THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 4, 1996 TAG: 9607040700
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS, VA. LENGTH: 64 lines
The last place Billy Judah expected to spend the fourth of July was Hot Springs, The Homestead resort and the State Amateur golf tournament.
Judah, a former junior-college All-American from Chesapeake who describes himself as being ``between colleges,'' was an alternate for the tournament and needed someone to withdraw in order to make the field.
``Sunday morning, I get a call that I'm in,'' Judah said Wednesday. ``I drove up Sunday night and had never even seen the (Cascades) course before when I teed off Monday morning.''
He's seen plenty of it since. Judah advanced to the quarterfinals of the Amateur Wednesday by defeating Ryan Ketron of Roanoke 4 and 3 and J.W. Emtsminger of Lexington 3 and 2.
The only other player from South Hampton Roads to advance to Thursday's quarterfinals was Troy Ferris of Virginia Beach. Ferris, who played on Cox High School's 1989 state champions, knocked off Billy Jahn of Virginia Beach 5 and 4, then upset two-time champion Keith Decker 3 and 2.
Certainly the hardest-working winner of the day was Charlie Keffer of Roanoke, who said he ``played 48 holes of golf on a cup of coffee'' to make the quarterfinals.
Keffer started the day by finishing the last five holes of stroke-play qualifying round and won a spot in a nine-way playoff for three berths in the match play. He needed seven more holes to win the last spot. But once there, he defeated tournament medalist Jimmy Flippen Jr. of Danville, 2 and 1, in the first round, then went 19 more holes before ousting two-time champion Sam Wallace of Williamsburg.
In today's quarterfinals, Judah faces John Rollins, 21, of Richmond; Ferris meets 1994 champion Scott Inman, 34, of Springfield; Keffer, 26, faces Robert Nussey, 32, of Midlothian; and Austin Eaton, 27, of Alexandria squares off against Paul Scaletta, 21, of Richmond. Semifinals are in the afternoon before Friday's 36-hole final.
Norfolk's Conlin Giles and Chesapeake's J.P. Leigh each fell in their second matches Wednesday.
Giles lost 4 and 3 to Nussey. In the morning he had beaten Allen Barber of Yorktown, 3 and 2.
Leigh was eliminated by Eaton, 2 and 1, after a morning 1-up win over Pat Tallent of Vienna.
Chesapeake's Jay Rickles fell 1-up in 19 holes to Wallace.
Playing an opponent of Decker's stature seemed to help Ferris pull the upset and advance.
``When I play somebody I level up to, I tend to get a little tight,'' Ferris said, adding that he had lost as many previous matches against Jahn as he had won. ``But I never played Keith Decker before. I knew he was a two-time Amateur champion and I knew he was a good player, but I felt I had it all to gain and nothing to lose. That's the way I played. I let it all hang out.''
Judah, on the other hand, trailed Emtsminger by three holes after six, but blew past his opponent by winning six of the next eight.
``I just hit a lot of fairways and greens,'' he said. ``There aren't a lot of birdies out there.''
This is the third consecutive year Judah has advanced to match play. Four years ago, he lost his first match. Two years ago, he won his first match, then lost.
Someone joked with him that now that he's won two matches, it was time for him to lose in this morning's play.
``Hopefully, I can get around that,'' Judah joked back. ``I don't want to wait that many years to get to a final.'' MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report. by CNB