
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 16, 1993                   TAG: 9307160129
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

SPRINGFIELD GOLFER LEADS STATE TOURNEY

Marty Smith of Springfield played the round of his life Thursday on a golf course he'd never seen, and his 7-under-par 65 gave him a three-shot lead after the first round of the AMF Signet Open of Virginia.

"To be perfectly honest, on a few holes, I got lucky," said Smith, an Army major who is headed for a tour of duty in Germany in two weeks as commander of a British artillery unit. "I just had a really good day."

Tied for second at 68 over the 6,684-yard Willow Oaks Country Club course are seven-time State Amateur champion Vinny Giles of Richmond and pro Skeeter Heath of Williamsburg, whose last major victory in Virginia was in the 1976 State Amateur tournament.

Four more pros are tied at 68: T.J. Baggett of Midlothian, Glen Barrett of Springfield, Mike Moyers of Stanardsville and Sam Stein of Richmond. Barrett, who lives in Virginia but runs a club in Maryland, won the Maryland Open championship Wednesday.

Twelve are tied at 70, including defending champion Craig Gunn of Danville, State Amateur champion David Partridge of Richmond and amateur Tom McKnight of Galax, a three-time State Amateur winner and the winner of the first combined State Open in 1985.

"It was kind of sloppy," said McKnight, 38. The winner of last weekend's Eastern Amateur eagled the par-3 12th with a wedge shot and eagled the par-4 14th from the fairway.

The field will be cut to the low 50 and ties after today's second round.

by CNB