DATE: Thursday, July 24, 1997               TAG: 9707240610

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   63 lines

PAYTON MEMORIAL SHORT, SWEET FOR WINNERS JACKSON, ROBERSON THE 36-HOLE EVENT IS SHORTENED TO 18.

Bryan Jackson would have liked to put two good rounds together to win the 50th edition of the Cavalier Payton Memorial, but one was all it took.

Play was suspended during Tuesday's opening round of the waterlogged junior tournament at the Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club because of a thunderstorm that dumped 3 1/2 inches of rain on the course. Many of the 175 participants were still on the course, so the 36-hole event was shortened to an 18-hole tournament and completed under threatening skies Wednesday.

``I was scared to death I was going to have to cancel it,'' said Cavalier pro Butch Liebler, adding that it was the first time in his 20 years administering the Payton that it had to be shortened because of weather.

``As bad as we needed rain and I really wanted it, I just didn't want it now,'' he said.

Jackson shot a 4-under-par 65 to beat David Lipes by a stroke. For Jackson, a Portsmouth resident and rising senior at James Madison University, his first tournament victory since the Stonehenge Junior in 1993 was sweet, even if it was rain-shortened.

``I'd like to come back out and see what I could shoot tomorrow, but I have no problem accepting the trophy,'' Jackson said.

He had hit his tee shot to within 5 feet of the pin on the par-3 third hole Tuesday when the horn sounded, warning of approaching lightning. That putt was his first stroke when play resumed Wednesday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. He made the birdie to go to 2 under.

``I was surprised the course held up,'' said Jackson, a Norfolk Collegiate graduate. ``It was a little saturated, but they got it in good shape. I didn't think we'd be able to play today with the amount of rain we got.''

Jackson got to 3 under with a birdie at No. 5 but then gave strokes back at Nos. 7 and 8. He birdied No. 10 and then got what he regarded as the pivotal birdie at the par-4 12th. Jackson hit a 6-iron to 15 feet and made the putt. He got to 4 under with a birdie at 13 and then parred in.

Lipes, a rising junior on Virginia Tech's golf team from Midlothian, Va., was playing a couple of groups ahead of Jackson. He also was preparing for a short birdie putt when the horn sounded Tuesday.

``I had birdied two of the first three holes and I was like, `Something's got to go wrong.' And then I saw the clouds coming,'' Lipes said.

He made the putt Wednesday morning to go to 3-under after four holes but played the next 14 holes even par with 3-putt bogeys at 12 and 13 offset by birdies at 15 and 17. At 18 he missed a 10-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.

Kirk Straughen, a rising senior at Harrisonburg High School, shot a 67 to finish third overall.

Karla Roberson, a rising senior captain on the Longwood College golf team, shot 71 to win the girls division for the third time in five years.

``I've always liked this tournament,'' said Roberson, a Great Bridge High School graduate. ``It's close to home and I know a lot of people here, so it's always fun to come over and play.''

Roberson said the course sets up well for her strength, which is hitting it straight. She fashioned her round with three bogeys and a birdie.

``Nothing really fantastic, but steady,'' Roberson said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Bryan Jackson of Portsmouth, center, shot a 4-under-par 65 to win

the Payton Memorial by a stroke at the Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club.

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