The West Virginia Tour kicked off their 2022 season at The Greenbrier, on their Meadows Course this past Sunday. Forecasts early in the week called for temperatures in the low/mid 40’s with rain. The golf gods decided however to bless the event with sunshine and temperatures in the mid 50’s. However, mother nature was not pleased about this and sent unrelenting wind with gusts over 20+ MPH throughout the entire event. 35 golfers made the trip to the Greenbrier to battle the course and the elements to be crowned a champion.
Division 1: Eric King, Lee Dixon and Jared Taylor battled near the top against each other all day long. Lee took the lead into the back 9 by 1 over Eric and Jared. Holes 14, 15, and 16 knocked Jared Taylor out of contention, while Lee struggled to find a rhythm on the back 9. Eric used 3 birdies on the back 9, including the very tough 12th hole and the very long 13th hole in route to a 7 shot victory over Lee and Jared who tied for 2nd.
Division 2: James Jones is having a good start to his 2022 campaign. With a strong showing at the President’s Day event at Talamore earlier in this season, he came to the Greenbrier looking to carry that momentum into his round. James struggled on the front 9 posting a 42. James however went with 2 birdies and an eagle on the back 9 to secure a 2 shot victory. Lindy Sullivan took the lead into the back 9 with a 1 shot lead over Kole Maytum, making his debut from New York. Kole played consistent golf while Lindy struggled down the stretch. Kole came in 2nd, tied with JT Bradley.
Division 3: Somewhere Jim Mora is still asking about playoffs, but we had our first one of the 2022 season in D3 thanks to Ed Gilbert and Kent Taylor. Ed took the lead to the back 9 by 2 over Kent. On the back, the two traded the lead multiple times, with Kent taking a 1 shot lead into the sharp dog leg left 18th, with a 50 yard carry over water to the green. If you don’t hit your drive perfectly down the right side of the fairway, you're forced to lay up into the green taking birdie out of play. Ed made a double, while Kent took the dreaded triple bogy setting up our first playoff of the season. Holes one, two and three were not enough to decide a champion, sending us to the par five 4th hole to give us a champion for the day. When all was said and done, Ed was able to outlast Kent to claim his first trophy of 2022.
Division 4: One playoff is cool, but how about two? That was the case courtesy of division 4. Matt McGee, David Lusk, Joey Fyall, Sean Graham, and Michael Heitz all shared or had the outright lead at some point or another after the 5th hole. David Lusk took a 3 shot lead to the back 9, but had some trouble down the stretch before coming home 5th. Matt McGee led with 3 holes to play, but he finished with 3 straight triples coming home 7th. Joey was right there in the battle with 2 to play, before going bogey and double to end his day coming home 4th. The defending division 4 champion Justin Keaton made a run down the stretch, capped off with a birdie on 17, leaving him 1 shot back headed to 18. Forced to lay up on his 2nd shot, needing his 3rd shot to go in to join the playoff, he clanked it off the flag stick and ended up with bogey to finish 3rd. Michael and Sean went back to the 1st hole, tying once again. The second playoff hole took place on the par 4 2nd hole. Straight away hole with a pin on a back right pin location down a little ridge. Sean Graham was able to conquer The Greenbrier claiming his first career victory over Michael Heitz in a great battle.
Division 5: Patrick McNeely played in all 3 of the fall events for West Virginia this season. He finished 1st, 4th, and 2nd in each of the events. He came into the full 2022 season with a goal of being promoted to D4 and contending with leaders of that division like Marshall Kiser, Joey Fyall, Matt McGee, Michael Heitz, and many more. He took that first step toward promotion with a 5 shot victory over gust player Ken Fleming from Sacramento, California. 2 birdies on the round gave Patrick a good enough score that it would’ve gotten him into the D4 playoff. Could D4 be in his near future? We’ll see. He will definitely be a contender in whichever flight he competes.
We would like to thank everyone who came out to play and braved the ridiculous wind! Hopefully everyone had a safe trip home. Come out and join us at our next event, Saturday April 23rd for the 105.9 WTNJ Shootout at the Meadow, hosted by Bel Meadow golf club in Mt. Clare, West Virginia. Registration deadline is Thursday April 21st.
Special thanks to our sponsors for the Greenbrier Classic @ The Meadows, Southern Communications and Big Draft Brewery. Your support helps us provide the trophies to our champions and run our events. We couldn’t do this without you.