Little, Old Trail win at home

On the 16th hole, after Dustin Groves sunk his fourth consecutive birdie putt in the final round of the Old Trail Invitational, he looked at the head of his putter.

“Too little, too late, buddy,” said Groves to his club.

Groves finished the day with a 4-under 67, but couldn’t catch Nick Little, who wound up winning by seven shots behind his round of 65.

“This tournament gets me really fired up for the State Amateur next weekend,” Little said. “I’m feeling really confident in my short game, my putting, and my driver’s starting to come around.”

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.

After posting consecutive 66 shot rounds in the first two days, Little wrapped things up by shooting a tournament best 65 to finish first in the Invitational in back-to-back years.

“The front nine definitely set the mood for the day,” Little said.

The Crozet native came into the final round ahead of Groves by five strokes and extended his lead to as many as 11 before making the turn, sinking six birdies on the first nine holes.

“I had a good shot on seven and a strong shot on nine and that strung together that little four birdie stretch for me,” Little said. He had four consecutive birdies to finish up the front nine.

Groves was at even par nine holes into the final round, but put together a solid finish by shooting a 31 on the back nine.

“I think maybe I came out and just pushed too hard and wasn’t really in my game,” Groves said. “On the back nine, I knew I didn’t have much of a chance and that’s when things got better. That’s how I need play. I just need to let it happen.”

Little was hoping to shoot in the low sixties, but had trouble getting back into his groove after a thunderstorm postponed play for over an hour.

“The rain delay kind of threw my out of my rhythm,” Little said. “Sometimes that happens.”

Mikey Moyers, a rising senior at William Monroe, finished the tournament at 5-under par to finish in third.

“This is probably the best I’ve played this course,” Moyers said. “I’ve never really played it well so I’m pretty happy with my performance.”

Toms and Farmington’s Phillip Mahone rounded out the top five in the individual portion of the tournament.

“It’s a great concept,” Toms said of Old Trail’s effort to bring team play into action. “This is the only event where you have a team atmosphere. We need to expand it more and have everybody represented. I think the tournament would become even more of a draw.”

The teams from Birdwood, First Tee of Charlottesville and the Old Trail ‘B’ team placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively.