Around The Commonwealth ways, he was a one-man operation, organizing on site and doing everything from setting up shop to occasionally setting tees.
“ I tried to make the experience as enjoyable as possible,” Booker said in a story published in the November-December 2021 issue of Virginia Golfer.“ I did it for the pure fun of it. I knew a good number would not be playing in the Virginia Open or even their own club’ s year-ending championship, so in many cases the oneday outings were the only competitive matches they played all year.”
“ J. C. was a brilliant competitor, and like his Uncle Sam, he came from a small town only to end up competing and succeeding on the biggest of stages.”
Tom Booker courses and had low rounds of 63 at the Cascades and 60 at the Lower Cascades.
“ J. C. Snead carried on the legacy of the Snead name for the 42 years he was a regular either on the PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions,” Miller Brady, PGA Tour
Champions president, told pgatour. com.“ J. C. was a brilliant competitor, and like his Uncle Sam, he came from a small town only to end up competing and succeeding on the biggest of stages. We mourn his death and send our love to his family.”
VSGA ARCHIVES
J. C. SNEAD( 1940-2025) J. C. Snead, the nephew of all-time golf great Sam Snead and an outstanding player in his own right, died April 25 in his home in Hot Springs.
Snead joined the PGA Tour in 1968 and won the first of eight Tour events in 1971, outdueling Dale Douglass at the Tucson Open. He won his final PGA Tour championship in 1987, besting Seve Ballesteros in a playoff at the Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic. During his career, he finished as high as second in the Masters and U. S. Open and recorded a tie for third in the PGA Championship. At the end of his career, he won four PGA Tour Champions titles, including defeating Jack Nicklaus in a playoff at the 1995 Senior Players Championship.
Snead was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.
He attended East Tennessee State in Johnson City and later played in the Washington Senators’ chain before putting more interest into golf in the mid-1960s. He learned the game on the Homestead
Cassandra Sengul
vsga. org J ULY / A UGUST 2025 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 9