The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

The BNI

Related Photos

  • Bosten Miller connects with the ball during the Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic at Pipestem Resort State Park. Miller followed up Saturday’s 65 at Grandview Country Club with a 67 Sunday at Pipestem Resort State Park to move to 12-under for the tournament. Chris Tilley

    071612 BNI Pipestem.jpg
July 16, 2012

Miller pads BNI lead

Beckley Newspapers Golf Classic

By Cam Huffman and Gary Fauber Register-Herald Sports Department

GRANDVIEW, PIPESTEM — If anybody plans on keeping the Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic trophy from being covered in green once again, he’s going to have some major work to do in today’s final round.

Recent Marshall University graduate Bosten Miller followed up Saturday’s 65 at Grandview Country Club with a 67 Sunday at Pipestem Resort State Park to move to 12-under for the tournament, four strokes ahead of two-time champion Brandon Reece.

“I think I probably hit it better yesterday, but my misses weren’t too bad today,” said Miller, who is trying to make it four straight BNI titles for the Thundering Herd, after Christian Brand, now playing professionally, won the last three. “I actually had a lot of birdie putts — a lot of 10-, 15-foot putts I didn’t make — but I was happy with the round.”

Miller’s Sunday stroll through the 6,884-yard Pipestem course was a bogey-free trip, and he picked up birdies on both par 5s on the front nine, 4 and 9, as well as holes 11, 12 and 16 to finish off another solid round at the course he said he’s played more than 20 times, including a number of times on the junior circuit. He won the 2007 West Virginia Junior Amateur on the same course. The day before that tournament, playing in a Top Flite Junior Tour event, Miller fired a course-record 64.

“I know it like the back of my hand,” said Miller of the Geoffrey Cornish design. “If you hit your driver well on the back 9 — because there are a couple of holes that are close to being driveable — and then drive it well on the par 5s, you can take advantage of them. It’s not too long, so it will  give you a lot of opportunities.”

Reece was 2-under 70 at Grandview for a two-day total of 8-under 136. The former All-WVIAC standout was at 3-under on the front nine thanks to birdies on Nos. 8 and 9, but a bogey on the backside added a stroke to his score.

“Not bad,” Reece said. “I left a couple shots out there, but it went pretty well.”

Summersville native and Columbus, Ohio, resident Alan Wharton had the day’s low round at Grandview with a 4-under 68. That leaves him at 7-under for the tournament, in third place and five strokes behind Miller.

Wharton, the 2008 champion, was able to leapfrog Kelly Shumate on the leaderboard. Shumate followed Saturday’s 68 with a 1-under 71.

“I hit the ball pretty good but made a couple of little costly bogeys,” said Shumate, the course superintendent at The Greenbrier, who is tied with Michael Powers for fourth at 139. “I thought I hit some good shots. I just hit a few shots over the green and couldn’t get them up-and-down. You’re going to have that.”

Shumate and Powers will be part of today’s championship flight, along with big hitter Winston Canada, who’s fifth at 141. Andrew Skeens (142), David Cassis (143) and Harry Howell (143) are the only other golfers under par, with John Handy, at even-par 144, rounding out the top 10.

Today’s flighted final round will be held on the Cobb Course at The Resort at Glade Springs. Everyone will be chasing Miller, but Reece said the leader will not be on his mind.

“Just play my game,” Reece said of his approach today. “That’s all I can do. He’s going to shoot what he’s going to shoot. You can only worry about your game and what you can control.”

Miller believes that something around an even-par round today should be enough to win, and it would be a major feather in his cap.

“It would be cool, especially after I played in it for two years prior and watched Christian whip me pretty bad,” he said. “It would be really nice. I love playing in it.

“It’s probably one of the most fun tournaments to play in. The first two days, you get to play with your buddies, and you can make a lot of birdies during the first two rounds. You don’t have to grind too much, and that’s always fun.”

Text Only
The BNI
  • BNI 2012 In memory of Jimmy Jones — 1988 champion to be honored at 32nd annual Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic

    Linda “Penny” Jones knew how much the game of golf meant to her husband. So when an accident befell his set of clubs, she doesn’t mind telling you she panicked.

    July 11, 2012 1 Photo

  • 041113 BNI.jpg BNI returns to The Brier Patch Golf Links

    For it’s 33rd anniversary, the BNI Memorial Golf Classic will have a distinctly local flavor once again.

    April 11, 2013 1 Photo

  • shumate Finally, some time to relax

    Most of the 154 golfers in the three-day, 54-hole, three-course Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic described the tournament as “a grind.”

    July 17, 2012 1 Photo

  • miller BNI Scores

    Final scores from the 32nd annual Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic:
    Championship Flight

    July 17, 2012 1 Photo

  • BNI Winner Down to the wire — Miller beats Reece in playoff to capture BNI

    Three courses and 54 holes — 55, in fact — weren’t enough to separate Bosten Miller and Brandon Reece and determine the champion of the 32nd annual Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic.
    But on the second playoff hole — No. 2 at The Resort at Glade Springs’ Cobb Course — Miller, the leader after each of the first two rounds, tapped in for birdie and his first BNI championship.

    July 17, 2012 1 Photo

  • hamrick Almost 78, Hamrick is still going strong

    Jim Hamrick has plenty of excuses for not playing at his best in this week’s Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic.

    July 16, 2012 1 Photo

  • reece BNI Scores

    Here are scores after the second round of the 32nd annual Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic:

    July 16, 2012 2 Photos

  • 071612 BNI Pipestem.jpg Miller pads BNI lead

    Marshall grad up by 4 going into final round

    July 16, 2012 1 Photo

  • CORRECTED: Final-Round Tee Times

    Here are Monday’s tee times for the final round of the 32nd annual Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic. The round will take place on the Cobb Course at The Resort at Glade Springs:

    July 15, 2012

  • neal Home for vacation

    It’s no secret that the Beckley Newspapers Memorial Golf Classic — still affectionately known as the BNI — is a focal point for many of its competitors.

    July 15, 2012 1 Photo

Front page
The Greenbrier Classic

AP Video
Raw: Train Derails After Overpass Collapse Raw: Rescues From San Antonio Flooding Raw: French Soldier Stabbed in Throat Near Paris Mayor: Person Killed in San Antonio Flooding Raw: Apple 1 Computer Sells for More Than $650k Hagel Urges Cadets to End Scourge of Sex Assault Raw: Gay Rights Activists March in Ukraine Bus Fire Kills 16 Children, Teacher in Pakistan Raw: Pakistan Election Results Protested Raw: Trucker Bumps I-5 Bridge Before Collapse Raw: Texas Deputy Shot by Colo. Suspect Honored Major Detours Following Wash. Bridge Collapse American Held in Grisly Czech Murders Raw: Jersey Shore Reopens for Summer UK-bound Pakistan Plane Diverted, 2 Men Arrested