Little picks up Match Play title

After capturing back-to-back Battle Trophy championships and winning every local tournament that he entered this summer, local golf fans wondered just what Nick Little was going to do for an encore.
Standing in the 18th fairway at Spring Creek late Sunday afternoon, Little provided the answer. Leading 1-up over Greene Hills’ Mikey Moyers, who had just hit his approach shot to within 15 feet of the pin on the par-5 finishing hole, Little knew he had to do something spectacular.
Exactly 81 yards from the pin, Little pulled his 58-degree sand wedge with confidence. Once he struck it, he knew the shot was dialed in and headed directly toward the flag. The ball landed less that two yards past the pin and sucked back, plopped into the hole for Little’s second eagle of the round and the Central Virginia Match Play championship.
Talk about a walk off.
Not a real emotional guy, Little’s arms shot skyward as he looked toward the gallery. What a way to cap off perhaps the most historic ride by any Central Virginia amateur. He entered five tournaments and won them all: the Faulconer Invitational at Lake Monticello; the Kenridge at Farmington; the Old Trail Team Championships (individual title); the Jefferson Cup at Birdwood; and the 2nd Annual Central Virginia Match Play Championship at Spring Creek.
“I don’t know what to make of it all,” the Old Trail Club golfer said. “I feel like this summer my game bumped up a level. Hopefully, I can keep that going.”
It was the fourth match in 34 hours in the event, having survived an upset bid by Greene Hills’ veteran Pokey Buchanan on Saturday morning, winning 1-up on the 18th, then beating Glenmore’s David Passerell 2-up in the quarterfinals that afternoon, and topping Jeff Toms 4-and-3 in Sunday morning’s semis.
Beating Moyers wasn’t an easy task. Moyers, who stunned the Central Virginia golfing circle two years ago by winning the Battle Trophy as a 15-year-old, had a 16-match winning streak in match play events dating back to last year, including consecutive Virginia State Junior Match Play crowns, and three wins in this tournament, the latest a 3-and-1 triumph over Jud Foster in Sunday morning’s semifinals.
Moyers had beaten one of his best friends, Wes Eklund in the opening round (1-up on the 18th), before beating consistent Scott Garrison 2-up in the quarters and Foster in the semis.
“Mikey won the state juniors two years in a row, so obviously he likes match play,” Little said. “We both made a lot of birdies. I think only one hole was won or lost on a par.”
There wasn’t much distance between the two from the outset. Moyers won the first hole with a birdie and Littles countered with a birdie win at the second. Moyers went 1-up again on the fourth when Little’s approach shot went over the green and he couldn’t get out of the brush and conceded the hole.
Moyers’ lone bogey of the day came on the fifth as Little squared the match with a par. The two remained even until the short, 489-yard, par-5, ninth hole when Little’s drive carried to inside 200 yards. He hit his approach to eight feet and sank the first of two eagle putts to go 1-up at the turn.
“I started hitting it well after the second hole of the morning round, so I started hitting my irons a lot better and everything started to come together,” Little said. “I was glad because Mikey played really well. But I felt I could be more aggressive with my irons. Before I was kind of swinging scared and I wasn’t hitting it as crisp, which meant I was favoring the middle of the green. Today, I felt like I could take dead aim at it.”
Still, Moyers played with grit. He wasn’t going to allow his streak to go down easily. The William Monroe senior won the 11th with a par to square the match, then won the par-5, 12th with another par to go 1-up.
Little evened the match yet again on the par-4, 14th when he wedged his 100-yard approach to inside three feet and birdied.
The championship remained even until the par-4, 16th when Little’s wedge worked its magic yet again. An 80-yard approach lasered its way to within six inches of the cup for a conceded birdie as Little went 1-up. Both parred the par-3, 17th, barely missing birdie putts, setting up the dramatics at the 18th.
Both played it conservatively, laying up on their second shots, Moyers about 120 out, Little at 81 out. Moyers put his approach to within birdie distance before Little stunned everyone with his second eagle.
“To do that on the last hole was pretty cool,” Little said. “To be honest, it was somewhere on the back nine that I hit a pretty solid wedge shot. I thought to myself that hitting wedge is pretty good and that I wouldn’t be surprised that sometime in the next month or so that I’d hole one out.”
Moyers played great, finishing 4-under for the round.
“I think I had one bogey all day and that’s going to beat most people,” said Moyers, who committed to Virginia Tech recently. “He eagled the last hole on each side. You can’t beat that. I played well. I didn’t putt well. I wish I had so it would have made it more interesting.”
Moyers actually played the final two rounds of the tournament with a borrowed driver. He arrived Sunday morning to discover the head of his driver was loose. Spring Creek master pro Jack Snyder allowed Moyers to use a demo for the day.
“It was probably a good thing,” Moyers chuckled. “I hit this one a lot better. But this one has one loss. The other one didn’t.”
Little, who will return to finish school at Radford University this fall, has run out of eligibility to play golf for the Highlanders, said he felt good about the last shot as soon as he measured the 81-yard distance.
“That’s a pretty comfortable shot for me,” he said. “I hit it a lot on the driving range. As soon as I hit that one I knew it was dead on the number in terms of distance and it was right at the flag, so it was pretty cool to see it go in.”
While Little cannot play for Radford U this year, he can practice with the team and that’s what he plans to do, hoping to continue to raise his skill level.
“Hopefully next summer I hope to turn professional,” Little said. “I’ve thought about it hard. It’s something I want to do and I’m going to do. I feel like I need to, especially after this summer. If I didn’t, I would always ask myself what would have happened. Hopefully this year I’ll be able to get some sponsorship and next year go out and do it.”
And, yes, that was a collective sigh of relief you just heard from the rest of the amateur golfers in Central Virginia. Now, everybody else has a chance to win again.