By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Peggy Kirk Bell Golf Tour (PKBGT) is coming to Lake Monticello for the Commonwealth Classic on the weekend of March 30-31, and will bring top young women golfers to the course.
The PKBGT is in its 13thseason, with a series of tournaments staged across Virginia and the Carolinas for elite young golfers. The PKBGT is an initiative of the non-profit Triad Youth Golf Foundation, which is dedicated to the development of girls’ golf in partnership with LPGA-USGA girls’ golf.
There are four levels of play for girls between 9 and 18 years old. The Commonwealth Classic is for the participants in the top level and the girls who qualify have to establish that they have consistently recorded scores below 80 in tournaments played from the red tees. This is a very high standard of play.
Last year the Commonwealth Classic was a two-round event played over a 6,000+ yard layout at the Birdwood course, which is the home course for the University of Virginia men’s and women’s teams. However, the Birdwood course is now under reconstruction. Last year, the top five finishers in the Commonwealth Classic all recorded two rounds in the 70s
The tour is now in full swing. On the weekend of March 17-18, the young golf athletes played The Spring Invitational on the Links at Stoney Point Course in Greenwood, S.C. On the weekend of March 22-23, they will play the Cape Fear Classic over the Country Club of Landfall-Marsh at UNCW.
This year the competitors in the Commonwealth Classic will tee off at the Lake Monticello course at 10 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. There will not be a shotgun start. All players will tee off in succession on hole number one. Spectators are encouraged to come out and watch these elite players navigate their way around the challenging Lake Monticello course.
