Read About Chuck Will's student who made it the semi-finals of the 2007 VSGA Publinks Tournament!

WILLIAMSBURG –– Last year’s finalists and a pair of first-time event participants advanced to Monday’s semifinals as match play got underway today at the 4th Virginia State Golf Association Public Links Championship at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club’s Green Course (6,712 yards, par 36-36—72). The championship is open to bona fide public course players.
 
In the upper half of the semifinal bracket, ’06 championship runner-up Chris Tuttle ( Virginia Beach ) will face first-time event participant Jay Livingston (Glen Allen). Meanwhile, in the lower portion, reigning champion Jim Nirich (Catlett) meets Richmond ’s Adam Houck, who is also making his debut appearance in the championship. In addition to the semis, the 18-hole championship final is also set for Monday. 

In a terrific morning match that produced nine birdies between the two players, Tuttle bested medalist Paul C. Erdman ( West Point ), 2 and 1. Erdman held an early 2-up lead, but his opponent responded to square the match at the turn, holing a chip at the par-5 eighth hole. The match was all square on eight occasions, but Tuttle pulled ahead, 1 up, with a birdie at the par-5 15th hole. Erdman then made his first bogey in three days at the par-3 17th where he three-putted, sending Tuttle, who was the stroke play equivalent of three under in the match, to the quarters. The outcome marked the second straight year that Tuttle bested the higher-seeded Erdman, having also defeated him in the first round of the 2006 VSGA Amateur Championship.
 

In quarterfinal-round action, Tuttle trailed 2-down after 13 holes to Jeffrey Klatt of Manassas, but responded to win three consecutive holes from Nos. 14-16, capping the surge by stuffing a wedge to 3 feet for an eventual birdie at the short dogleg right par-4 16th. Trailing 1-down in the late going, Klatt took No. 17 with a par and the match went to extra holes. At the first extra hole, Tuttle escaped thick rough and negotiated an uphill lie on his second shot and got up and down from the back fringe for the win; his opponent misfired a 12-footer for par after pulling his second into a left greenside bunker. Admittedly, match play is a good fit for Tuttle’s game and the results prove his liking for the format. Here he is, the lowest seed at No. 16 and he posted two wins over a No. 1 and No. 8 seed as match play opened today.

“I just like match play. I would much rather play match play than stroke play. It’s one on one. You just have to beat the guy you’re playing,” said Tuttle, 36, who plays primarily at The Signature at West Neck in Virginia Beach .  

In the semis, he’ll face Livingston (pictured right), who also went extra holes and prevailed in a 21-hole marathon against Centreville’s Jon Zampedro in the quarters. The Central Virginian, who won the par-5 18th, to send the match to extra holes, knocked in an 8-footer for birdie at the par-4 third, the 21st of the match, to decide the final outcome. He and Tuttle, his next opponent, combined to play 40 holes in the quarters.

Livingston took a more than two-year competitive layoff from the game with career and family obligations and hasn’t been on the championship stage since playing in the 2005 U.S. Amateur. With a wife, three children and a move from Maine to the commonwealth last August, golf has assumed a less important role. Livingston knows to keep the game in perspective.

“I haven’t played golf three days in a row in over two years,” laughed Livingston, 35, a sales manager for Pfizer who plays at Glen Allen’s Hunting Hawk Golf Club. Livingston defeated Kenneth Zecchini of Virginia Beach in the morning session, 4 and 3. “I have a blessed life, regardless of the outcome. This is icing on the cake for me, but I still want to win, no bones about it.” 
 

The ’06 winner, Nirich drained an 18-foot left to right breaking putt at the demanding par-3 17th hole to get past local Steve Morris ( Williamsburg ), 1 up in the first round of match play. He then built a 4-up lead at the turn on Jeffrey Topp ( Fairfax ) in the quarters. Despite his opponent getting within two on the closing nine, Nirich, 46, went on to register a 4 and 3 victory. A No. 3 seed, Nirich is the highest seed remaining in the championship and could become the event’s first repeat winner in its brief history.

He’ll face the championship’s other first-time participant in Houck, who bested ’04 runner-up Dan Hosek ( Alexandria ), 3 and 2 in quarterfinal round action. Houck, who plays at Independence Golf Club in Midlothian , stopped competing during a seven-year span, before resuming tournament play two-and-a half years ago. He has been aided by the help of swing coach Chuck Will, the PGA director of instruction at Dulles Golf Center in Dulles, Va.