ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120147
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
All week long, Miller Baber had held the best hand at the 1996 Valley Amateur.
So when it came time for Baber to show his trump card in Sunday's Valley Amateur final, it should have come as no surprise he turned over an ace.
In a swing that let teen-age hotshot Brian Agee realize he had no chance, Baber holed a 60-foot downhill chip-in for a momentum-grabbing par on the 27th hole and held on for his first Valley Am title at Countryside.
The chip-in thrust Baber 5-up - it could have been only 3-up - and he weathered Agee's late birdie barrage to emerge with a hard-earned 3-and-2 victory.
"When that stuff happens,'' lamented Agee, "you sorta figure it's in the cards for him to win.
"I guess you could say I drew the wrong card today.''
Baber, no doubt, was the ace all week long in this deck. The rest were simply jokers.
"He was the best player all week long. He deserved to win,'' Agee said.
Baber, an eye-popping 15-under-par in his 99 tournament holes played through Saturday, never found the auto-pilot button Sunday. The 31-year-old financial consultant was 4-over for Sunday's 33 holes, making only one birdie.
But Baber did grind out 27 pars, a slew of which came courtesy of strong up-and-downs. And that was enough to tame Agee, a kid with a meteoric game, especially considering he only took up golf six years ago.
"His name will be on this trophy before long,'' Baber said of the string-beaned kid.
The experienced Baber - he was a teaching professional from 1988-91 before regaining his amateur status - wasn't going to lose. Somebody was going to have to beat him.
Agee, who rallied from 3-down to get even after 18 holes, then buried himself, bogeying five of the first seven holes of the second 18 to fall 5-down.
Then, after winning the 26th hole to get back to 4-down, Agee watched in disbelief as Baber holed the improbable, back-breaking chip to steal the 27th and go 5-up.
"Talk about a huge swing,'' Baber said. "It's hard to come back from that.''
Agee, a former Northside High star and a current sophomore at Elon (N.C.) College, tried, though. After shooting 6-over 42 on the afternoon-round front side, Agee birdied Nos. 28, 30, and 32 to close to 3-down with three to play.
But Agee's dreams of a miracle rally were snuffed out minutes later, when he missed the green and bogeyed the next hole. Baber's halving bogey ended the match.
The victory was Baber's first in Roanoke's two major events - the Valley Am and Hall of Fame. The triumph squelched pretournament charges by a few that Baber was the best player who never had won a local major.
"Any of that kind of talk stops right now,'' Baber said, grinning.
"Yeah, I'm happy about it. While in this event you might have only one-third of the area's better players, you still have to beat two or three good players in match play in a row to win. I got hot this week and won it.''
Baber's victory completed the Valley Am's first winning father-son parlay. Baber's father, Ned, won the tournament in 1969 and '70.
"That's another good reason it's nice to win,'' Baber said. "But whatever I win, dad's name's is usually already on the trophy. He's won about everything there is.''
Speaking of winners, Reggie Clark unarguably fits the mold. The 63-year-old Christmas-tree grower from Floyd continued his mastery of the Seniors division Sunday, outlasting Salem's John Edwards 1-up in 21 holes.
The title was Clark's record sixth.
"They don't get any easier,'' Clark said. "It seems like I play younger men every year and they hit it longer and better that I do. The only way I win is by waiting on them to make mistakes.''
Edwards, a math teacher at Salem High who used to coach the boys' basketball team at the school, battled Clark to the hilt before bowing on the third playoff hole.
"This is a lot worse than coaching basketball ... talk about nerve-wracking,'' said a drained Edwards, a newcomer to tournament competition.
Clark, thanks in large part to an uncooperative putter, had his trouble finishing off Edwards.
"I never made a putt all day,'' Clark said. "I could have been 5-up after six holes if I'm putting. I think I'd better go home and build me a putting green.''
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines KEYWORDS: GOLFby CNB