On Thursday July 28 the Blue Ridge Junior Golf Tour and the Roanoke Valley Junior Golf Tour met to play a special match play event at Blacksburg Country Club in Blacksburg. The “2-Tour Challenge” featured six players from each organization.
Players joined with a partner and combined skills in a four-ball Match Play format on the opening nine holes and then played Singles matches on the inward nine holes.
The junior golfers from Roanoke Valley earned a hard fought 5.5 to 3.5 victory. Here is a summary of the events.
Roanoke Valley gained the upper hand on the outward nine winning two of the three matches. Christopher Boothe (Wytheville) and Samir Davidov (Roanoke) defeated Alex Arnold (Wytheville) and Channing Blevins (Wytheville) 1-up by making par on the Ninth hole. Moments later Adam Anker (Christiansburg) and Nicholas Peters (Salem) playing for the Roanoke Valley side closed out Jake Duncan (Blacksburg) and Avery Alexander (Christiansburg) on the eighth hole to gain a 2 to 1 victory. The Blue Ridge Tour tallied in the final group when Roger McClanahan (Mavisdale) and Cole Payne (Rowe) defeated the pair of Ben Boggess (Princeton, West Virginia) and Slade Aliff (Hardy) 3 to 2.
On the second nine holes the Blue Ridge Tour made a quick point when Alex Arnold defeated Christopher Boothe 3 to 2m but the young players from Roanoke Valley rallied just as quickly winning the next two matches.
Nicholas Peters defeated Cole Payne 3 and 2. Samir Davidov defeated Channing Blevins 1up. When the match between Adam Anker and Jake Duncan ended in a tie, the Roanoke Valley squad assured itself of nothing less than a draw. That suspense was ended moments later when it was learned that Slade Aliff had completed his match with Avery Alexander with a 4 and 3 victory.
At that point, the final match was meaningless though it was completed. Roger McClanahan defeated Ben Boggess 1-up to make for the 5.5 to 3.5 result.
Dewayne Belcher, Director of the Blue Ridge Junior Golf Tour said the young players really enjoyed the different style of competition and the pride of representing their respective Tours in this special competition. “All matches were very competitive and well played. Thanks should be extended to Blacksburg Country Club for their gracious hospitality.”
