Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 25, 1995 TAG: 9506260107
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINTERGREEN LENGTH: Medium
This week, he'll try to stay there.
The 33-year-old real estate appraiser opens defense of his Virginia State Golf Association Amateur championship Wednesday on the par-72 layout of the Wintergreen Resort's Stoney Creek course.
Six other former champions will join Inman in the 108-man field. The tournament begins with two rounds of qualifying to narrow the field to 36, then switches to three days of match play beginning Friday.
Two of the hottest amateurs this spring have been 1993 champion David Partridge of Richmond, who won the Kenridge Invitational, and two-time champion Keith Decker of Fieldale, who beat Partridge in the Chatmoss Invitational.
Other major threats among the former winners are Tom McKnight of Galax, who won two titles in a row in 1984 and 1985, then won again in 1989, and Allen Barber of Yorktown, who won in 1992.
Other former winners in the field are 54-year-old Wayne Jackson of Newport News, who won in 1956 and 1969, and 58-year-old Ned Baber of Roanoke, who won in 1960.
Vinny Giles of Richmond, at 52 the winner of a record seven titles, will pass on a chance for his eighth to play in the USGA Senior Open.
Heading the potent younger set is 22-year-old Simon Cooke of Richmond, the runner-up to Partridge in 1993 and medalist last year. Cooke was a second-team All-American at the University of Virginia this year.
He is one of the last five junior champions entered, along with Curtis Deal of Chesapeake; Chip Glover of Verona; Robby Rasmussen of Norfolk; and G.W. Cable of Oakton.
Jimmy Flippen Jr. of Danville, son of the 1958 champion and a teammate of Cooke's with the Cavaliers; John Rollins of Richmond; and Conlin Giles of Norfolk are other promising young players.
The list of veterans in the field is topped by David Brogan of Lexington, runner-up to Inman last year, and J.P. Leigh of Chesapeake, who lost to Brogan in last year's semifinals.
After the field is cut to 32, there will be two rounds per day of match play on Friday and Saturday, with the two survivors playing 36 holes for the championship on Sunday.
by CNB