The Open Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland will garner much of the national golf attention this weekend.
Locally however, all eyes will be on an extremely popular golf tournament being played at Grandview Country Club and Glade Springs.
Now in its 43rd year, the Mountain State Golf Classic, which was originally known as the BNI Tournament for many years, will contested Saturday through Monday here in Raleigh County.
“It is a charity tournament now and this year the proceeds will go to the Raleigh General Senior Friends,” committee member Ryan Neal explained. “They volunteer and raise money for several other charities including the United Way and the Alzheimer’s Association. The good part is that everything stays local. We had a record number of sponsors last year and I think we even topped that this year. The community support is amazing.”
Long enjoyed as a reunion of old friends as wells as the competition, the field for the 2022 event is loaded with talented and successful golfers.
Six-time champion Mike Mays leads the group of returning tournament winners that includes defending champion, Davey Jude who also won back in 2014.
Dennis Vass is in the field which will mark the 40th anniversary of his win back in 1982. He will be joined by 2008 champion Alan Wharton and Landon Perry who won his title in 2017.
Shady Spring standout, and current WVU golfer, Todd Duncan leads a contingent of golfers that made a name for themselves during their high school days.
Duncan won the 2020 Mountain State Golf Classic before leading the Tigers to the Class AA state golf title later that year. Duncan also won the double-A individual title in both 2019 and 2020.
Brett Laxton won the double-A individual title in 2016 and helped Wyoming East bring home the team championship that year as well.
Michael Growe and Patrick Smith joined Laxton for the 2016 championship before leading the Warriors to a second straight title in 2017.
Chris Daniels is also in the field coming off a low medalist finish at the 103rd WV Amateur qualifier at Pipestem last week.
“I feel like this is the strongest field that we have had by far,” Neal said. “We try to keep it at 120 golfers, but it is just hard to turn people away. Right now we are at 132 and we had to cap it there. You just never know when you will have a rain delay. If you have more than a two-hour rain delay, the guys at the end are not going to finish.”
While golf is the main focus of the weekend, if a basketball game breaks out, look out for former high school standouts Tink Brown, Tommy Williams, Brent Osborne and J.T. Bradley to jump in the mix. Mr. Daniels was also a hoop star and a deep threat back in his day.
Due to some extenuating circumstances, the format this year will be a little different, but still every bit as challenging.
The tournament will start at Grandview Country Club Saturday before moving to the Cobb Course at Glade Springs Sunday.
All players in the Open division will play the white tees the first two days and the Senior division will play the gold tees.
“This year for the first time in its history, we won’t be playing three courses over three different days,” Neal said.
The final day will be back at the Cobb Course with the championship flight moving to the blue tees. The remainder of the field will be flighted and play the same tees as Sunday.
2022 Mountain State Golf Classic Tee Time and Groupings
7:30 Rusty Ray | Mount Hope, WV | Open Greg Mullens | Fort Myers, FL | Open
Darrell Bailey | Beckley, WV | Senior Ted Upton | Alexandria, VA | Senior
7:40 Jon Forren | Christina, TN | Open Greg Simmons | Gastonia, NC | Open
Bill Gravley | Daniels, WV| Open Roy Forren | Mullens, WV | Senior
7:50 David Crone | Beckley, WV | Open Brian Harmon | Beckley, WV | Senior
Jeff Hughes | Mossy, WV | Senior Don Goins | Oak Hill, WV | Senior
8:00 Steven Monk | Sophia, WV | Open Chris Monk | Beckley, WV | Open
Wayne Monk | Sophia, WV | Senior Alvin Jewell | Herdon, WV | Senior
8:10 Chris Lusk | Crab Orchard, WV | Open Adam Etris | Morgantown, WV | Open
Andrew Li | Daniels, WV | Open Dennis Vass | Beckley, WV | Senior
8:20 Todd Griffith | Charleston, WV | Open Chad Griffith | Morgantown, WV | Open
Eric Griffith | Raleigh, NC | Open Harold Griffith | Beckley, WV | Senior
8:30 Tim Erwin | Beckley, WV | Open David Cassis | Fayetteville, WV | Open
Aaron Kemlock | Fayetteville, WV | Open Landon Perry | Daniels, WV | Open
8:40 Matt Jones | Grandview, WV | Open Kent Wimbish | Fairdale, WV | Open
John Davis | Daniels, WV | Open Jay Brown | Shady Spring, WV | Open
8:50 Matthew Dillon | Beckley, WV | Open Nathan Daniels | Daniels, WV | Open
Ryan Akers | Daniels, WV | Open Tommy Williams | Daniels, WV | Open
9:00 Todd Duncan | Daniels, WV | Open Davey Jude | Teays Valley, WV | Open
David Gorby | Mount Hope, WV | Open Drew Walker | Beckley, WV | Open
9:10 Mike Mays | Beckley, WV | Open JR Scott | Beckley, WV | Open
Mike Elliott | Mooresville, NC | Open Chris Daniels | Beckley, WV | Open
9:20 Nick Mays | West Mansfield, OH | Open John Handy | Beckley, WV | Open
Jordan Duncan | Caldwell, WV | Open Matt Tincher | Meadow Bridge, WV | Open
9:30 Joe Ferguson | Louisburg, NC | Senior Steve Wrenn | Louisburg, NC | Senior
Jimmy Tanner | Cherryville, NC | Senior Stan Seldon | Beaver, WV | Senior
9:40 Jeff Miller | Beckley, WV | Open Patrick Smith | Beckley, WV| Open
Tony Giles | Craigsville, WV | Open Gary Cooper | Daniels, WV | Open
9:50 Gary Wharton | Summersville, WV | Senior Alan Wharton | Columbus, OH | Open
Robert Wharton | Columbus, OH | Senior Randy Meadows | Summersville, WV | Senior
10:00 Sam Corey | Beckley, WV | Senior Tom Brown | Beckley, WV | Senior
Charlie Houck | Daniels, WV | Senior Butch Freeman | Daniels, WV | Senior
10:10 Jordan Meadows | Shady Spring, WV | Open Jason Meadows | Shady Spring, WV | Open
Tod Williams | Daniels, WV | Open Drew Green | Beaver, WV | Open
10:20 Chris Ward | Beaver, WV | Open Christian Ward | Beaver, WV | Open
Jason Allard | Coal City, WV | Open Steven Ferguson | Youngsville, NC | Open
10:30 Jason Stewart |Ronceverte, WV | Open Paul Hopkins | Beckley, WV | Open
Richard Henderson | Glenview, WV | Senior Pat Daniel | Taylorsville, NC | Senior
10:40 Michael Powers | Huntington, WV | Open Mark Workman | South Point, OH | Open
Pat Crickard | Mocksville, NC | Open Robert Henderson | Culloden, WV Open
11:00 Jim Workman | Fairdale, WV | Open Gary Cook | Monroe, NC | Open
Jody Belcher | Glen Daniel, WV | Open Brandon Daly | Rock Creek, WV | Open
11:10 Brian Ward | Beaver, WV | Open Shawn Wood | Grandview, WV | Open
Jack Williams | Daniels, WV | Open Jimmy Perry | Cleveland, OH | Open
11:20 Timmy Boggs | Beckley, WV | Open Greg Midkiff | Beckley, WV | Open
Stewart Scott | Beckley, WV | Open Todd Albaugh | Beckley, WV | Open
11:30 Roger Pierce | Beaver, WV | Open Jack Arthur | Beckley, WV | Open
Bill Ray | Grandview, WV | Open John Pack | Beckley, WV | Open
11:40 Brett Laxton | Pineville, WV | Open Michael Growe | Pineville, WV | Open
Carson Proffitt | Camp Creek, WV | Open Noah Clark | Pearisburg, VA | Open
12:00 Nathan McKinney | Morgantown, WV | Open Buddy Crowder | Beckley, WV | Senior
Sonny Bivins | Marietta, GA | Senior Rocky McKinney | Beckley, WV | Senior
12:10 Brent Osborne | Beckley, WV | Open Jacob Morris | Beckley, WV | Open
Toddy Cornett | Beckley, WV | Open Sam Fonda |Cool Ridge, WV | Open
12:20 Tink Brown | Beckley, WV | Open JT Bradley | Beckley, WV | Open
Ed Chambers | Glen White, WV | Open Brandon Thompson | Daniels, WV | Open
12:30 Chris Mills | Sophia, WV | Open Tyler Haga | Sophia, WV | Open
Austin Bledsoe | Sophia, WV | Open Logan Smith | Beckley, WV | Open
12:40 Travis Mills | Sophia, WV | Open Dirk Snuffer | Beckley, WV | Open
Haegan Harvey | Sophia, WV | Open Don Grillot | Beckley, WV | Open
12:50 Jim Lilly | Midland, VA | Open Greg Lloyd | Manassas, VA | Open
Eric Bishop | Shady Spring, WV | Open Brian Cullop | Roanoke, VA | Open
1:00 Aaron Neal | Daniels, WV | Open Larry Powers | Cameron, NC | Open
Steve Davis | Beckley, WV | Open Larry Hinton | Champaign, IL | Senior
1:10 Ryan Neal | Beckley, WV | Open Drew Wallen | Philadelphia, PA | Open
Sherman Callahan | Roanoke, VA | Open Mike Cortese | Phoenix, AZ | Open
