Gallery by Heather Belcher
Cooler temperatures, soft greens and just a breath of wind left Grandview Country Club vulnerable Saturday morning at the Mountain State Golf Classic.
Defending champion Davey Jude feasted on the near perfect conditions to shoot a round of 6-under par, 66 to take a two-shot lead after day one of the three-day event.
Sitting two shots back of Jude are two more former champions in Landon Perry (2017) and Todd Duncan (2020).
Wyoming East graduate Patrick Smith opened with a 69 and is three shots back, while Nathan Daniels shot 70 and Austin Bledsoe carded a round of 71.
The defending champion was solid all day making four birdies on the front nine and three more on the inward nine.
“I left myself in the right spots and took advantage of the hole that you have to out here. I stayed below the hole on certain putts and really only had the one bad swing on (hole) 15. I only had one bogey today, so nothing too bad,” Jude said. “I told one of my buddies that 67 today would not be a bad score. I kind of felt like that is what I should shoot today, so one better is pretty good.
Having competed against Duncan in other amateur events this summer as well as battling him down the stretch in last year’s tournament, Jude knew he needed a solid opening round Saturday.
“Well, Todd has a lot of firepower, so I knew coming into this tournament that it would take double-digits to win after three days. That is still the goal,” Jude said. “Grandview is kind of easy tee-to-green, but it is tough to chip and putt around here. It is a little bit different than what you normally play. Some of the local Grandview guys do good on that, but I tend to struggle on that side of it.”
Duncan on the other hand was left a little frustrated after his round, thinking what might have been. After shooting 4-under par on his opening nine holes, an errant swing on the final nine likely cost him a couple of strokes coming into the clubhouse.
“Everything was going kind of smoothly until No. 17,” Duncan said. “You can hit it five hundred yards right, but I pulled it left in the water. I ended up making bogey on a par-5. That is frustrating because it is like a birdie hole and you can get one back right there, but I was able to get it in at 4-under.”
“Davey played really solid today and he is hard to guard,” Duncan continued. “When he gets it going, he can take it deep. It was a battle all day and there are a lot of good scores out there. Landon played good and so did Nate. We will see how the weekend plays out, but it should be a lot of fun.”
Coming off his first year playing golf for WVU and the courses played across the BIG 12 schedule, Duncan admitted it was tricky adjusting to the greens Saturday.
“I hit a couple of chips that I thought were decent and they ended up not being very good. The putter kind of didn’t get going on the back either. I hit a lot of good putts that I thought I had made, but didn’t make any hardly. Putting and chipping around here is tough, but other than that, I hit it well.”
The first six holes for Perry were a wild ride, but the former Shady Spring standout righted the ship to make five birdies on the final 12 holes of his opening round.
“It was a good round. I had to stay patient out there because I didn’t get off to a good start,” Perry said. “I missed a short putt on hole one and started off with bogey and the did the same thing on (hole) five. I was kind of kicking myself.”
A birdie on No. 2 erased the first bogey, but Perry faced more trouble on No. 6 where it looked like he may drop another stroke coming off a bogey at No. 5.
“I chipped in for par and that is what really got my momentum going. I birdied seven, eight and 10. I just kept it going,” Perry said.
After making birdie on No. 13 which is generally regarded as the toughest hole on the course, Perry staked his approach shot on 18 and rolled in the short birdie for a 68.
“You usually come out here wanting to attack the front nine. On the back nine you have to hit some good golf shots to get birdies. I just stayed confident and stayed in my zone. I almost made eagle on 13. I was about an inch away on my approach shot.”
Davis & Elkins graduate Patrick Smith, who helped lead Wyoming East to back-to-back state titles, has played well all summer, but coming into the weekend, Smith was a little uncertain how things would go.
“The front nine was fun, just chip and putt with lots of birdie looks and no stress. It was a fun time,” Smith said. “The back nine was a bit more stressful. I had more irons than wedges and didn’t give myself any good looks. I didn’t have anything go my way on the back, but I was quite OK with 69 today.”
The big question for Smith is how his back will respond over the next two rounds.
“My back has really been hurt from a slipped disc or something going on back there. I am really not 100 percent right now,” Smith said. “I am just out there trying to have fun and not swing too hard. That is why the wedges have been good for me. If I can get the putter rolling like I normally do, it could be a good weekend for me.”
Daniels played steady on the front nine with an eagle, a birdie and a bogey. He then made an eagle on the par-5, 10th hole to go 4-under par on his round.
Then disaster struck on the troublesome 13th and 14th hole where Daniels made bogey and then triple-bogey to drop back to even par for the day.
“It was almost unbelievable, but I was proud of my resilience there at the end. I birdied 15 and 17 which I feel like is a good confidence boost,” Daniels said. This is such a good tournament with really good players in the field. Just to be able to bounce back like that, I was proud of myself. I have had a lot of big holes, but the more you do it the more you learn. This is my sixth time playing in this and just try to get better each time.”
Bledsoe played in one of the later groupings and was steady all day with three birdies against just two bogeys.
Chris Daniels and Carson Proffitt shot even par, while Drew Green, Michael Powers, Timmy Boggs and Brett Laxton each carded a 73 to round out the top-10.
Jeff Hughes shot even par to lead the Senior Division after day one. Dennis Vass is one shot back and Stan Seldon is in third place after shooting 77.
The play for day two moves to the Cobb Course at Glade Springs.
For a full list of standings please visit here.
