ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 4, 1996 TAG: 9607050056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
Charlie Keffer had a career's worth of golf memories before he ever played a match Wednesday.
Not that the matches weren't an experience in themselves.
Keffer, played a total of 48 holes - in four different installments - in reaching the quarterfinals of the Virginia State Amateur at the Cascades Course.
``Unless you got a cot, I ain't talking to you,'' the Roanoker jokingly told reporters after defeating two-time champion Sam Wallace on the 19th hole of their afternoon match.
That followed a 2-and-1 victory over Jimmy Flippen, who had won the qualifying medal for the second year in a row and recently was rated the No.4 amateur in the country.
``I've never had a day like this in golf - either in terms of quantity or quality,'' said Keffer, whose father, Dan, made the State Am finals in 1981. ``This would have to be the pinnacle.''
It all began at 5:15 a.m., when Keffer awakened from a restful but short sleep at the Warm Springs Inn. Keffer had not left the course until 9 p.m. Tuesday after a five-hour rain delay during qualifying.
Indeed, Keffer had not teed off until 6:15 p.m. Tuesday and was able to play only 13 holes. He was 11 over par at that point and knew that he needed to play the last five holes in even par Wednesday just to make a playoff.
A birdie on the 17th hole got Keffer into the playoff, where he did not face great odds. Nine players were vying for three spots, two of which were claimed at the third hole.
Tommy Orr from Midlothian and Keffer went four more holes. Keffer thought he was dead until Orr three-putted from 20 feet at No.5; then, Keffer won the final qualifying spot at No.7.
``My No.1 goal was to make the match play,'' said Keffer, who led zone qualifying for the State Amateur last year, but didn't survive on-site qualifying ``mostly because of the first-time jitters.''
That experience helped him against Flippen, who will turn pro Aug.18. Keffer won the fourth hole with a birdie, parred No.5 to go 2-up and won the match at 17 when he saved par after taking a penalty shot.
``My father summed it up best: `It's match play,''' said Flippen, whose dad won the 1958 State Am title. ``But, I've got to give credit to Charlie. The [windy] conditions only got tougher and he played an excellent game.''
Flippen defeated Keffer's father in the second round of the State Amateur in 1992 at the Tides Inn, but had never met Charlie until the banquet prior to the 1995 tournament at Wintergreen.
The younger Keffer was on the golf team at Patrick Henry High School, but did not play golf in his two years at Virginia Tech. Remarkably, he had never played the Cascades before a practice round Sunday.
``When my father came up here to play, I was always left home with relatives,'' said Keffer, 26, who sells golf equipment for CMT Sporting Goods in Roanoke. ``I played a lifetime's worth today.''
Keffer, the last person off the course Wednesday, laughed when Virginia State Golf Association officials informed him that he would be first off the tee today, when he faces ex-VMI golfer Rob Nussey.
Scott Inman, the 1994 winner from Springfield, is the only past champion left in the final eight. Two-time winner Keith Decker from Fieldale lost holes Nos.11, 12 and 13 and couldn't recover in a 3-and-2 loss to Troy Ferris in the second round.
``I was hitting it good coming in here,'' said Decker, coming off his 14th title in the Forest Park Invitational. ``I hit it good in the practice round and again in qualifying. Just one little stretch did me in.''
Two rounds of match play are set for today, with the 36-hole final Friday. That should be nothing for Keffer, a Disney fanatic who whistled the Mickey Mouse theme song to calm his nerves.
``I'd like to stay around a little longer,'' he said, ``but even if I had lost this afternoon, I wouldn't have been upset for long. I'd accomplished too much already.''
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB