Arlington resident captures Virginia Public Links title
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One might have been confused watching the 18th hole in the Virginia Public Links Championship Monday at Laurel Hill.
After Jason Copeland, trailing 1 down, laid up on the par 5 hole, Jimmy Delp, leading 1 up, went for the green. Standing 210 yards from the pin and peering over a hazard, it was a daring choice.
But with a towering, wind-aided 6-iron that he hit to within 15 feet, Delp pulled off the courageous shot and clinched the title in the 6th annual Virginia Public Links, a tournament limited to players not affiliated with a private club.
In defeating 2005 Virginia Public Links champion Copeland of Virginia Beach, Delp, a 30-year-old from Arlington, won the biggest title of his golf career.
“I can not flat remember the last time I won anything big,” said Delp, who works for the Department of the Interior. “It’s definitely my first [Virginia State Golf Association] title. It’s nice to do it, especially out here. I love this golf course.”
Wide open and long, Laurel Hill suits the big-hitting, 6-foot-3 Delp, who consistently out-drove the 5-foot-7 Copeland, a left-hander. On the 18th hole, Delp blew his 3-wood tee shot 20 yards past Copeland, who hit a driver.
Copeland, 31, a teacher and golf coach at Kellam High, had 230 yards to the pin and stuck to his conservative game plan. It seemed a solid decision considering how many times he had saved par with his on-target pitches and chips. Copeland’s choice didn’t alter Delp’s thinking.
“I had a good breeze. I wasn’t afraid,” said Delp. “If I can’t hit a 6-iron [210] yards to a big green, I don’t deserve to win.”
Delp is comfortable on par 5s. At No. 5, a 524-yard par 5, Delp hit a 6-iron 205 yards to within five feet, a putt Copeland conceded. Delp also won No. 4, with an 8-iron to within 7 feet for a birdie, and No. 6, with a 9-iron to within 10 feet for another birdie. When Delp won No. 7 with a par, he had the lead, 4 up.
But Copeland, the medalist in stroke play Friday and Saturday, chipped away with birdies at No. 9 and No. 11 to cut the deficit in half.
At No. 13, Delp, after playing the first 12 holes in 4-under-par, hit a wild drive and made a triple bogey. On the next hole, a 218-yard par 3, Delp pushed his tee shot into a deep bunker, roughly 25 feet below the green. But Delp exploded to the fringe and followed with a 15-foot putt to save par and keep the lead, which he never relinquished.
“He made an unbelievable up and down on 14,” said Copeland. “That might have changed the match.”
