Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 3, 1995 TAG: 9507040028
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINTERGREEN LENGTH: Medium
Partridge, 40, a dental health plan manager, hit iron shots with the precision of a machine gunner, showing why he's been the state's hottest amateur golfer this spring.
``It's almost as sweet as the first,'' said Partridge, who was 2 under par for the 16 holes over the 6,700-yard Stoney Creek course, which absorbed another inch of rain late Saturday night for a total of 15 inches in 10 days.
``Things have gotten off to a pretty good roll,'' Partridge said.
His record this spring includes his fifth Kenridge Invitational title, his second successive Richmond city crown and a share of the Water's Edge four-ball title with Keith Decker of Fieldale. Partridge was second to Decker at Chatmoss, and he and Decker were second in the VSGA four-ball.
To reach the finals, Partridge turned back 1994 medalist Simon Cooke, a fellow Hermitage Country Club member in Richmond, 4 and 3, in a rematch of the 1993 VSGA Amateur title match.
Inman, 32, a real estate appraiser, was a 3-and-2 semifinal winner in the morning over Dan DeRisio, a fellow member at the Springfield Golf & Country Club.
Inman and Partridge traded three-putt bogeys, Inman on the third hole and Partridge on the sixth, before Inman took a 1-up lead with a 10-foot birdie on the par-3 eighth.
``I was a little indifferent at the beginning,'' Partridge said. ``I gave myself a little talking-to and said `you're not going to back into this thing. You're going to have to play better.'''
He won the next four holes - with birdies from 1 and 2 feet on the ninth and 11th holes and with pars on the 10th and 12th when Inman was in trouble off the tee and made bogey.
``Ten has killed me all week, and 12 has been bad for me, too,'' Inman said. He staved off defeat on the 14th with a 40-foot birdie putt that was uphill, downhill and sidehill after Partridge had laid a pitching wedge inside a foot.
``That putt was utterly ridiculous,'' Inman said. ``If you saw me jumping around, it was because there was a bee in my ear, not because I made the putt.''
It ended on the par-3 16th when Inman missed a chip from the right rough after Partridge put his tee shot 15 feet from the hole.
``He is a tough man to beat,'' Inman said. ``He hit it so close he didn't have to worry about his putting.''
Both Inman and Partridge were 1 under par in their morning victories.
``I made two bad swings,'' said Inman. One was on the par-3 12th, where he dumped his tee shot into the creek in front of the green for his only bogey.
Inman had a conceded birdie on the par-3 fifth hole and ran in a 20-footer for birdie to end the match on the par-3 16th.
A birdie on the fourth produced the only hole DeRisio won besides the 12th.
``If I play my normal game and he plays his normal game, he wins'' said DeRisio, a 32-year-old stockbroker. ``For me to win, I'd have to play above my game, and I didn't.''
Partridge's birdies were on the par-3 eighth and the 11th, a concession after Cooke already had made 6. His only bogey was on the 14th, where Cooke also bogeyed.
The only holes Cooke won were the fourth and ninth, both with birdies.
by CNB