THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610190530
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 59 lines
The magic of Vinny Giles never seems to end.
The 53-year-old former U.S. Amateur champion from Richmond made two eagles on the front nine Friday at Bayville Golf Club as he and teammate Tom McKnight swept all six points in their match with Paul Simson and Steve Harwell.
Their 6-0 victory paced the Virginias team to a 42-30 first-day lead in the 51st Virginias-Carolinas Match. The three-day Ryder Cup-style event continues this morning with singles play, beginning at 8. The Virginias team faced an 18-6 deficit following the opening four seniors matches. But the Virginias duo of Harold Payne and David Passerell shot 8-under 64 in the best-ball format for a 6-0 victory over Frank Ford and Mitch Adams to kick off the regulars' portion of Friday's action. In the Virginias-Carolinas two-man matches, the front nine is worth two points, the back two points and the overall match two more points.
Suffolk's J.P. Leigh and Virginia State Open champion Keith Decker posted a 5-1 win in the second regulars match, then the local pair of Chesapeake's Billy Judah and Virginia Beach's Troy Ferris posted a 6-0 sweep, giving the Virginias a 23-19 lead.
The Judah-Ferris match against Steve Slayden and Bob Stranger took a big turn when Judah sank a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-4, 383-yard eighth hole for a 2-up advantage, sewing up the front nine. Judah and Ferris also won the back nine 2-up.
``I wanted to get up on those guys early,'' said Ferris, 22, who like Judah, 22, was playing in his first Virginias-Carolinas Match.
The other two sweeps by Virginias pairings were posted by seniors Stan Fischer and Sam Wallace and regulars David Brogan and Austin Eaton.
Giles and McKnight, playing in the day's final pairing, worked like a solid starting pitcher and an ace reliever.
Giles eagled the par-5 fourth hole when he slashed his third shot out of high greenside rough from about 70 feet into the hole.
At the eighth, Giles holed a 110-yard sand wedge for eagle-2, the ball landing 15 feet past the hole and spinning back into the cup.
``I've played a lot of golf and I can't remember ever making two eagles on one nine,'' Giles said. Giles-McKnight turned 3-up, but Simson-Harwell hung tough on the back nine and had a 1-up advantage on the back nine going into the par-4 17th. But Giles sank a 4-foot birdie putt to even up the back nine and lock up the two total match points.
``Then McKnight did his Dennis Eckersley imitation on 18,'' Giles said.
Playing into a head wind, McKnight reached the front fringe of the 513-yard par-5 with two drivers, then chipped from 40 feet to within inches of the cup for a hole-winning birdie as Simson and Harwell both missed mid-range birdie putts.
``We're usually good in best-ball, but a 12-point lead is nice,'' Giles said. ``Where we usually get hurt is in singles. We're usually not as deep as the Carolinas team.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia Beach's Troy Ferris, left, and Chesapeake's Billy Judah
posted a 6-0 sweep, giving the Virginias an early 23-19 lead. by CNB