When Bob Bailey and Robert Nussey Jr., combined for a 13-under 59 on Thursday in the second round of the VSGA Senior Four-Ball Championship, it was the round hear ‘round Virginia.
The 59 broke the single-round championship record by two shots and is believed to be the first 59 ever recorded in a VSGA championship. It led Bailey and Nussey to a one-shot victory at Wintergreen (Va.) Resort’s Stoney Creek Golf Course.
“It’s a special round,” said Bailey, a member at James River Country Club in Newport News. “I’ll never forget it.
“There’s a guy at our club who likes to do these prop bets, and he asked me what I thought I’d shoot if I played a four-person captain’s choice with me hitting all four balls. I told him, 12 (under), maybe. You have to roll a lot of putts in. So to do that in two-person best ball, that’s special.”
Bailey and Nussey bookended the round with eagles on an opening and closing par 5. They had a string of five consecutive birdies from Nos. 5-9, and four consecutive from Nos. 12-15.
“We knew we had to hit some good drives on that last hole to give us some eagle opportunities,” Nussey said. “I thought we were at 60, actually. I didn’t realize we had a chance at 59.”
Added Bailey: “When we got to 10 under, I thought if we could make a couple of more, we could at least get the other guys thinking.”
After shaving 10 shots off their opening 69, the winning duo finished ahead of Keith Decker and Matt Sughrue. Interestingly, Sughrue paired with Brandon Cigna to win the Virginia Four-Ball earlier this month.
Information from VSGA used in this report
