THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250555
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 56 lines
Next summer John Rollins will be looking for a job, perhaps something in the golf professional field.
Until then he's content to dominate the Virginia amateur scene as he did Wednesday by winning the 49th Payton Memorial at Cavalier Golf Yacht and Club. Rollins, a senior at Virginia Commonwealth, posted his second 1-under 68 for a two-day total of 136 and a 3-shot victory over Gary Koh.
The win capped a memorable month for Rollins - and it's not over yet.
Rollins won the State Amateur, tied for 27th in the Eastern Amateur and tied for eighth in the State Open - all in July. He plans to take the next two days off and then leave Saturday for the Western Amateur in Benton Harbor, Mich.
``It's been a great month,'' said Rollins, who also won the Colonial Athletic Association title in the spring. ``I'm just going on adrenaline now.''
Keeping his adrenaline - and his emotions - under control played a key role in Wednesday's round.
Rollins led Koh and Florida teenager Jeff Yeckes by two strokes through eight holes. But Koh, from Newport News and a junior at Longwood, played the next six holes in 2-under while Rollins was going 1-over.
Koh grabbed the lead at 13 when Rollins drove into trees, chipped out short of the green and needed three more strokes to get down for bogey.
``The key was I didn't get frustrated,'' said Rollins, who also missed a 2-footer at 11 and took bogey. ``My coaches have been telling me I don't have to do too much, just let it happen.''
What happened is that Koh gave the lead back with a double-bogey at 15 and Rollins locked up the championship by sinking an 8-foot birdie putt from just off the green on 17.
Koh's woes began when he drove into a fairway bunker on 16. From a poor lie he shanked his next shot into the rough. From there he got too cute, he said, and left his approach well short of the green. A chip and two putts later he was out of red numbers and out of the lead.
Playing one hole and one group ahead of Rollins and Koh was Chesapeake's Billy Judah, who began the day two strokes back of Rollins. Judah, who hit out of bounds and took a double-bogey 7 on No. 4, had rallied to within one shot of the lead after 15 with three birdies on the back.
He hit his best drive of the day on 16, but left his approach 40 feet short and three-putted for bogey.
Forced to aim for the pin on 18, he hit his drive in the water and took a double bogey to finish tied for fourth at 141.
``I made a short run,'' Judah said. ``But when I three-putted on 16 that made it tough.''
Mary Moan, a senior at Princeton, shot 72-68-140 to win the Ladies' Division by three strokes over defending champion Karla Roberson from Chesapeake. Moan, who is spending the summer in Virginia Beach working for Campus Crusader for Christ, opened with a bogey and a double bogey before recovering to shoot the only sub-par round of the tournament by a woman. by CNB