Local golf notebook: Run for Battle Trophy kicks off this weekend

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: April 20, 2008

The 2008 Battle Trophy race is on.
Today’s final round of the Greene Hills Invitational is the first tournament of ‘08, but the point totals include last August’s first annual Central Virginia Match Play Championship hosted by Spring Creek Golf Club where UVa golf coach Bowen Sargent defeated Farmington’s Paul Kane in dramatic fashion.
This year’s Battle Trophy race will include the following events: Greene Hills Invitational; the Faulconer Invitational at Lake Monticello; the Kenridge at Farmington; the Central Virginia Team Championships at Old Trail; the Reines Jewelers Charlottesville City Championship at Meadowcreek; the Jefferson Cup Invitational at Birdwood; the Virginia State Amateur; and the Suntrust State Open of Virginia.
Like last year, with a bit of a tweak, the top golfers in the points standings will compete in Spring Creek’s match play event in August. Those points will carry over to the following year.
This year, only the top 16 golfers will advance to the Spring Creek event rather than the top 32 as a year ago.
Crozet’s Nick Little is the reigning Battle champion.
More details will follow.
Jensen makes history
Kris Jensen experienced perhaps the rarest shot in golf last Thursday when the Albemarle County golfer recorded what is believed to be the first double-eagle at Old Trail Golf Club.
Jensen, an Albemarle High graduate and local real estate agent, scored a two on the 447-yard, par-5, eighth hole at Old Trail.
After hitting a drive down the middle of the fairway, which Jensen joked was also a rarity for him, he pulled his Adams Tight Lies 7-wood.
“That’s the only club in my bag that I hit consistently,” Jensen said. “My cousin had a rangefinder, so I was 227 yards to the pin (back right). I took two practice swings and then hit maybe the most beautiful shot I’ve ever hit.”
The group watched as the ball faded left to right, hit the green, rolled, then dropped from sight. Jensen figured the ball had rolled into the rough off the green.
“We got up there and couldn’t find it, which was frustrating because I felt it was a good shot,” Jensen said. “I was starting to go back to the fairway, then kind of joked to my friends, ‘Why don’t you check the hole.’”
Lo and behold, the new ball that had been struck only twice, was nestled in the cup.
“It was nice to be playing with people who are close to me, my cousin Randy Jensen from Northern Virginia, Mark Marshall, and Shane Torrence, who is a member at Old Trail and actually was the person who taught me how to play golf in college,” said Jensen, who treated everyone in the clubhouse to a round of drinks to celebrate the rare feat.
The odds of making a double-eagle are a million to one, while the odds of making a hole-in-one are 13,000 to one for the average golfer. Approximately 40,000 aces are recorded annually in the U.S., as compared to only a couple of hundred double-eagles.
In our memory, the only double-eagles that have even been reported to us in Central Virginia over the past quarter century have been extremely rare. Two of them were on Meadowcreek’s short par-5, first hole. One of the pros in last summer’s Tarheel Tour event at Spring Creek recorded a double-eagle on a par 5. Those are the only ones we can recall.
Lake’s new pro
Lake Monticello has a new golf pro, Mark Marshall, who comes to the Lake from the Country Club at Staunton.
Marshall had been the head pro at Staunton for nine years, but is a familiar face to many Central Virginia golfers. He was head pro at Keswick Club for four years.
A Class A PGA professional since 1990, Marshall is one of only 118 PGA golf professionals nationwide to have attained the designation of Certified Profession in Instruction, a status he earned in April of 2006.
He is the author of, “Relax, It’s Just a Game.”
McNamara No. 1
Farmington Country Club’s head pro Rob McNamara has been named the 2007 PING National Fitter of the Year.
The award recognizes the authorized PING fitter who has demonstrated the highest commitment to custom fitting and the promotion of its benefits to golfers of all abilities. The longtime Farmington pro was selected from nearly 2,000 eligible club fitters across the country.
“Rob’s passion for PING and his dedication to his membership have combined to make him the perfect choice for this honor,” said John A. Solheim, PING chairman and CEO. “Rob’s commitment to finding the right fit for his members earns him a reputation as a leader in his profession.”
McNamara, who was a three-time All-American golfer at LSU, has been part of the PING fitting program since 1999 and is a two-time winner of the PING Regional Fitter of the Year Award (2001 and 2005). He is head pro at Farmington, which services more than 1,500 members.
“The business model is ideal for my situation,” said McNamara, who has been at Farmington since 1994 and purchased the pro shop there four years later. “We don’t need to carry large inventories of PING product. We basically fit someone on the range using the iron fitting cart and metal woods and place the order. PING ships it within 48 hours and everyone is happy.”
McNamara, who plays PING clubs, said the product basically sells itself.
“As a fitter and a teacher, the tools and process allow me to demonstrate the difference fitting can make in our member’s games,” McNamara said.
Highlands honored
For the second time, Highlands Golf Park near Ruckersville, has been named a Top 100 Golf Range in America. The facility, which is also open at night, is operated by Gretchen Scheuermann.
Ratcliffe honored
Daily Progress sports editor and columnist Jerry Ratcliffe was named the 2007 Earle Hellen Sports Media Award winner by the Middle Atlantic PGA.
This award bestows special recognition on an outstanding member of the media who best exemplifies a commitment and service to golf and sports reporting, and who demonstrates the same genuine appreciation for the role of the PGA professionals as was demonstrated by the late Hellen, formerly the longtime golf writer for the Newport News Daily Press.
Ratcliffe, who has been named Virginia Sports Writer of the Year four times by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, has covered golf on the local and state level as well as many professional events including several U.S. Opens and President Cup events.