Burton surges to lead in Greene Hills Invitational

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: April 20, 2008

As the scores began to trickle in during the annual Greene Hills Invitational on Saturday, club pro Mike Moyers said that the course was definitely winning.
With blustery, swirling crosswinds, glass-like greens and some challenging pin placements, Greene Hills couldn’t play much harder. In fact, it would have been a smart bet that no one would break par (71) on the day.
That is, until Jerry Burton came along.
Burton, a former professional out of Williamsburg, burst onto the local scene last year after regaining his amateur status. The Spring Creek member has been impressive in his short time in Central Virginia, making it to the finals of last fall’s match play championships before losing to eventual champion Bowen Sargent.
Starting the day with a birdie on the short par-5, first hole, Burton went on to fire a 1-under 70, and was indeed the only player in the field to crack level par on the day. Heading into today’s final round, he holds a two-shot lead on a pair of Richmond golfers, veteran Glenn Mullian and newcomer Garrett Whitmore, each firing 1-over 72’s.
Nine other players are within five strokes, though with Tim Kelly (Richmond), Wes Eklund (Charlottesville), and Tony Good (Richmond) knotted at 73, while locals Scott Richardson and Phil Mahone are tied at 74 along with Dave Ribeiro of Williamsburg.
Paul Kane, Pokey Buchanan and Greg Bales are another stroke back at 75.
The back nine, where golfers found some diabolical pin placements, was most challenging.
“Those were four of the hardest pins I’ve ever played,” said Mullian, who ended his round in spectacular fashion, draining a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3, 18th, which played dead into the wind.
“I thought I had bogeyed 18, but the hole got in the way,” he quipped.
All four of his birdies came on the back, but only one on the holes that featured the pins he mentioned.
Whitmore, a senior at Midlothian High, but headed to James Madison University, got his first taste of Greene Hills.
“It wasn’t easy scoring,” he said. “I hit the ball decent enough to give myself a chance.”
Runner-up in the state juniors last summer and a quarterfinalist in the Richmond men’s city amateur, he battled back from near disaster on the back nine to finish strong. Whitmore bogeyed the par-4 12th, and then hit his tee shot on the par-5, 13th to the left of the tree-lined fairway and rallied to two-putt for double bogey.
“I came back strong, hitting a good second shot to about eight feet on the next hole (par-3, 14th), and even though I missed the birdie, that shot kept me going the rest of the way in,” he said.
Whitmore birdied the difficult, par-4 17th from 20 feet to get back to 1-over.
Eklund, the Albemarle High senior who will play for Radford University next season, said he hasn’t seen Greene Hills play as tough in years. He should know. He’s a member who has played countless rounds there.
“I was really patient with the pin placements and I hit the ball pretty solid,” Eklund said. “I made a lot of par putts from four or five feet that were clutch coming in.”
He scored a pair of birdies at holes No. 3 and 11.
“I don’t know that you can get the pins any tougher than those last five holes,” Eklund said.
Kelley, who plays out of the Federal Club and formerly played for VCU, also so made some terrific par saves coming in to remain in the hunt. He birdied the first hole, then suffered three bogeys on the front before finishing strong.
He reached all three par-5s, none of which played at 500 yards, in two and birdied all of them.
Burton, however, won’t be easy to catch. An intelligent player with a strong overall game that was battle tested in his years as a professional, knows how to protect a lead.
Burton fired a 1-under on the front with two birdies and a bogey, before playing he back at even par with a birdie and a bogey.