10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Reale leads by 1 shot after third round of West Virginia Amateur

A 5-under par 65 on Tuesday’s moving day has Philip Reale in solo possession of first place entering the final round of the 102nd West Virginia Amateur Championship.

Playing the par-70 Meadows Course at The Greenbrier, Reale carded one eagle, four birdies and a bogey to go with 12 pars and move him to 5-under for the tournament.

He eagled the par-5 fourth hole two days after recording a double bogey on it in the opening round. Reale, a Hurricane resident, also made birdies on the seventh, eighth, 10th and 13 holes, while his lone bogey came on No. 12.

Reale, who began with a 69 in round 1 at Meadows and followed it with Monday’s 1-over par 71 at Old White TPC, leads by one shot while he seeks his first win in the event.

Former West Virginia University golfer and Scott Depot native Chris Williams is in second place at 4-under par after Tuesday’s 67. Williams overcame a poor start that left him 5-over par through four holes and included a triple bogey on the par-3 third. He made six birdies and one eagle over his final 12 holes. The eagle came on No. 8, one of three par 5 holes at Meadows.

Reigning state amateur champion and West Liberty golfer Alex Easthom carded a third round 69 and is tied for third with Marshall golfer Joseph Kalaskey at 2-under par. Kalaskey finished 4-under par Tuesday to move well into contention.

The fifth and final golfer under par is Noah Mullens, a Thundering Herd teammate of Kalaskey. Mullens’ third round 67 allowed him to move into fifth place at 1-under par.

The top 10 is rounded out by Bridgeport’s Hutson Chandler (even), Falling Waters’ Ryan Crabtree (+2) and a three-way tie for eighth between Charles Town’s Christian Boyd, Weirton’s Howie Peterson and Beckley’s Isaiah Zaccheo at +3.

John Francisco’s third round 64 at The Meadows tied the course record. Photo courtesy of WVGA

Shepherdstown native John Francisco was part of the first group off the tee Tuesday and moved all the way up to 13th place after tying the Meadows course record with a 6-under 64. Francisco made eight birdies against two bogeys to shoot up the leaderboard.

The 64 tied Mason Williams’ mark from the final round of the 2019 state amateur, which he won in a three-man playoff that Reale was part of.

Reale, a former standout at Gilmer County High School who went on to play at East Carolina, finished tied for 16th at last year’s state amateur and tied for 20th at the West Virginia Open in June.

Anthony Reale, the younger brother of Philip, won the state amateur in 2007. He also played at ECU.

Reale will play with Chris Williams and Easthom in Wednesday’s final round at Old White starting at 10:15 a.m.

The first and third rounds of the event are held at Meadows, while Old White is the venue for the second and final rounds.

Complete scoring through round 3

Round 4 tee times





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