Golfers gear up for Match Play Championships

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: August 15, 2008

Spring Creek Golf Club received all sorts of rave reviews in its inaugural year of play in 2007, including from those it hosted in the inaugural Central Virginia Match Play Championships.

Tournament runner-up Paul Kane was one of several players who remarked about what a perfect layout it was for match play. Kane and 15 other players will tee it up this morning in the second annual match play event that boasts the top 16 finishers and alternates from the season-long Battle Trophy competition. Two rounds will be played today, with the semifinals and finals set for Sunday.

“It’s the kind of golf course that’s going to allow the best player to win,” said Spring Creek’s master pro Jack Snyder. “You can’t hit poor shots and get away with it on this course.”

With the area’s best players squaring off against one another, the format should feature some pretty good golf. Twelve of the top 16 are competing along with four alternates. Three of the top 11, including top-seeded and two-time Battle Trophy winner Nick Little, are playing in the event for the first time. Little was competing in the U.S. Amateur at this time last year. Former five-time Battle winner and former Virginia State Amateur champion David Passerell is making his first appearance in the event as is Virginia State junior champion Mikey Moyers.

“The thing about the Spring Creek course is that if someone is really in control of their game, it puts them in position for birdie putts,” Snyder said. “The golf course rewards accuracy. Accurate approach shots are going to be the biggies this weekend.”

2007 champ Bowen Sargent, who is UVa’s golf coach, is not defending his title due to a schedule conflict. Other than Sargent’s perfect 5-0 record in last year’s event, Kane, who plays out of Farmington, owns the next-best record at 4-1.
Here is the match play record of those returning from last year’s event: Jerry Burton 3-1; Brent Daughtrey 3-1; Bob Rotella 2-1; Kevin Gibson 2-1; Scott Garrison 2-1; Phillip Mahone 1-1; Pokey Buchanan 1-1; Weston Eklund 1-1; Jeff Toms 1-1; Ty Grove 0-1. Last year’s event featured 32 players rather than this year’s 16-man field.
Here is today’s first-round pairings (matches begin at 7:30 a.m.):

Upper Bracket

(1)  Little vs. (16) Buchanan

(8) Grove vs. (9) Passerell

(4) Mahone vs. (13) Neil Davis

(5) Toms vs. Gibson

Lower Bracket

(2)  Burton vs. (15) Jud Foster

(7) Daughtrey vs. (10) Kane

(3)  Garrison vs. (14) Rotella

(6) Eklund vs. (11) Moyers