ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607080046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS
SOURCE: Associated Press
John Rollins of Richmond said three birdies on the first seven holes ``really got me going,'' and he cruised from there to the Virginia State Golf Association Amateur championship Friday with an 8-and-6 victory over Troy Ferris of Norfolk.
``Today was about as good as I've played all week,'' said Rollins, a 21-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University senior, after he played the 30 holes in 3-under-par over The Homestead's 6,566-yard Cascades course.
He began the assault with a 60-foot birdie putt on the second hole and never let up, finishing the first 18 holes with one bogey and a 4-up lead.
Ferris, a 22-year-old senior at Campbell University, won only one hole during the morning 18 and just two in 12 holes played in the afternoon.
``I just didn't make any putts,'' said Ferris. ``I think I used them all up during the week.''
Rollins birdied the sixth hole from 15 feet and the seventh from 18 inches for a 3-up lead. He pushed it to four when Ferris three-putted for a bogey from 60 feet on the 12th.
The only hole Ferris won in the morning was one Rollins figured to win, even though his second shot was in the bunker to the left but pin high.
Ferris pushed his second shot to the right into some trees, had to remove a branch from beside his ball, then hacked out to the fringe. He chipped in from 72 feet, though, and Rollins failed to get up and down.
Rollins got back to 4-up when Ferris missed a 5-foot par putt on the par-3 15th.
``I started out like I was dead even instead of 4-up'' to start the afternoon round, Rollins said. ``He easily could beaten me 4-up just as easily in the afternoon.''
Rollins promptly drove right, came up short of the green, chipped to 8 feet and made par when it looked as though Ferris could win the hole.
``I thought I should have won that hole,'' Ferris said.
Ferris' downfall began on the par-5 23rd when Rollins hit his second shot left under some trees.
Not knowing that, Ferris hit a 3-wood that landed outside a guardrail on U.S. 220 which runs along the hole. He got a drop, but ended up with a bogey.
``If I'd known he was in the trees, I wouldn't have hit the 3-wood,'' Ferris said. ``I was just trying to be aggressive.''
Rollins won that hole and the next three - the 24th with a 20-foot birdie putt - to go 7-up.
There was a brief respite for Ferris when Rollins failed to get up and down from the right rough on the 27th. But he then airmailed the green on the par-3 29th, conceding Rollins a birdie when he had to take a penalty drop from the creek below the hole.
It ended on the 30th when Ferris was unable to get up and down from a bunker on the right after Rollins chipped up close from the left rough.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB