 12.

QUOTABLE

• "Got off to a hot start. First hole, Danny hooped a wedge, hit it to a foot, cashed it in. Made par on 2, then on 3, Danny hooped another wedge from the same distance and it went in for eagle. Then we just got hot. Only carded one bogey but we birdied the hole right after it. We just had good looks. I had an unexpected chip-in when he had a good look for birdie. And we finished the day with a nice little four-foot par save." -- Jed Rasnick
• "I thought we could contend, but I wasn't necessarily thinking we would be leading after round one." -- Daniel Houchins
• "Danny hits his driver like a touring pro, and this golf course emphasizes great driver play. He put himself in a ton of advantageous positions with the driver. When he hits first and hits his tee ball 300 down the middle, it makes it a little bit easier on me." -- Rasnick
• "We've got a one-shot lead. We might as well be tied or one shot back. There's a lot of good players out there. It's all jumbled up. No one really separated themselves today. A lot of times in a four-ball, someone will shoot 9- or 10-under on the first day, and everyone's chasing." -- Rasnick
• "He made most of the birdies, I just sat in the cart and watched. I'm usually here to make pars, to provide some security for him to make some birdies." -- Major Ewing on partner Jake Albert.
• "That was some of the best ball-striking that we've had playing as partners in a while. If we can just get a few putts to fall tomorrow, we're pretty confident." -- Drew Brockwell
• "I think it all starts with the driver. We both hit the driver so hard and far, and fortunately, straight. So I'll go first and hit one out there in the fairway or near the fairway and allow Drew to swing free. We both have really similar games. We're strong in the same parts and also have areas where we can elevate our games." -- Joey Jordan on the partnership with Brockwell. They were runners-up in 2022 at Bay Creek.
• "Mostly, it's knowing where to miss when you're not hitting it great. I hadn't been hitting it great leading up to this, but it's nice playing this course knowing where I can hit it and where I can't." -- Bryce Corbett
• "I know Bobby really wanted to play. We were freshman year roommates, and both of us being exempt made it a pretty easy decision." -- Corbett on how the Radford players decided who paired with whom for the event.
• "We certainly missed a lot of putts today--everybody inside our group did. We didn't make anything outside of 10 feet. It could have been really low out there, like 10-under. We play four-ball matches all the time out here with the team and we shoot 10-, 11-under all the time. So it's out there. We've just got to make some putts." -- Bobby Dudeck III
• "The lines are different. With some of the senior golf, it's taking driver out of my hand. I'm either hitting it through the fairway, which is no good, or hitting it into a hazard. So I have to lay back with hybrids and 3-woods at times. Whereas playing with the regulars, you have to send the driver every time since they stretch it out so long. ... I'd say for me, the adjustment is scaling back and taking different lines (in senior events)." -- Scott Shingler, who at 52 is the only senior in the field this week.
• "We just need another solid day. You need a break here or there. Any time you win an event, you look back and say, 'we got a break here, we were lucky there. So if we can play a solid round of golf and get a break here or there, I think we'll be right in it until the end." -- Shingler
• "It's pretty closely packed. You can't hope that it just comes to you. You've got to go get it." -- Justin Young