Groves charges into Jefferson Cup lead with a 6-under second round

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Dustin Groves posted a six-under 65 in Saturday’s second round of the Jefferson Cup Championship at Birdwood Golf Club to leapfrog to the top of the leaderboard heading into Sunday’s finals.

Coupled with is 2-under 69 in the opening round, Groves is 8-under 134 for the tournament, which is being held for the first time on the new Davis Love-designed Birdwood course. He will be difficult to beat on Sunday, considering he has an 8-shot lead on his nearest competitor, 16-year-old Preston Burton.

Burton, who plays for the Charlottesville High School golf team, led Groves by a shot with his opening round 68 on Friday. He was attempting to become the Jefferson Cup’s youngest champion since 15-year-old Mikey Moyers more than a decade ago on the previous Birdwood layout.

It would require a monumental finishing round for Burton to catch Groves, a former Wake Forest golfer who won this tournament in 2008. Burton and the rest of the championship division would have to have help from Groves in order to narrow the divide in the field (Complete tournament results appear at the end of this story).

Meanwhile, in the senior division, first round leader Bowen Sargent failed to put together back-to-back quality rounds and dropped from a 3-shot lead after Friday’s play, into a two-stroke deficit to Steve Serrao.

Serrao opened with a 1-under 70 and trailed Sargent, UVA’s men’s golf coach, by three strokes. He fired an even-par 71 on Saturday and opened a two-shot gap between he and Sargent heading into Sunday’s finale.

In the super senior division, John Steele’s consistency put him in the lead heading into Sunday. Steele put together back-to-back, even-par 71’s for a collective 142, one stroke ahead of first round leader Tim Vigotsky.

For those desiring to follow the championship final threesome on Sunday, Groves, Burton and AJ Stouffer have a tee time of 12:30. The public is invited to attend.

Results

Championship Flight

• Dustin Groves      69-65_134
• Preston Burton     68-74_142
• AJ Stouffer    73-73_146
• Christopher Dalglish    74-72_146
• Peter Wilson 73-77_150
• John Welsh   77-77_154
• Esteban Knorr      77-79_156
• Timonthy Morris   77-80_157
• John McAllister     79-80_159
• Jeff Toms      85-75_160
• Sam McNamara   79-81_160
• Jose Urresti  80-87_167
• Connor Green      85-82_167
• Alex Grainger       91-85_176
• Brandon Lloyd      88-88_176
• Shane Torrence   85-93_178
• Max Novick   92-88_180
• Kirk Bain       81-99_180
• John Fontaine      86-97

Senior Division (50-64 years)

• Steve Serraro       70-71_141
• Bowen Sargent    67-76_143
• Allen Barber  78-69_147
• Scott Garrison      74-73_147
• Neil Davis      71-77_148
• Tony Good    75-74_149
• Scott Richards     73-82_155
• Jon Zampedro      85-71_156
• Moe Barros   79-78_157
• Greg Bales    81-81_162
• Wes Campbell     76-87_163
• Brent Kaczmarek 83-80_163
• Rick Malnight       82-82_164
• Eddie Early   90-78_168
• Adam Barrett 85-84_169
• Billy Batchelor      85-85_170
• John Williams       92-78_170
• Inoch Arenette      89-81_170
• Skip Platt       83-87_170
• Greg Crum    89-81_170
• Dick Prins      88-83_171
• Phillip Seay   87-84_171
• Greg Whitmer       88-85_173
• Steve Castro 84-94_178
• Tony Marbury       92-86_178
• Mike Wade    85-95_180
• Brendan Fish 93-88_181
• Bayram Sadikoglu       90-100_190
• Terry Dean    95-97_192

Super Senior Division (65 and older)

• John Steele   71-71_142
• Tim Vigotsky 70-73_143
• Jay Klingel    74-77_151
• Jim Woodson       75-77_152
• Donald Meyer       79-74_153
• Steve Cox     79-79_158
• Joe Coates   82-77_159
• Kofi Mannem 79-82_161
• Jimmy Casella Jr. 84-79_163
• Donald Robertson       85-80_165
• Bob Platt       86-86_172
• Jerry Prudom       88-88_176
• Jay Perry       103-94_197