Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 5, 1993 TAG: 9307050071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B10 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium
"This was the last really big tournament I ever dared to let myself think I had a chance to win," said Partridge, 38, who has been playing in the Amateur since he was 13. "I think I can be proud of myself. It won't seem like work tomorrow."
The Richmond banker was 3-under par over the 6,406-yard, par-70 James River Country Club course for the 32 holes he needed to beat Cooke, 20, also of Richmond.
The turning point came on the par-5 24th hole with Partridge maintaining the 3-up lead with which he began the afternoon round.
Cooke, a University of Virginia sophomore, came out of the sand to within three feet for what appeared to be a sure birdie when Partridge chipped in from 45 feet for an eagle that put him 4 up.
"When I hit the shot, I felt it was going in," Partridge said. "I felt like I had myself and my game under control. I never felt then like I was going to give it away."
"That pretty much summed it up," Cooke said of the chip-in. "What can I do? Go on to the next hole."
While putting is not Partridge's strong point, it dominated the morning round as he took a 3-up lead.
"I putted very well," said Partridge, who was the Virginia High School League's Group AA champion for three consecutive years in the 1970s at Waynesboro High School. "I had 28 putts in the morning round, and I didn't have but one bad putt."
He rolled in a 30-footer to halve the fourth hole, knocked in a 50-foot birdie from the fringe to win the fifth and dropped a 30-foot downhill shot for birdie to win the par-3 15th after Cooke plugged his drive in a trap.
A hole earlier, Cooke made a 20-foot sidehill putt for birdie, and Partridge missed a straight-in 10-footer that stopped an inch from the cup.
Partridge's other birdie of the one-bogey round came on the par-5 10th, where he blasted out of a trap to within a foot of the hole. Cooke then missed a 7-footer that would have halved the hole.
Neither player had a bogey on the back nine, but Partridge had to make a downhill 2-footer for par on the par-3 17th, where he had missed a similar putt Saturday with a chance to close out seven-time former champion Vinny Giles a hole earlier than he did.
"Were you thinking what I think you were thinking?" Partridge asked a VSGA official as he came off the green.
Partridge missed a 2-foot par putt on the 19th hole that cut his lead to two holes.
by CNB