Published: July 12, 2009 07:46 am      

Three atop BNI

PIPESTEM — A veteran on the comeback trail, a leader on the WVGA golf points list and a Marshall golfer top the leaderboard after Day 1 of the BNI Memorial Tournament.

Kelly Shumate, the superintendent of golf at The Brier Patch Golf Links, Michael Veres and Christian Brand all fired 4-under 68s at Pipestem State Park to top the leaderboard going into Day 2 of the tournament.

Mount Hope’s Drew Boyd shot a 69 at Pipestem to loom large on the leaderboard and Fayetteville’s David Cassis had a 69 at Grandview, one of just two below-par rounds at that venue. Butch Fox had a 70 at Grandview.

Ten golfers went under par at Pipestem. Six of those shot a 1-under 71, including past champions Brandon Reece and Dennis Vass. Tad Tomblin and Andrew Bernstein also carded 71s.

Six-time champion Mike Mays had an even-par 72 and four-time champion Greg McGraw was among a threesome of players at 73, along with two perennial contenders, Mullens native Don Jones and Beckley’s Chris Daniels.

After a near decade of not playing in the tournament, Shumate was playing in just his second BNI in a row.

And on the back nine, he flashed the talent that helped him finish second in the tournament several times in the late 1980s through the mid 90s.

He had a 30 after shooting 2-over on the front side.

“My goal was to come out and play and then see what it adds up to at the end of the day,” Shumate, a Mullens native, said. “It was adding up on the front side. I had three three-putts. On the backside I started knocking it close to the pin and made some putts and I felt comfortable out there.”

For Veres, a native of Logan County, it was some of the same.

He was flirting with par until the eagle landed on the par-5 No. 13.

“I hit (his second shot) over the green and was able to chip in for an eagle (3) and that kind of got things rolling,” Veres said. “I had a birdie on 15 and almost had an eagle there.”

Brand flirted with going real low early on, but fell back a little on the backside. He was 6-under after 11.

“I gave a bunch back on the backside,” Brand said. “I missed three or four short putts. Really, this is one of the most fun courses to play in the state. It was scoreable today, I just didn’t finish well. But a 68, I can’t be too upset with that.”

Boyd didn’t even get into the field until Wednesday. He was playing a practice round at Pipestem when he ran into tournament director Pat Hanna, who was setting pins.

“I asked him if he had any spots,” Boyd said. “He found me on the backside and said he found a place for me. I definitely feel lucky to be in the tournament. I missed about a two-footer or I’d be tied but I definitely am not unhappy with a 69.”

Two-time champion Brandon Reece recovered on the backside with a 34 after a front-nine 37 to card a 71.

“About my typical round at Pipestem,” Reece said. “I had two or three bogeys on the front nine and that was after starting out birdie, birdie. I think I put myself in good position. We’ll see how it goes.”

Beckley native Dennis Vass, who won the second BNI in 1982, put together a 1-under 71, too, to put himself in contention just three shots down.

“It was OK, but I left some out there,” said Vass, 51. “I’m looking forward to Grandview tomorrow.”

Oak Hill’s Joel Davis, whose brother Jeff is being remembered at this year’s BNI, also had a 1-under 71.

“I always seem to have that one hole that I don’t do well on and today it was 18,” Davis said, noting he double-bogeyed the final hole. “This was a day where you could score a (low)number and I didn’t make any putts. It was there for the taking. When you are in that position, you have to capitalize, and I didn’t do it.”

“We let Joel set the pace and we fed off that,” said Nicholas County football/girls basketball coach Tom McGirl, who also carded a 71. “You know he’s going to be about 100 yards longer off the tee, so you just try to stay with him.”

Davis won the long drive of the day at Pipestem with a blast off the tee of 350 yards on No. 9.

Mays, whose six championships span over two decades, pronounced his round of even-par 72 acceptable. But ...

“I bogeyed the two par-5s and you just can’t do that,” Mays said.

Defending champion Alan Wharton, a native of Summersville who now lives in Columbus, opened with a 74.

The golfers will swap courses today, setting up a flighted final day Monday at The Resort at Glade Springs’ Cobb Course.

Other prize winners include:

Pipestem: Closest to the pin, Daniels’ Scott Prince (No. 8) and Daniels’ Dwight Smith (No. 14).

Grandview: Long drive, Cassis (No. 10); closest to the pin, Nicholas County’s Mike Smith (No. 7) and Sonny Bevins (No. 11).