David Bartimus likes a challenge.
Starting today, West Point”s Old Waverly will oblige when Bartimus and a field of 143 of the state”s top amateur golfers will hit the course in the first round of the 96th State Amateur Championship.
Bartimus, who is coming off a victory at the annual Atwell Atkins Memorial tournament at Green Oaks Golf Course last weekend, knows everyone will have to be at their best to pass the tests offered by a course that played host to the 1999 U.S. Women”s Open. Temperatures that have soared into triple figures in the past week have made the greens extremely fast.
“The course was beautiful (when he played it about two weeks ago),” Bartimus said. “They do a phenomenal job with the golf course. Old Waverly is fast but it is fair.”
Bartimus and friend Jacob Gable were scheduled to play a practice round at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Even though both players don”t get to play Old Waverly as often as they would like, they realize the challenge they will face today and Friday to qualify for the final two rounds this weekend will be unlike any they face on local courses.
“A lot of it is the layout, the way it is maintained, and the difficulty,” said Gable, when asked what makes Old Waverly such a strong golf course. “Everybody likes a pretty stern test to see what their game is made of, and that golf course has it.”
Gable is a member at Green Oaks Golf Course, where plays all the time and knows the layout as well as any member. He said he is looking forward to taking a page from his father who encouraged him to play as many course as possible to test all aspects of his game.
“Old Waverly is probably one of the top ones in the state, and it is one of my favorite places to play in the state and in the area,” Gable said. “It is the No. 1 course in the (Golden) Triangle and in Northeast Mississippi, and it is tough. The adrenaline will be running.”
Players will have to temper that adrenaline because the speed of the greens will be unforgiving. Bartimus anticipates the length of the course and the growth of the rough on the course to present obstacles.
Those factors had Bartimus contemplating his strategy Wednesday. A year ago, he said he opted to play more conservatively, which went against his usually aggressive nature. The move didn”t work in his favor, as he missed the cut for the State Amateur Championship at the Country Club of Jackson by one shot.
This year, Bartimus said he will take what the course gives him on certain holes and that he will pick his spots on others.
“It is going to be very, very difficult to stop the ball unless you make a putt,” Bartimus said. “On approach shots it is going to be vital to stay below the hole.”
Bartimus, who will tee off from No. 10 at 8:40 a.m., feels the players who make the most putts inside 10 feet will have the best shot at winning the title.
Gable agrees, saying the hard and fast Bermuda greens and the undulating course will offer plenty of hazards.
“You”re just going to have to try to get the ball in the correct quadrant on the greens at the right levels,” said Gable, who also will tee off at 8:40 a.m. at No. 1.
V.J. Trolio, a teaching professional at Old Waverly, credited superintendent Brad Suggs and his staff for working to prepare the course, which he said is in the best shape he has seen it in his 11 years at the facility. He said Suggs changed the mowing patterns on the course and has helped ensure the greens are “real firm and real good.”
“It is pretty perfect right now,” Trolio said. “The person who controls the speed and the trajectory the best has a good chance of winning.”
Recent Tupelo High School graduate Fletcher Johnson will defend his title. Three years ago, he played on the course at the Southern Junior Amateur. But the course”s change two years ago from Bentgrass to Bermuda has altered the landscape. The warm weather and lack of rain have added to the difficulty.
Chase Taylor, a rising senior at New Hope High, also will test himself against the course. Taylor, who was recently named to the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A first team, will tee off at 8:50 a.m. from No. 1. He earned a spot in the field Tuesday in a qualifier.
The event will serve as a tune-up for Taylor, who will compete Monday and Tuesday in the Alabama-Louisiana-Mississippi District Tournament at Shadow Ridge Golf Club in Hattiesburg. The tournament is a qualifier for the Optimist International JuniorGolf Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The State Amateur Championship should provide all of the players the test they need to prepare them for any other challenge this season.
“Who can eliminate three putts, that is going to be big,” Trolio said. “It is just a true championship golf course that is in the best shape I have seen it. Brad Suggs and his crew deserve a round of applause because it really is phenomenal.
“You just don”t see this every day (in regard to the championship level of the course). This could be heaven for a golfer who plays every day because it is so good.”
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Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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