Mountain State Golf Classic set for July 8-10
Jun. 30—Bill Ward was a common name among the competitors at the former Beckley Newspapers Invitational.
Now, with the tournament in its sixth summer as the Little General Mountain State Golf Classic, his son Chris and grandson Christian are regulars at the annual event.
"It just shows it's kind of a generational thing," tournament director Ryan Neal said.
Indeed, the bond forged through a veritable family reunion that started over 40 years ago lives on.
The tournament will take place July 8-10 with its signature setup of three courses over three days. It will start at Grandview Country Club before a long-awaited return to Pipestem for the second round.
Per usual, the championship will be decided on a Monday morning on the Cobb Course at The Resort at Glade Springs.
Neal, himself a longtime competitor in the tournament, is excited about the second day's location. Pipestem hasn't played host to a round since 2011.
Neal said feedback about the return to Pipestem has been "positive, positive, positive."
"Last year we played the Cobb two days (second and final rounds) and the feedback was, the thing that makes the tournament unique is that you played three different courses in three different days," Neal said. "That's what separates the tournament from everybody else. And it's open to anybody in the state of West Virginia and guests."
Neal added that a record 136 golfers have entered. That includes people frombeyond the Mountain State borders.
"It's mostly local people playing in it, but you have guys from Florida, one guy goes to WVU Tech (Robert Akerman) and is from South Africa, lots of guys from Virginia and a few from Pennsylvania," he said.
Akerman is on the Golden Bears golf team and is a teammate of Christian Ward.
Todd Duncan won last year's event.
He is a two-time former state champion at Shady Spring and currently golfs at West Virginia University.
Tournament veteran Dennis Vass won last year's Seniors championship.
Tee times are set to begin at 7:30 a.m. each day with the last groups getting started at 1:10 p.m.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5
