Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 5, 1994 TAG: 9407050019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Scott Inman proved Monday what he has believed for some time: He is one of the better golfers in Virginia.
A 3-and-1 victory over David Brogan of Lexington gave the 32-year-old real estate appraiser the Virginia State Golf Association Amateur championship on the 7,238-yard, par-72 Robert Trent Jones Golf Club course.
"I personally really like this golf course," said Inman, who tied for second on the course in the fall in the VSGA Mid-Amateur tournament.
No more than two holes separated Inman and Brogan until the final hole, but Inman said he "felt pretty good" after he went 2-up on the 33rd hole.
Inman was 2-up after the first two holes as Brogan started with a double bogey and a bogey, but he gave those holes back with a three-putt bogey and a Brogan birdie.
"He gave me two, then I gave him two," Inman said. "After that, we both played pretty well."
Brogan, a 36-year-old building contractor, took his only lead when Inman bogeyed the 10th.
Inman birdied the 12th, won the 16th when Brogan bogeyed and used a conceded birdie on the 18th to take a 2-up lead at the turn.
Brogan won three of the first four holes in the afternoon with conceded birdies, and Inman won the second with a concession that left them even.
"I was wondering what was happening," Inman said. "But I got my rhythm back on the next hole."
A 20-foot birdie putt on the 24th hole put Inman ahead for good, and he took the 31st when Brogan bogeyed after Inman came out of a fairway bunker to save par.
"I think that was the key shot of the whole match," Inman said of his bunker shot. "The big guy upstairs said, `Maybe it's time for you to win.' "
Inman whiffed a shot in the rough on the 32nd, a hole Brogan won with a par, but he got it right back when Brogan needed four shots to reach the 33rd green.
After Inman hit his tee shot four feet from the hole on the par-3 34th, Brogan hit to within 15 feet and made the birdie putt. Inman matched that with a birdie putt of his own.
"If we were going to go any farther, I had to make that putt," Brogan said.
"He showed a lot of character with that putt," Inman said of Brogan.
But Brogan hit his second shot over the green on the 35th hole, Inman hit to within five feet and Brogan conceded after he took four shots to reach the green.
"This morning, we both played bad," Brogan said. "We played good this afternoon. I'm glad I started hitting it better, and I'm glad he did, too."
Inman said the key was his putting.
"I didn't missing anything short the last two or three days," he said. "When I looked at the putts [of] three or four feet, I felt I could make them."
by CNB