Gallery by Tina Laney
As Davey Jude looked out to the putting greens at Glade Springs on Monday afternoon, he watched as his two-year-old son Sutton and fiancé Auburn loosely worked on the former’s game.
Sutton looked every bit a chip off the old block, but the old block is still on top.
Jude shot 4-under par Monday on the Cobb Course at Glade Spring, claiming the 2023 Mountain State Golf Classic title. The former pro shot 12-under across the three day tournament, winning by five strokes. In doing so he bested former Herbert Hoover state champion Bryson Beaver (-7) and defending champion Todd Duncan (-7), claiming his third MSGC title.
It wasn’t lost on Jude that the last time he won in 2021 both Auburn and Sutton were in attendance the final day. They were unable to attend last year.
“I guess you can say he’s my lucky charm,” Jude smiled. “I don’t even try to get him to practice but he just likes hitting every day. My golf club says ‘Daddy Golf’ because that’s what he says. We got it stamped on there.”
Jude came into the day with a two-shot lead and never relinquished it. His only misstep came when he bogeyed No. 4 but he was 4-under the rest of the way, pulling away as the competition struggled to keep pace.
Duncan trailed Jude by two strokes at the turn but a double bogey on 11 expanded the disadvantage and after a birdie on 12 Jude was nursing a five-stroke lead over Duncan. Beaver moved into second place on the back nine, sinking an eagle putt on No. 15 but Jude never bogeyed after No. 4, providing little room for the field to catch him.
They never had a chance late either.
Beaver finished with a double bogey on 18 and Duncan bogeyed 16 and 17 after a pair of birdies on 14 and 15 put him within striking distance.
“On this golf course you still need to go around and make some pars,” Jude said. “I tried to play pretty conservative and have a lot of easy pars. You never feel comfortable with Bryson and Todd making a little bit of a run there towards the end. Everyone talks about golf being pretty easy but one swing can ruin everything out there.”
Jude did navigate his share of troubles. A day after firing a left-handed shot to save par, he nearly lost a ball late on the front nine that would’ve cost him the lead.
“That was a little, I hit it on No. 8 a little left and we looked for a little while,” Jude said. “I said I’d give it 30 more seconds before I deemed it lost and 10 seconds later we found it. That’s a big break because it could’ve been a two or three-shot swing there. I made par and it could’ve been double bogey or triple from where my other ball was at. It was definitely a good break. I had one bad break but had a couple good breaks and you need those to win golf tournaments.”
Jude joins Mike Mays, Brandon Reece, Christian Brand, Leigh Smith and Jerry Hickman as players who have won the tournament three times since its inception in 1980 with wins in 2014, ’21 and now ’23.
“It’s something that when the time comes, (Sutton) will be in my group the first two days,” Jude said. “For me I don’t know how long I’ll be as good at golf. If you look at the winners, Mike Mays is at the top with six wins. That’s the goal now – try to be the all-time winning champion of this tournament. I took a five-year break to play professional golf. I could’ve maybe won one or two more during that span but now that we’re back to the amateur side it’s about that and teaching (Sutton) about golf and golf teaches everybody a little bit about life. That’s the goal going forward – try to win as many of these as possible and when the time comes, let (Sutton) play in this like some of the kids like Todd did.”
Cam Roam (-6) and Landon Perry (-5) rounded out the top five behind Jude, Beaver and Duncan.
Dennis Vass won the senior championship.
