Jarvis takes lead into final day

May 30—WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — Barboursville native Cam Jarvis and Kermit's Davey Jude are in a great spot going into the final round of the 104th West Virginia Amateur on Wednesday at The Greenbrier resort.

Jarvis and Jude both tied at 3-under-par 67 in the third round on Tuesday at the Meadows course, but Jarvis still holds a one-shot lead over Jude for the tournament at 1-under par.

Jack Michael, who hails from Huntington and is about to go into his junior year at Cabell Midland, is in third place and 2-over-par 72 for the tournament after a 1-over-par 71 showing in Round 3.

Just as those three golfers wrapped up the day and turned in their scorecards, it started raining. But things don't look so rainy for them now as all three have a realistic shot of winning this year's title.

Even though he is in sole possession of first place heading into tomorrow, Jarvis, a 2022 Cabell Midland graduate, isn't letting that get to his head. He's maintaining his focus.

"I'm not thinking about anything," Jarvis said. "It's a grind. There's 18 more holes, and every single shot matters. It's cool where I'm at, but I'm not thinking of anything at all. I have a lot of golf left.

"The most important thing to me is that I'm healthy," Jarvis added. "I'm a Type 1 diabetic, so I've had West Virginia Amateur championships the last four years where I've really battled my own conditions, my health conditions. This is the first time I've been healthy heading into a West Virginia Am. That's the only thing I'm concerned about. If I'm healthy, the golf will be there."

Jarvis finished with a par on nine of the 18 holes on Tuesday. When assessing his performance at the conclusion of the round, he said he thought he struck the ball beautifully.

He also credited his caddie, who Jarvis said has been one of his best friends for more than a decade and has been with him for a long time. Jarvis said he was amazing.

"He read the greens beautifully, helped me when I needed it," Jarvis said. "I probably had six birdie putts I missed inside of 8 feet today with the five or six birdies I made. I struck the daylights out of the ball. I really didn't hit a bad shot. I hit one bad shot today, and that was it."

Jarvis pointed out that there's nothing for him to correct tomorrow and that every shot is a new opportunity. He said it's up to him to create whatever comes from it. He doesn't think about mechanics, he said.

Like Jarvis, Jude tallied nine pars in 18 holes. Jude said he felt he played pretty solid.

He said being one shot back is an ideal position entering the final round. He is hopeful to make amends for the outcome he experienced in the tournament last year, when he lost by two shots.

"I played pretty solid," Jude said. "Last year, I went into the final round tied for the lead, ultimately lost by two, but just kind of get ready for tomorrow and try to make up for the mistakes that I did last year."

Jude said he is feeling fine heading into Wednesday.

"I'm hitting the ball well," Jude said. "I brought one of my college teammates here at Marshall, helped caddy for me. He read the greens today. We vibe pretty well out there. Go let my little 2-year-old hit some golf balls, and we'll have dinner, and then we'll be ready tomorrow morning."

Jude doesn't feel like he needs to correct much going into Wednesday. He said he just has to make a few more putts and stay in the right mental space before mentioning that he didn't check one leaderboard on Tuesday. He never knew where he stood.

To Jude, he had to play his game. If his game wasn't good enough, it wasn't good enough, he said. He didn't care what anybody else was doing. For him to make up for last year's result and take home the gold this year, Jude said he has to stay mentally in it.

"I know my game is good enough, just have to be mentally prepared and make a few putts," Jude said.

Finally, Michael went into Tuesday in first place and totaled 13 pars for the 18 holes.

He said it wasn't his best performance, it was very slow and that he couldn't get anything going. He was disappointed to lose the lead and said other challengers played great while he had a slow day.

Michael is still feeling good heading into Wednesday, though. He said he definitely needs to get a couple of things worked out, but he thinks he can go make a stand at Old White on Wednesday.

"It's going to take a low round of golf, that's for sure, but I can do that," Michael said. "I know that's what I'll try and do tomorrow to the best of my abilities."

Tee time for Jarvis, Jude and Michael in the final round of the championships Wednesday is 10:42 a.m. from the Old White TPC Course at The Greenbrier.