ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607310047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: IN THE REGION
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
Mike Damiano continues to make a name for himself on the area's junior golf scene.
Damiano, who earlier this summer threatened but came up short in the VSGA State Junior Match Play Championship, finished the deal Tuesday at Smith Mountain Lake.
The William Byrd player posted a final round of 3-over-par 74 to capture the featured 16- and 18-year-old division and overall titles in the sixth Smith Mountain Lake Junior Open at the Waterfront. (Scores in Scoreboard.)
Damiano, one of four players tied for the 16-18 division lead after a first-round 70, finished with a 36-hole total of 2-over 144.
Former Glenvar High School star Tommy Lesperance, who had a final-round 73, finished one shot back at 145. Brandon LaCroix, one of the first-round 70-shooters, faded to a 76 and settled for third at 146.
Northside High School standout Jason Orlando (147) and Amherst's Ryan Mayo (148), who tied for the day's low round at 73, rallied for fourth and fifth, respectively. Roanoke's Daryl Byrd (78) was sixth at 149.
In the 14-15 division, Chris Horgan of Victor, N.Y., outlasted Roanokers Trey Clower and Chris Pugh in a playoff for the title.
Clower, who opened with a tournament record-tying 68 on Monday, skied to an 81 and wound up in a three-way tie at 149 with Pugh (75) and Horgan (74).
Pugh bogeyed the first hole of the playoff and was eliminated. Horgan then won on it on the next hole, making par to Clower's bogey.
Matt Chandler of Glade Hill didn't have a problem protecting a lead in the 11-13 age group. Chandler backed up a first-round 70 with a 74 Tuesday to finish at 144 and coast to a six-shot victory.
In other sports news in the region:
Roanoke's Chip Sullivan carded a final round of even-par 71 and breezed to a four-stroke victory in the Middle Atlantic PGA's Assistant Professionals Championship at Ford's Colony in Williamsburg.
Sullivan fired a competitive course-record 6-under 65 in Monday's first round.
Sullivan, teaching pro at Hanging Rock Golf Club, picked up $4,000 for the victory. He also won a spot in the National Assistant Pros tournament this year in California.
The victory also affords Sullivan an exemption from the first round of qualifying for the 1997 PGA Tour School. Sullivan, who has attempted several times to gain his PGA Tour card, will try again in the winter.
The Cave Spring American League 12-year-old all-stars beat Abingdon 12-0 to advance in the Little League state tournament in Portsmouth.
Tommy Hagen pitched a two-hitter and added a three-run homer for Cave Spring, which will play Plaza (Virginia Beach) at 10 a.m. today in the double-elimination tournament.
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