WOODSON’S UNLIKELY WIN
How out of the blue was Jay
Woodson’s victory in the 2016
Delta Dental State Open of
Virginia in July? As he sat with
reporters afterward inside the
clubhouse at Ballyhack Golf
Club, he made an interesting
observation.
“I didn’t talk to you guys all
week,” he laughed.
That will happen when you
shoot 73 in the first round and
enter the third and final round
eight shots off the lead. But as
Lanto Griffin and Mark Lawrence
Jr. dueled it out down the
stretch, Woodson lingered in
the clubhouse, watching the live
scoring, keeping himself loose in
case he needed to get back on
the course. And when Lawrence
made bogey on the 18th hole,
sending the tournament into
a three-way playoff, Woodson
made the most of his opportunity.
A birdie from 12 feet away
on the second playoff hole
sealed Woodson’s fourth State
Open victory.
“When I hit it, I thought I had hit
a good putt, at least to the best
of my feel,” said Woodson, a twotime VSGA Amateur champion. “I
started it on a good line. I thought
it had good speed. It started to
leak a little bit, and I’m like, ‘hang
on, hang on!’ It had just enough.”
Woodson put himself in
position by shooting a final-round
65 while Griffin finished with a 71
and Lawrence returned a 73.
The State Open, conducted
jointly by the VSGA and the
Middle Atlantic Section of the
PGA, raised $17,000 for its main
charitable beneficiary, The First
Tee of Roanoke Valley, more
than triple the contribution from
2015. Also, players made a
concerted effort to help victims
half of the 2016 season, which placed him 45th on the circuit. In
15 career Latinoamerica Tour starts, the long-hitting Griffin has
eight top-10s and banked $52,112.
“They do a good job of running the tournaments,” he said. “It
feels like a Web.com event. “They have grandstands, they have
vendors, and there were about 1,000 people there when I won in
Uruguay and had to give a speech.”
When asked how many countries he’s visited on the Latinoamerica Tour, Griffin ripped off a long list that included Puerto Rico,
Dominican Republic, Mexico three times, Guatemala, Panama
twice, Colombia twice, Ecuador, Argentina twice and Uruguay.
Back home in Blacksburg, Griffin’s mother, Julie, said having her
oldest boy so far away from home is difficult. Her biggest concern
is the fact that many of the countries are seismically active being
located in the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Julie Griffin, a school teacher, was teaching the equator when
Lanto was in Ecuador earlier this year. On cue, Lanto took a picture
of himself straddling the equator and sent it to his Mom.
“The kids loved that,” Julie said. “They love Lanto and they so
got a big kick out of that.”
Following his second-place finish in the Delta Dental State Open
of Virginia on July 16 at Roanoke’s Ballyhack Golf Club, Griffin was
revved about some additional travel. He left Roanoke the next day
for Amsterdam, where he planned to spend a couple of days before
joining friends in Sweden for a week.
“That’s why I do all my own arrangements,” Griffin said. “I have
an agent, but I’m so used to booking all the flights and hotels.
“If you put in enough time, you should get some good deals. I have a
boatload of travel points. That’s how I’m going to Europe. I could make
3-4 trips with the amount of points I have right now. Once you travel
a lot, if you spend some time you can make it more comfortable.”
of flooding in West Virginia. Griffin
spearheaded an effort in which
a group of professionals and
amateurs donated $10 for every
birdie hit in the tournament. Delta
Dental, the title sponsor, matched
those donations.
The Delta Dental State Open
of Virginia will return to Ballyhack
in July 2017, marking the fourth
straight year the Roanoke club
has hosted the event.
—Chris Lang
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Randy King is a reporter for the Roanoke Times newspaper.
vsga.org
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