Gallery by Tina Laney
In the latter part of July last summer, Landon Perry’s life changed forever with the birth of his first child.
Needless to say, golf took a backseat to being a dad, especially tournament golf.
With less events on his plate, Perry admitted to being a little nervous in the early going at the 2023 Mountain State Golf Classic.
It did not however, prevent him from finding the form that earned him the 2017 title over the final nine holes Saturday at Grandview Country Club.
After shooting even par on the first nine holes, the former Shady Spring standout rolled in five birdie putts on the final nine holes for a two-shot advantage heading to round two Sunday at Pipestem State Park.
Todd Duncan and Bryson Beaver each shot three-under in their opening round to sit two back of the lead. Noah Clark and Davey Jude are tied for fourth place at one-under par.
Cam Roam, Brandon Tinney and Tanner Vest were even par for the day to tie for sixth place on the par-72 layout.
Brandon Thompson shot plus-one to hold down ninth place, while six-time defending champion Mike Mays, Christian Ward and J.R. Scott are tied for tenth place at plus-two.
“Honestly, I think I was fighting some nerves on the front. I haven’t been playing a lot of tournament golf this year. Emily (Simmons) and I have a child, so it changes things. Being a dad is the best thing ever,” Perry said, smiling. “Around hole seven or eight, I had a momentum saving up-and-down on both holes, and got comfortable. I seemed to figure it out on the back nine. I trusted my swing and gave myself looks that kept going in the hole.”
Perry birdied No. 3 before giving one back on the par-5 fourth hole. After five straight pars closed the front nine, things began to click at No. 10.
“I saw a put go in on No. 10,” Perry said. “It was only like three-foot for birdie, but then I kept making pars and seeing putts go in. The hole just kept looking bigger and bigger.”
Over holes 11-14, which gave the field the most trouble all day, Perry made three pars and birdied the difficult 13th hole to move to one under.
Following a birdie at the picturesque par-3 15th hole, Perry stepped on the 17th tee at three-under par.
“Over holes 17 and 18 coming down the stretch, I just wanted to play them at one-under (par) and I ended up making birdie on both holes,” Perry said.
The birdie on hole 18 was especially sweet and a clear momentum boost heading to round two.
“You don’t come to No. 18 at Grandview and think you are going to make birdie all of the time. You just want to get a good look at (the hole),” Perry said. “Obviously I was outside 15 feet, which is no gimme, but to see it go in the middle was a confidence booster.”
Duncan is a rising junior on the West Virginia University golf team and Beaver will be a sophomore this season for the WVU Tech golf squad.
While both were pleased to get into the clubhouse at three-under par, neither could hide the frustration of what could have been a much better number.
“It was a lot more ugly than it appeared. It is a good thing there are no pictures on the scorecard,” Duncan said. “It was not very good out there and I didn’t hit a lot of good shots.
The round looked promising for Duncan early with an eagle at No. 3 which is a par-4 guarded by a bunker just short of the green.
However, over the next 12 holes, the former two-time Class AA state champion could not get a birdie putt to fall. Add in a missed short putt at No. 10 that led to his only bogey of the round and Duncan was only one-under par with three holes to play.
“I holed out on No. 3 which helped me get started strong and made it a little easier for the rest of the round,” Duncan said. “Then I birdied 16 and 17 coming down the stretch to get it back to three-under. I can’t be mad about it because I still scored well without playing my best. I knew I just needed to get in with something around par, or just under par, when I wasn’t playing well. You can’t win the tournament on the first 18, but you can sure lose it. I just tried to stay as solid as I could.”
The frustration for Beaver is easy to understand from a golfing perspective.
The former Herbert Hoover state champion started the round on fire making birdie on seven of the first 10 holes. Unfortunately for Beaver, what Grandview gave on the front nine, it partially took back on the final five holes.
“I was hot early and shot 30 on the front nine. I birdied (No.) 10 to go seven-under, then bogeyed four out of the last five holes. It’s heartbreaking,” Beaver said.
The woes on the final holes were tied to some tough lies that prevented Beaver from getting up and down to save his par.
“I missed the last five greens after hitting all of them previously and I couldn’t get it up and down,” Beaver lamented. “I didn’t hit that many bad shots. I just got unlucky a little bit. It is still a good score, but it does hurt a little after being seven-under through No. 10. It’s alright in the end though.”
Jude is also a two-time champion that was trying to shake off some rust in the first round. After making a double-bogey on the front nine, Jude bounced back with four birdies against just one bogey on the back nine.
“I haven’t played much golf lately where I have been on vacation,” Jude said. “I was one-under going to No. 8 before I made a double-bogey which sort of derailed me. I kind of brought it back on the back nine to shoot one-under. Nothing special, but it was definitely the toughest pins that I have ever played in this tournament.”
Now the tournament shifts to Pipestem for round two before heading to the Cobb Course at The Resort at Glade Springs for the championship round Monday.
While the majority of the field will be less familiar with the Pipestem layout, Clark will not be included in that group.
Having played for Concord University, Clark is very familiar with the next two stops for the Mountain State Golf Classic.
“I have played at Pipestem and Glade Springs so much during college the last four years,” Clark said. “I feel very comfortable on those two courses and I am excited going forward.”
Clark had a day where his score did not quite reflect how well he played. Last year playing the tournament for the first time ever, he struggled to an opening round 77 before he shot 69 and 71 on the Cobb Course to finish seventh overall.
Saturday Clark was six shots better than last year, playing Grandview for just the second time.
“This is only the second time I played the course, but I know it well enough. It is a little quirky, but I like it,” Clark said. “It is very gettable and I had it going today, but I could not make a putt. I think I missed six or seven birdie putts inside 10 feet. The greens are really hard to read.”
One errant swing by Clark was all that kept him out of a tie for second place Saturday.
“I hit a lot of really good wedge shots for birdie (looks) that I would love to have back and I also three-putted a par-5 (for par),” Clark said. “Everything cooled off on the back nine and I hit one out of bounds on No. 14 to the left. I just did the one thing you can’t do on that hole.”
Perry is among the group that has not played Pipestem much and he knows the field will be looking to track him down prior to the final round Monday.
“Pipestem is a pretty fun setup. There are scoreable holes, but there are also holes where you just have to take par and go. I haven’t played it in eight years, but I only play Grandview once a year. I come here for this tournament and play it,” Perry said. “I am pretty comfortable doing that. I feel like my game can travel and I can go out there and shoot a pretty good number. Obviously the guys in the field are going to come to me. They aren’t going anywhere and they will get better and better. I just have to keep playing good golf.”
Full results for day one can be found at the link below.
https://wvga.bluegolf.com/bluegolfw/wvga23/event/wvga2385/contest/1/leaderboard.htm?fbclid=IwAR3uweyvjEer2WSD1-iNmRdXUGd9A1fQIicDfYsilODYGdmmPZk3041gilU
