B.J. Maben (in purple) and Kyle Mutter won the 52nd Virginia Four-Ball in a playoff
(VSGA photo)
RICHMOND, VA (May 20, 2017) - B.J. Maben and Kyle Mutter used a streak of five straight birdies on the back nine to get into a playoff, and then parred the first extra hole to win the 52nd Virginia Four-Ball Championship at Willow Oaks Country Club.
Maben and Mutter picked up two shots on the front nine before bogeying the par-four ninth and turning at one-under for the day. But then they caught fire, making birdies on ten through fourteen before cooling off with a bogey at the par-three fifteenth. With John Rosenstock and Brett Chambers in the clubhouse at 12-under 132, Maben and Mutter had chances on the last three holes to make birdie and win outright, but could not convert and had to settle for a chance to win in a playoff.
In the playoff, a par was good enough to take the championship.
The overnight leaders Garrett Ramsey and McLain Leberte, who took the lead after a nine-under 63 on day one, had a chance to make it a three-way playoff, but a bogey on the fifteenth and three straight pars left them one shot back, tied for third with the team of Chase Bailey and Lee Fisher. In the end it was three bogeys on the four par threes that left Ramsey and Leberte on the outside looking in.
Bailey and Fisher's chances were dashed on the first six holes where they made two bogeys and a double on the par-five seventh. They has six birdies afterward, but in the end the deficit was too big to overcome.
Rosenstock and Chambers started the day five shots behind the leaders, but went on the hottest streak of the day to jump into contention and post a target score. Starting on the ninth, they took just 19 shots on the next 7 holes, making six birdies and an eagle in that stretch, to get to 13-under for the tournament. A late bogey on seventeen was the only blemish on the card as they closed with a 64.
Ben Beach and Kevin Miller had a bogey-free 65 that lifted them to a tie for fifth at 134, two shots out of the playoff. They were joined by the teams of Scott Shingler and Justin Young (67), Jeffrey Long and Adam Horton (68), and Jimmy Delp and Ben Keefer (68).
Last year's champions Harold Dill III and Kyle Bailey shot 68-68 to finish in a tie for eleventh.
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ABOUT THE VSGA Four-Ball
36-hole four-ball stroke play competition (18 holes
per
day). Open to golfers of all ages. Participants must
hold
an active GHIN number issued by a licensed VSGA
Member Club in good standing.
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