Fourteen players from Central Virginia, seven professionals and seven amateurs, will tee it up today in the opening round of the SunTrust State Open of Virginia at Independence Golf Club in Midlothian.

The 11th-stage victory Wednesday by Norwegian veteran Kurt-Asle Arvesen took a back seat to the arrest of Spain’s Moises Duenas Nevado after he tested positive for the banned performance enhancer EPO in the second doping bust this Tour.

In the deciding game of the District 14 Championship, the McIntire All-Stars got things started early and held off Louisa’s All-Stars 13-4 on Sunday

Leader Jeff Toms and contender Phillip Mahone have been competing in the Reines Jewelers Charlottesville City Golf Championship for years, but have yet to taste victory. So today’s final round of the 21st annual event at Meadowcreek Golf Course presents an unforgettable opportunity for the two players and a short list of competitiors within striking distance.

Facing elimination in a must-win game, the Monticello 10-11 year-old All-Stars got help from their big hitters in the lineup and a strong pitching performance to defeat Louisa’s All-Stars 7-3 on Saturday afternoon. Monticello’s win forced a deciding contest today for the right to move on to the state tournament later this month.

That’s just fine with Ty Grove, who shot a 3-under 67 late Friday evening to claim the first round lead. Grove, a Crozet resident who plays out of Old Trail, holds a one-stroke lead over Birdwood’s Toms and Jerry Burton of Spring Creek. Farmington’s Mahone is two back at 69, and Meadowcreek’s Bill Hamilton is within striking distance at 1-over 71.

In Virginia Beach, Suffolk’s Lauren Doughtie used a strong short game to claim a 5 and 3 victory over Norfolk’s Kristen Simpson — a graduate student at Virginia — in the 83rd Virginia State Golf Association Women’s Amateur Championship.

While Carl Frischkorn missed the television coverage of Will’s greatest day in the sport, he did have the chance to talk to his son shortly after Monday’s stage.

In Purcellville, Donald Robertson of Earlysville finished one shot out of first place at the VSGA Masters Championship at Loudoun Golf and Country Club.

So it came as no surprise to Troy when he turned on the local news Monday night and learned that his former pupil had nearly won the third stage of the Tour de France. Frischkorn, who graduated from STAB in 1999 and is competing in his first-ever Grand Tour, finished second.

Mikey Moyers, the 2007 VSGA Junior Match Play champion, got off to a good start on his title defense on Tuesday at Birdwood.

Albemarle Post 74 manager Mike Maynard ran the gamut on Thursday as he witnessed his youth-laden squad’s 12-5 victory over Waynesboro Post 340. It was the second straight seven-run win in a two-day window for Albemarle over Waynesboro.

“It was a great baseball game,” said Post 156 coach Chris Haney, whose team is in just its second season. “We just kept battling. We never let the game get away from us. Last year, maybe we don’t come back.”

A City Championship trophy will now join a pair of league titles after the Builders reeled off 14 straight runs to knock off Central Little League’s Outback Steakhouse squad, 14-5, at Quarry Park.

The Old Trail ‘A’ team took the team title, beating second-place Glenmore by 33 shots behind Little’s 16-under and Jeff Toms’ 1-under performance.

Little is making the most of the opportunity to play so close to home, shooting a 5-under 66 in the second round of the Old Trail Invitational.

Could this be the year that another Central Virginia golfer breaks through? Possibly, as a strong contingent of local players have qualified and will compete in this week’s State Am at Kingsmill’s spectacular River Course in Williamsburg. The course has hosted the LPGA Tour’s Michelob Open the past six years and previously was a regular PGA Tour stop.

Nick Little’s five-under 66, which bettered the efforts of Glenmore’s duo of Dustin Groves and David Passerell by two strokes, also helped Old Trail’s ‘A’ team take an early seven-stroke lead, 429 to 436, over Glenmore in the team standings. Birdwood (468), The First Tee of Charlottesville (482) and Old Trail’s ‘B’ team (483) rounded out the first-day results.

Western Albemarle junior and Birdwood member Patrick Leisure used a brilliant start on the front nine to win this year’s Reines Jewelers Charlottesville Junior Golf Championship on Thursday at Meadowcreek Golf Course, where 39 of the area’s up-and-coming players showed off their skills and talent.

The Jefferson Swim League is set to host its first week of scored meets today. As usual, there won’t be any lack of participants this year.

Central Virginia has become a golfing mecca for amateurs over the past few years, boasting more tournaments each season.

Kids playing stickball, fishing and making up games to play until it’s too dark to see sounds a lot like the 1950s. At Camp Wahoo, that’s exactly the point.

Former UVa standouts Ted Angelinos and Treat Huey capped a successful weekend with a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over Albert Larregola and Ignaci Roca in the men’s open doubles final at the USTA-Virginia State Open Clay Court Championships at Glenmore Country Club on Monday morning.

Trailing Adam Webb by four strokes, Sam Beach played bogey-free golf to come from behind and win by the tournament by one shot. Beach shot a 74 and 75 in his first two rounds, but was able to put all that behind him.

After finishing his career as Virginia’s No. 2 player behind two-time NCAA singles champion Somdev Devvarman, it was Treat Huey’s time to shine on Sunday. The ITA All-American battled the heat and stiff competition to win the 2008 USTA State Open Clay Court Men’s Singles Championship at Glenmore Country Club.

Recent Virginia graduates Treat Huey and Ted Angelinos will meet in today’s semifinals after dispatching two opponents each on Saturday. Huey dropped just two games in wins over Ryan Radke and Ramon Bernal, while Angelinos matched his feat with wins over Richard Connor and Ignaci Roca.

Nick Little isn’t planning on giving up his hold on the Battle Trophy any time soon. The Crozet golfer, who plays out of Old Trail and just finished his junior season on the Radford University team, has entered two of the local Battle Trophy tournaments so far this season. He’s two for two.

In Gordonsville, fresh off a strong performance for Wake Forest in the NCAA championships, Dustin Groves had a strong first day at the Cannon Cup for a share of the lead.

Little finished the day with a 1-under par 69. The Crozet resident who attends Radford finished 1-under for the tournament, edging David Passerell by a stroke. Scott Shingler finished third, two shots back of Little.

While it was good to see the progress made this season by coach Bowen Sargent’s Virginia men’s golf team, it was perhaps even more satisfying in local golf circles to observe the rise of two homegrown kids that competed with their teams along with UVa in the NCAA Championships this past week at Purdue.