16-year-old holds one-shot lead after first round of Birdwood’s Jefferson Cup

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Preston Burton is no stranger to Birdwood Golf Course, so when the Charlottesville teenager finished atop the leaderboard at the Jefferson Cup tournament after Friday’s opening round, it was no surprise.

Burton fired a 3-under par 68 and holds a one shot lead over former Wake Forest golfer Dustin Groves heading into Saturday’s second round. AJ Stouffer and Peter Wilson are five strokes back and tied for third in the Championship Division after posting 2-over par 73’s.

UVA men’s golf coach Bowen Sargent owns a three-stroke lead in the Senior Division after firing a 4-under 67. Sargent leads Steve Serrao, who finished with a 1-under 70 and Neil Davis at even-par 71.

Tim Vigotsky holds a one-stroke lead over John Steele in the Super Senior Division, after posting a 1-under 70.

Burton is a 16-year-old rising junior at Charlottesville High School and plays for the Black Knights golf team. The youngster is enjoying quite a summer, after just finishing as runner-up in the VSGA Junior Championship last week at Roanoke Country Club.

Burton raised some eyebrows at Birdwood in June when he won the World Junior Tour event, which qualified him for the World Junior Tour Championships held at Torrey Pines in July. There, Burton competed against some of the top juniors in the world only a couple of weeks following the U.S. Open.

Groves, a former Monticello High School golfer, played for Wake Forest from 2004-2007. He recently played well in the VSGA State Amateur. Groves won the Jefferson Cup in 2018.

Results

Championship Division

• Preston Burton     68
• Dustin Groves      69
• AJ Stouffer    73
• Peter Wilson 73
• Christopher Dalglish    74
• John Welsh   77
• Timothy Morrios   77
• John McAllister     79
• Sam McNamara   79
• Jose Urresti  80
• Kirk Bain       81
• Esteban Knorr      83
• Shane Torrence   85
• Jeff Toms      85
• Connor Green      85
• John Fontaine      86
• Brandon Lloyd      88
• Alex Grainger       91
• Max Novick   92

Senior Division (50-64 years)

• Bowen Sargent    67
• Steve Serrao 70
• Neil Davis      71
• Scott Richards     73
• Scott Garrison      74
• Tony Good    75
• Wes Campbell     76
• Brent Kaczmarek 77
• Allen Barber  78
• Moe Barros   79
• Blair Engle    80
• Greg Bales    81
• Rick Malnight       82
• Skip Platt       83
• Steve Castro 84
• Mike Wade    85
• Jon Zampedro      85
• Billie Batchelor     85
• Adam Barrett 85
• Phillip Seay   87
• Greg Whitmer       88
• Dick Prins      88
• Inoch Arnette 89
• Greg Crum    89
• Bayram Sadikoglu       90
• Eddie Early   90
• Tony Marbury       92
• John Williams       92
• Brendan Fish 93
• Terry Dean    95

Super Senior Division (65 and older)

• Tim Vigotsky 70
• John Steele   71
• Jay Klingel    74
• Jim Woodson75
• Koti Mannem 79
• Steve Cox     79
• Donald Meyer       79
• Wayne Smith 80
• Joe Coates   82
• Jimmy Casella Jr. 84
• Donald Robertson       85
• Bob Platt       86
• Jerry Prudom       88
• Jay Perry       103