Mountain State Golf Classic starts Saturday

Young Guns Highlight Talented Mountain State Golf Classic Field

The only thing predictable about golf is, well, it's unpredictable.

However, in regards to the 2025 Mountain State Golf Classic, one fact is certain, there will not be a back-to-back-to-back champion this year.

Last year Davey Jude won his second title in a row, and fourth overall, but he will miss the tournament this year due to the expected birth of his child.

With two-time champion, and former Shady Spring state champion, Todd Duncan, not in the field, along with Jackson Hill (2019) and Brandon Reece (2018), that makes another former Shady Spring standout, Landon Perry (2017) the most recent champion.

Known in the beginning as the BNI Tournament, an event highlighted by a reunion of friends and competitors, the Mountain State Golf Classic has also become a charity tournament in recent years.

Now in its 46th year, the event now aids the Senior Friends at the Raleigh General Hospital which distributes money to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association and other organizations. The organization receives 100 percent of the proceeds and members serve as volunteers throughout the three-day event.

The annual tournament opens up at Grandview Country Club Saturday, followed by a trip to Pipestem Sunday. The championship round with be flighted and played on the Cobb Course at The Resort at Glade Springs.

Although some of the former champions are absent this year, the talent pool will be filled with young stars.

Perry, Bryson Beaver, Tanner Vest, Chris Daniels, Jack Williams, Josh Arbaugh and Jerod Ewing all finished inside the top-10 last year and will be strong contenders this weekend.

Beaver and Vest recently won the 2025 West Virginia Golf Association Four-Ball title, their third in the last four years, played on the Cobb Course.

Vest is currently playing for Marshall University, while Beaver wrapped up a stellar career with WVU Tech this year, which included an individual River States Conference Tournament championship.

The former Golden Bear has been runner-up the last two years, while Vest was third a year ago.

Jack Williams has quickly developed into one of the best players in the state and helped lead Shady Spring to a win at the AA state golf championship last October in Wheeling.

All-stater Tyler Beard, who was Williams' teammate for the championship run, will also be a strong contender, along with current Concord University standout, Jonah Willson.

Chris Daniels is the veteran of this successful group, but the former Woodrow Wilson state basketball champion always finds himself near the top of the leader-board.

The Mountain State Golf Classic is divided into an Open Division and a Senior Division. All players in the Open division will play the white tees the first two days and the Senior division will play the gold tees.

For the final round, the championship flight will move to the blue tees. The remainder of the field will be flighted and play the white tees.