The Joe Cheves
Spent the weekend with my son, Alex, at the Joe Cheves Junior Invitational Golf Tournament in Morganton, NC. Where, you say? Well, so did I. It’s about 40 miles from Asheville right on I-40. The mountains are not that far away, as you can see from the picture below:
Mountains in the back, Mimosa Hills in the front!
A few comments about the tournament. First off, very well run! Carter Cheves runs it and does a fantastic job. He even got dressed up in a sport coat and tie on Saturday morning and announced each player with their accomplishments. Alex got the shout out for finishing second at the Dogwood State Tournament in August, as well as for playing at Athens Drive and at Raleigh Country Club, the last course for Donald Ross. Really neat.
Second, the pins were unbelievable! I mean, I’ve been at the US Open, and I watch a lot of pro golf, and I’ve never seen pin placements like I saw there. One par 5 had the pin tucked in a little hernia the green had deep right, on a downslope, behind a bunker. Alex hit his second shot 10 feet from the green and, honestly, had no chance of getting it anywhere near the pin. None! He had to make a good chip to be 20 feet away and struggled to 2 putt for par. Amazing. They had to do it otherwise these guys and ladies, the best players in Virginia and the Carolinas for the most part, would have destroyed the course. As it was, there were only 5 boys under par for the two days. That’s unheard of for most junior tournaments at this level. Then, to prove how ridiculous some of these guys are, local Apex senior and future UNC-Greensboro golfer Andy Knox shot 63 the final round to win by six. These guys are good!
If you like watching good golf, do yourself a favor: go to a local junior tournament and follow around a few of the players. They will amaze you with their talent.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment