Kelley claims Forsyth title; Sharpe wins at Gillespie 

 By STEVE WILLIAMS

 CLEMMONS – John Kelley, who had a four-shot lead going into the final round of the North Carolina Amateur back in June, found himself in a similar situation in the Forsyth County Amateur two months later.

But this time there was no charge from the pack and Kelley remained steady. He actually padded his two-shot lead after two rounds to a final three-shot margin of victory.

On June 15 at Myers Park Country Club in Charlotte, William McGirt of Fairmont used a final-round 66 to leave Kelley in second place in the State Amateur. Kelley didn’t help his cause by shooting 75.

Playing at Tanglewood Park’s Championship Course Aug. 3, Kelley posted a one-over-par 71 and finished three shots ahead of former two-time winner Chris Logan.

Kelley had opened with a 67 at Grandview and grabbed the lead with a second-round 68 at Reynolds Park.

Kelley, who plays out of Old Town Club, finished third in his first Forsyth appearance the previous year. The former Wake Forest University golfer has made headlines with his unconventional game that includes playing with a set of just eight clubs and without golf shoes.

Although he ended with a three-shot margin over Logan, it wasn’t an easy walk to victory lane. It took a pair of late birdies to break away from the pack.

Defending champ Jason Harris, the No. 1 player at East Carolina University where he is a senior, was hoping to become the first player since Walter Hall (1981 and 1982) to take back-to-back Forsyth crowns. He got even when Kelley suffered a bogey at No. 14, his second bogey of the back nine.

“I guess we were tied coming down the stretch, and I made another bogey, which was pretty rough,” Kelley told the Winston-Salem Journal. “I got a little hot under the collar and just played real aggressive the last four holes, and that's what it took.”

The turning point came at No. 15. While Harris was taking a bogey, Kelley wedged to seven feet and made the birdie for a two-shot swing.

Kelley pretty much closed the door at the 16th when he hit a 9-iron shot to within a foot of the par-3 hole and notched his second straight birdie.

“That was the best shot of the day I hit,” Kelley said. “I kind of trapped a 9-iron and felt like it was my go-to swing and go-to shot down the stretch under pressure.”

Logan, who settled for his fifth Forsyth runner-up finish, opened with a 71 at his home course at Grandview but fired a 66 and Reynolds Park before posting a 72 at Tanglewood.

Harris finished four shots back at 210 (69-68-73) for solo third and Todd Chadwick and Eric Lawhon tied for fourth at 211.

Gillespie Invitational

 GREENSBORO – Steve Sharpe won his second straight Gillespie Invitational Aug. 10. Well, not exactly.

Sharpe won the Gillespie in 2000, but didn’t play in the event the last two years because of schedule conflicts. So he’s won it the last two times he’s playing in it.

This year, he grabbed the first-round lead with a three-under-par 69 and was never headed, although the final margin was just one over 2001 champ Donnie Vanderbeck.

Sharpe actually thought he had a larger lead as he played the final holes.

“I really wasn’t concerned about it,” Sharpe said. “I was just trying to make pars coming in. I didn’t know it was that close and I missed about a 6-footer (for birdie) on the final hole. I’m glad I didn’t need that one.”

Sharpe began the second round one stroke ahead of four players who shot 70s Saturday. But of those four, only Vanderbeck hung close, but he wasn’t playing in the Sunday threesome with Sharpe.

Sharpe added to his lead with some early birdies and was coasting along at two-under par until an out-of-bounds swing left him with a double bogey at No. 14. But he came right back with a birdie at No. 15 and then parred in.

“It was a pretty boring round,” Sharpe said. “I hit it in the fairways and on the greens. It’s a pretty simple golf course if you can drive it in front of you. But if you start getting left or right, you can get into a lot of trouble.”

Sharpe hasn’t played a lot of tournament golf this year. He tied for fourth in the Triad Golf Today Tournament of Champions in April and made the cut in the North Carolina Amateur in June in his only other appearances.

The Gillespie title was his first since April of 2002 when he captured the Interclub Challenge medal at Greensboro Nation

Decker on Virginia team fifth time

 Martinsville’s Keith Decker will be playing in his fifth consecutive United States Golf Association Men’s State Team Championship Sept. 16-18 at Charles River Country Club in Newton Centre, Mass.

Decker, 43, will be the only competitor to represent the Virginia squad for all five years.  Decker, a four-time VSGA Golfer of the Year, will be joined on the Virginia team by David Passerell of Scottsville and Pat Tallent of Vienna.

Virginia is the only team to have finished in the top five in each of the four years the national championship has been conducted. After claiming the title at the inaugural championship in 1995 in Orlando, Fla., Virginia’s contingent of players tied for fifth in 1997 and placed second in each of the past two national championships in (1999 and 2001).

North Carolina’s team will be made up of Greg Earnhardt of Greensboro, Paul Simson of Raleigh and current North Carolina Amateur champion William McGirt of Fairmont. McGirt also won the Cardinal Amateur in August.

North Carolina’s women’s team includes Patty Moore, Brenda Corrie Kuehn and Shannon Ogg. They are the same team members that competed together at the 2001 USGA State Team Championship in Minnesota and finished 11th out of 45 teams.

The women’s competition, like the men, is scheduled Sept. 16-18. It will take place at Wellesley Country Club in Wellesley Hills, MA.

The field for the USGA State Team Championship includes mostly mid-amateur and senior players; college players are ineligible due to NCAA bylaws.  In the format, only the best two scores are counted toward the team’s aggregate in the three-day competition.

Senior Qualifiers

 The Triad will be well represented in the USGA Senior Amateur championships this month.

The men’s event is set for Sept. 6-11 at The Virginian Golf Club in Bristol, Va.

In qualifying Aug. 4 at Bayonet at Puppy Creek Golf Club in Raeford, Pete Parker of Winston-Salem was medalist with 68, a shot better than Tom Saintsing of Lexington.

Also earning national berths at the Raeford qualifier were Walt Noell of Winston-Salem (70), Ronald Moore of Pinehurst (71) and Ronnie Grove of Raleigh (71).

Missing by one shot and listed as alternates were Bill Burling of Greensboro, Tom Ross of Winston-Salem and Tommy Langley of High Point.

Another qualifier was held at Forest Lake Country Club in Columbia, S.C. Aug. 11 and Robert Kulp of Winston-Salem took the medal with a 68, who better than Marshall Fall of Hendersonville.

It took a score of 73 to advance and Frank Morris of Winston-Salem missed the mark by one. He’s listed as an alternate.

The USGA’s Senior Women’s Am will also be staged Sept. 6-11, but at Barton Creek Resort & Club in Austin, Texas.

Mary Hill of Winston-Salem will be among the players making the trip. Hill shot 78 at Hounds Lake CC in Aiken S.C. Aug. 15 and nailed down one of the seven spots.

Barbara Young of Wilmington, with 74, and Patty Moore of Charlotte, with 76, were the only two to finish with better scores than Hill. Dianne Yelovich of Pinehurst also earned an invitation with an 82. Eleanor Walker of Greensboro is listed as an alternate after shooting 86 in the qualifier.

Langley-Hadley win

 Tommy Langley of High Point teamed with Tom Hadley of Hendersonville to win the third annual North Carolina Senior Partners golf championship Aug. 12-14 at Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines.

Langley, 71, and Hadley, 67, fired rounds of 68 in the fourball scoring the first day and 69 in the alternate shot format the second day. On day three, both individual scores counted and Hadley fired a 71 and Langley 74 for a final total of 282.

Tim Cook of Trinity and Ernie Newton of High Point led after two rounds with scores of 66 and 67 but counted 80 and 72 individually to finish a shot off the pace of Langley-Hadley.

Larry Boswell of Jamestown teamed with Ronnie Grove of Raleigh to finish third at 286.

Haas falls in quarters 

Wake Forest senior Bill Haas, a semifinalist along with North Carolina’s Dustin Bray in the 2002 U.S. Amateur, made another strong advance through the match play tree this year, but lost in the quarterfinals.

David Oh finished Haas’ hopes with a 2 and 1 decision Aug 22 at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.

Haas will compete in the Walker Cup Sept. 6-7. The international competition between the U.S. and Great Britain/Ireland takes place at Ganton Golf Club in North Yorkshire, England.

Bray wasn’t as fortunate this year. He shot 80-71 and failed to make it to match play.

In the women’s U.S. Amateur qualifying Aug. 4-5 at Philadelphia Country Club, Amber Marsh of Jamestown came closest to making match play, shooting 75-78 to tie for 60th with nine others. She fell in the playoff that determined spots 60-64 in the match play bracket.

Stacy Hilton of Lexington shot 80-84.