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Virginia Golfer
A R O U N D T H E
COMMON WEALTH
VICTORIA MATTHEWS . P . 14
compiled by CHRIS LANG
» Virginia golf & the people who make it great
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Beck Caps Resurgence With State Open Title
CHRIS LANG
For Virginia Beach ’ s Evan Beck , playing golf for a living lost its luster several years ago . So after several years of bouncing around on mini-tours , trying to find permanent status , and dealing with injuries , he gave up the fight and applied to regain his amateur status .
The desire to compete , however , never went away . That much was evident on a sunny July Sunday at Independence Golf Club , when he rolled home a four-foot birdie putt , pumped his fist three times and celebrated his second State Open of Virginia title , this one coming 11 years after his first .
When Beck nipped Cameron Yancey by one shot at Independence in 2010 , he was in a much different place competitively . He was two years removed from an appearance in the U . S . Junior Amateur final , on the Arnold Palmer Scholarship at Wake Forest , and on a trajectory that was pointing toward a long professional career .
Now , like many mid-amateurs , the 30-year-old Beck is a working man with much less time to grind for hours upon hours at the practice facility at his home club , Princess Anne Country Club . But he ’ s still plenty capable of going on a heater , and he showed it during the weeks leading up to the State Open . He reached the semifinals of the VSGA Amateur in late June , falling to eventual champion Jimmy Taylor on the final hole .
A week later , he claimed his first title at the prestigious Eastern Amateur at Elizabeth Manor Golf & Country Club . So it was no surprise when he was near the top of the leaderboard all weekend at Independence .
Evan Beck celebrates his winning birdie putt on 18 .
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