Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 22, 1990 TAG: 9007220117
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The 30-year-old assistant at the Farmington Country Club had four birdies and one bogey for a 54-hole total of 211 heading into today's final round over the 6,684-yard Willow Oaks Country Club course.
The top prize is a record $7,560.
"My gut feeling is that Mike West will win the tournament," Wrenn had told a statewide television audience as the tournament came on the air. Wrenn had been forced to withdraw Friday with back problems.
West said: "After a while, I noticed nobody was doing anything. I thought if I could get something started, I could catch some guys."
West's closest challenger is 47-year-old pro Bruce Lehnhard from Lake of the Woods, who was 5 under par on the four par-5 holes en route to a 5-under 67 and a 212 total for 54 holes.
"That eagle on No. 8 [a par-5] got me psyched up a little bit," said Lehnhard, who finished second in the National Club Pro Tournament in 1988.
Three-time State Amateur champion Tom McKnight of Galax, who won this event in 1985, was 5 under par and three shots ahead of the field at one time, but he bogeyed two of the last four holes for a 73 and a 213 total.
Tied at 215 are amateurs Allen Barber of Newport News with a 70 Saturday, Mike Pratt of Richmond (72) and J.P. Leigh of Chesapeake (74). Amateur Gill FitzHugh of Arlington, last year's runner-up, shot a 72 for a 216 total.
Virginia Commonwealth senior Jerry Wood of Ridgeway rallied with a 5-under 67 that tied him at 217 with Richmond amateur David Partridge (68), pro Mike Moyers of Stanardsville (74) and Palmyra pro Jack Snyder, the second-round leader who faded to a 78.
Amateur Steve Serrao of Virginia Beach, a University of Virginia golfer playing with Wood, had a 68 that included a 6-iron hole-in-one on the 180-yard 11th hole.
Serrao is tied at 218 with VCU golfer Tom Joyce of Bassett, who shot a 69; seven-time State Amateur champion Vinny Giles of Richmond (77); and pros Mac Main Jr. of Fauquier Springs (71) and Billy King of Roanoke (73).
"I hit some really good shots on the back nine," said West, who won the National Assistant Pro championship last year.
He birdied the 11th hole from 15 feet, two-putted the par-5 12th for a birdie and took the lead for good with a three-foot birdie on the 16th. He had bogeyed the third with a bad drive and birdied the eighth from a foot.
McKnight was 5 under for the tournament after a birdie on the 13th, but he bogeyed the par-3 15th when he had to take a drop from a hazard and bogeyed the 17th when he hit the wrong club.
"I just couldn't keep it going," Wood, 21, said of his bid to tie the competitive course record. He came to the 18th hole at 6 under par but drove into the trees to the left, had to chip out backward and took two more shots to reach the green.
"If you can do it one day, you can do it another," he said of his chances to make up any more ground. Until the final hole, Wood had six birdies, all of which he said were inside 10 feet.
by CNB