Quick start for Old Trail

Nick Little elected to adjust his normal routine.

Bypassing his normal trek into Old Trail’s clubhouse for a tasty hot dog at the turn, the former Radford golfer raced to the back nine on his home course.

Nine strokes, three holes, a birdie and an eagle later, Little had etched his place as the opening-day leader at the second annual Central Virginia Team Championships.

“I went straight to the 10th tee and hit a good drive, a good second shot and made a putt for birdie and I felt real confident after that,” Little said. “I made a good par on 11 and I got to 12 and hit an awesome, awesome 3-wood on the green less than six inches and made eagle.

“That was a little highlight of the round. From there it was just ‘get it in the house.’”

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.

Little, who finished sixth in the Big South Conference championships in late April, was three-under on the back nine of the course, which played at 6,890 yards.

In the opening stages of the round, however, the former Western Albemarle standout knew that he had a chance to post a low number.

“I could tell pretty early,” Little said. “I was hitting my driver real well on the front. On the front nine, I think I missed three birdie putts inside eight feet, so I knew if I kept hitting it well that it could continue to be a good round and it did.”

As excited as Little was with his round, the 22-year-old flashed his longest-standing grin when discussing the excitement of playing in a team format with and against Central Virginia’s top golfers.

“It is a lot of fun to be out on the golf course and see some of your friends ask you how you are playing and they are real happy that you are helping the team out,” Little chuckled. “It is exciting to see them having fun with it. It is great. I really enjoy the company and camaraderie of everybody that plays golf around here.

“With something that I am so used to from college, to have them enjoying it with me is nice. They don’t necessarily get the opportunity to do that very often, so for me, since I am so used to it, it is great to hear them talk about the team thing.”

Little had help in lifting Old Trail’s top team into the top spot — Jeff Toms and Danny Menefee fired one-under 70s and Scott Garrison and Todd Daniel both shot a 74.

Groves and Passerell led Glenmore’s efforts and were joined in the Top 15 by teammate Scott Shellenberger, who finished three-over with a 74.

Michael Moyers stands in sixth place after shooting 71, but is playing solely for the individual crown after his home club, Greene Hills Country Club, produced only five of the needed six golfers to compete for the team title.

Passerell, one of the visionaries of the team concept, said Little’s length off the tee makes him the obvious favorite to win the individual crown.

“Nick hits as good as anybody hits it around here and he hits it as long as anybody hits it, so when he can hit a driver as good as he does and hit a lot of fairways and with the greens as big and nice as they are, it sets up a lot of birdie opportunities,” Passerell said. “That said, you have to hit a lot of good shots to make birdie, but I think [Old Trail] lends itself to having more birdie opportunities.

“Nick plays out here and he knows this place well and he is obviously playing well right now. It’s a good place for him and I will be chasing him.”

The three-day competition will begin today at 8 a.m. and the public is invited to attend.