Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 14, 1993 TAG: 9308130454
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the most riveting finish in tournament history, the long shot from Bluefield, W.Va., outlasted Maryland hotshot Miguel Rivera in a sudden-death playoff to win the 10th Scott Robertson Memorial junior boys' 15-18 championship Thursday at Roanoke Country Club.
"I hadn't won anything coming to this, and I didn't think I'd win this," Meade said. "If somebody had told me before the tournament started that I'd finish in the top 10, I wouldn't have believed that. And win the thing? No way."
In fact, the 17-year-old golfer was just glad to be playing. It took a phone call in July from Virginia Tech golf coach Jay Hardwick to RCC head professional Phil Owenby to get Meade an exempt spot in the tournament.
"I had Mike down at the coaches' clinic in North Carolina," Hardwick said. "I had a chance to work with him, and I knew he could play.
"Mike said, `Coach, can you help get me in the Scott Robertson?' I called Phil and told him I had a kid who would be a nice addition to the tournament. Phil realized Mike hadn't had a chance to play in many big tournaments, so he thought this would be a good chance for him to play in front of some college coaches."
Play he did. Meade went head-to-head with a field that included some of the nation's best junior golfers.
Meade shot a 72 on Thursday to finish the 54-hole tournament at 5-over-par 218. Rivera, the 1992 Maryland State Juniors champion, had a final-round 74.
Meade and Rivera were the survivors of a wild final-round tussle, during which the lead changed hands like it was a game of hot potato. At one time early on the back nine, eight players were two shots or better from the lead.
Drew Scott (75), who shared the 36-hole lead with Rivera at 144, fellow North Carolinian David Mandulak (73) and first-round co-leader Joshua Brewer of Brownstown, Ind., finished in a three-way tie for third at 219.
It took another playoff to settle the boys' 13-14 division. Kyle Thompson of Easley, S.C., birdied the third extra hole to beat Richmond's Ben Keefer.
Thompson got into the playoff when he made a great up-and-down for a bogey-5 at the 18th hole after coming within a foot of putting his 150-yard approach shot into the RCC swimming pool.
"That was the key hole," said Thompson, whose final-round 76 gave him a 223 total. "I can't believe the ball stayed inbounds."
Keefer couldn't believe he lost.
"I gave it away," Keefer said. "If I shoot 79, I win the tournament. This is the first time all summer I've shot 80 or worse, except for a couple qualifiers. I had all kinds of chances to win it but couldn't do it. There's no excuse."
Jenny Chuasiriporn, 16, of Timonium, Md., shot a solid 1-over 74 to charge from four shots back and win the girls' division. She benefited from the final-round front-nine woes of 36-hole leader Kristen Register and Laura Philo.
Register, who was 1 under through two rounds, bogeyed the first six holes, then made a double bogey at No. 8 to lose eight shots to Chuasiriporn on the front side. Philo, who had entered the day one shot back of Register, also floundered on the front nine with a 43.
"I wasn't even thinking about winning starting the day," said Chuasiriporn, who had a 223 total to win by three over Register (81) and Philo (80). "But after Kris bogeyed the first four holes, it changed my whole game plan. I said to myself, `Hey, I can win this thing.' "
\ SAND BLASTS: Roanoke's top entry, 1992 Group AA state champion Ryan Ketron, could only think about what might have been after finishing in a tie for ninth at 223. Ketron finished 73-70 after opening with an 80. "That danged long putter," Ketron said. "I had been putting bad, so I went with it in the first round and had 22 putts on the back nine. I wish I'd never seen the thing. I putted great with my short one the last two days." . . . Salem's Lee Shirley, last year's girls' champion, finished nine shots back in seventh. . . . Roanoke's Jason Orlando was ninth in the boys' 13-14 class. . . . Patrick Sweeney of Madison, Wis., shot a 68 on Thursday in the 15-18 division, the only round in the 60s all week. . . . Molly Vandenbark of Martinsville, Ind., aced the 103-yard No. 7 hole with an 8-iron.
by CNB