Kelley storms back to take Greene Hills

By Ryan Yemen Daily Progress correspondent
Published: April 21, 2008

STANARDSVILLE — With so many participants in the Greene Hill Invitational complaining about the windy conditions on Saturday, Mother Nature gave the golfers some much needed change.
Of course, that change wasn’t much fun either. After playing a few holes in the pouring rain, Sunday’s final round was delayed for over an hour.
The storm eventually passed, and play continued, but the soggy conditions presented their fair share of problems.
“Yesterday the course played tougher, but today the weather played tougher,” Brock Kelley said. “But I definitely had a good time.”
The former VCU golfer appeared least bothered by the rain, shooting a two-under par 70. Kelley came from three strokes behind in the final four holes to finish in first place.
Jerry Burton led for three quarters of the tournament, holding a two-stroke lead over the field.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve been in contention for something,” said Burton, who has spent the last two years competing in pro-am tournaments.
Shooting a 70 on Saturday, Burton looked poised to walk away with the title after the first 13 holes of the day.
However, the Williamsburg golfer ran into some serious trouble midway through the back nine. He dropped a double bogey on 15, and followed with a bogey on 16 to surrender the lead.
“We really didn’t talk about, as to where everybody stood, but I had a pretty good idea,” Burton said. “[Kelley] needed to mess up, but he was playing too well.”
Burton, recovered and saved par on the last three holes, but finished with a three over 75.
“Brock just played great down the stretch,” Burton said. “He had a great birdie putt on 16, and rolled in a heck of birdie putt on 17 as well.”
Kelley, who was one-over after his first nine, finished three under par on the back nine, knocking in three birdies.
“I was just staying out of trouble,” Kelley said. “I stayed pretty steady the whole way. I started to putt really well at the end.”
There was a three-way tie for third place between Garrett Whitmore, Glenn Mullian, and Mikey Moyers.
Moyers, a senior at William Monroe, and the 2007 Region II tourney champion, had the best round of the day, shooting a two-under 70.
Both Burton and Kelly singled out the 457-yard 15th hole as the most challenging.
“Fifteen was definitely playing pretty damn tough,” Kelly said. “It was playing longer than the par 5 on 13. It was really weird.”
“It was harder than most of the par 5’s out there,” Burton said. “I was hitting rescue clubs.”