Little ready for a new challenge

Nick Little didn’t say much about it, but there must have been immense pressure on the recent Radford University graduate last weekend while attempting to repeat as Kenridge Invitational champion at Farmington Country Club.

The 23-year-old Crozet resident was playing in his final event as an amateur and desperately wanted to go out in style. He nearly pulled it off, finishing one stroke off the lead and one stroke off the Kenridge record.

With all that behind him, Little launches his career as a professional golfer in today’s Richmond Open, a three-day, 54-hole stroke play event on the eGolf Tour (formerly known as the Tarheel Tour). The event carries a $220,000 purse. The first two rounds will be played at Royal New Kent and Petersburg Country Club before the final cut Thursday, with the last round set for Petersburg C.C. on Friday.

“I’m really pumped about playing in my first professional tournament,” Little said after Tuesday’s practice round. “Wow, I’m here. I’m still halfway pinching myself, but at the same time realizing it’s just another round of golf, doing what I’ve been doing for years.”

Little decided after his last year of golf team eligibility at Radford (2008) that he would give the professional ranks a try this summer.

“There wasn’t much back and forth because this is what I really wanted to do,” Little said. “I felt like I at least needed to give it a shot. I felt like my golf game was good enough to compete.”

It hasn’t been that long since the Old Trail Golf Club player burst onto the local scene, winning the 2006 Reines Jewelers Charlottesville City Championship. He followed up the next year by winning the Old Trail Team Championships individual title and competed in the U.S. Amateur.

Last year was Little’s most successful as he swept through a parade of Central Virginia events, claiming the Faulconer Invitational at Lake Monticello, the Old Trail title yet again, the prestigious Kenridge Invitational, the Jefferson Cup at Birdwood, and the Central Virginia Match Play Championships at Spring Creek.

During that span he also matured physically as well and has amazing length to his game.

“I don’t want to say that I’m surprised by how quick my success came because I knew I could play,” Little said. “But to win as many tournaments as I did last summer and to get the recognition around Charlottesville, did surprise me.”

In recent months Little has been befriended by Steve Gangluff (the one-time Wintergreen cart boy who played in the U.S. Open), gained his PGA Tour card for a year and has been playing various mini tours since. Gangluff has returned to the area and is working at Farmington.

Both Gangluff and Little will compete in today’s Richmond Open, along with Greene County resident Richard Hanna, who finished tied for fifth (12-under) at last week’s Bolle Classic in Lexington, N.C.

“Steve has been a big help,” Little said. “He has been someone I could always call and ask questions and learn how I need to go about things professionally. I’ve been picking his brain a little bit on what to expect in my first tournament.”

With the eGolf Tour off next week, Little will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., and attempt to qualify for a Nationwide Tour event, then returns to the area the following week for Spring Creek’s eGolf Tour event.