A pair of home-state golfers teamed up to win the Cascades Invitational held over the Memorial Day weekend at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va.
Buck Brittain and
Garland Green, both from the small southwest Virginia town of Tazewell, prevailed on the first sudden-death playoff hole to claim first-place in the Mid-Amateur Division, which is considered the championship flight of this 54-hole four-ball stroke-play event which concluded on Memorial Day.
Brittain, a four-time winner in major Virginia State Golf Association events, and Green, a former Virginia Tech player, tied for the top spot in the Mid-Am group at the end of regulation play with Jared Taylor and Hudson Chandler as both tandems recorded 201 three-day totals on the par-70 course which is set beneath the Allegheny Mountains.
The winning duo shot 66-64-71 while Taylor and Chandler posted a 65 in the opening round on Saturday for the overnight lead. They fell five shots back after a second-round 70 on Sunday, but rallied back to forge the tie with a sparkling 66 in Monday’s closing round, thus forcing the playoff in the process.
Finishing a distant third, despite three sub-par scores, was the team of Ben King and Geordie MacKenzie which finished at 206 (69-68-69).
The Mid-Am division featured 10 teams.
Senior Division
The Senior group, which was the largest of the four divisions with 13 teams, came down to a tight battle over the final 18 holes between two teams.
When all was said and done Monday afternoon, the tandem of Marty West (Rockville, Md.) and Bobby Morris (Great Falls , Va.) overtook Jim Grimmit and Pat Carter (Huntington, W.Va.) to take home the winners’ trophy, pulling out a two-shot victory with their 199 total compared to the 201 final tally by their challengers.
Grimmit and Carter opened play on Saturday with a fine 63 score to bolt to the front of the pack and make themselves the duo to catch. West and Morris started out with a respectable 66 and were two shots ahead of the third-place team after the first day of play.
West and Morris were one of two teams to notch a 65 over Saturday’s round which got them within a shot of the lead as Grimmit and Carter followed their first-round score with a 67 in round two.
With the two teams going head-to-head on Monday, it was West and Morris who had the better last round. They posted a 68 to leap ahead of their counterparts who settled for a 71 to come up two strokes short at the end.
Finishing another eight shots back in third at 209 were two teams - Chris Clemens and Danny Hopkins along with Mark Funderburke and Darrel Craft.
Legends Division
The Legends Division which included five teams was also close after two days of play. Harold Payne and Steven Fox, the eventual champions, opened with a 69 to share the first-round lead with Leon Roday and Tim Vigotsky.
Two others teams were only two strokes behind after posting a 71 in the first round.
After 36 holes, Payne/Fox and Roday/Vigotsky had separated from the others enough to make the final round a two-team showdown for the victory.
Roday/Vigotsky shot 65 over the second round for a 134 score and a 1-shot cushion going into the final round as Payne/Fox carded a 66 on Sunday for a two-day 135 mark.
But in Monday’s final round, Payne/Fox rose to the occasion and fired a 64 to finish at 199 and surge to a four-shot triumph as Roday/Vigotsky ended with their second 69 score in three rounds and wound up at 203 for the tournament.
Harry Thomas and Charlie Green were third and 209 (71-69-69).
Ladies Division
Natalie Easterly, a two-time Senior Women’s Amateur champion in Virginia, and Amy Ellertson, Virginia’s Senior Women’s Amateur Golfer of the Year in 2019, led from wire-to-wire for a narrow win in the Ladies Division. They combined to shoot 208 over the three rounds, edging Andrea Miller and Cindy Thompson who finished two shots back at 210.
Miller blitzed the field back in September to win the Virginia State Golf Association’s Senior Women’s Am in her first attempt after turning 50. Thompson is also one of the top women’s senior amateur players in the state.
Easterly and Ellertson shot 70 in the first round while the second-place duo recorded a 71. Both teams shot 70 in Saturday’s round, and then in the final round, Easterly and Ellertson shot 68 to hold off their challengers who carded a 69.
The third-place finishers were 13 strokes off the lead pace. The ladies event was comprised of five teams.