Most of the contestants in last week's Roanoke Valley Play Championship said they never had heard of Brian Langley.

Well, they know him now.

Langley, a 17-year-old rising senior at Blacksburg High School making his tournament debut, introduced himself in resounding fashion, winning four matches before being eliminated by eventual champion Scott Wise 1-up in last Sunday's semifinals.

Not bad work by a guy making his first stab at match play.

"Hopefully, I've made myself better known," Langley said. "It's nice to gain a little respect around this place."

Langley, seeded 26th in the 64-player amateur division bracket, took care of that when he stunned three-time champion David Tolley of Roanoke in 19 holes in Saturday's third round.

"It was pretty cool," Langley said. "My dad said Tolley had been a runner-up in the U.S. Amateur [1983] and played in the Masters [1984].

"It was my first match-play tournament and I really learned a lot. For a first showing, I'm proud of it."

Talk about a kid who does things in a hurry. Langley, whose lean body has sprouted by 7 inches the past year, didn't take up the game until four years ago.

"I played football until the seventh grade," he said. "Then, my dad asked me to try and play golf, and I just love it. I've worked hard and it has come pretty fast."

The door is open

The field for this week's Roanoke Valley Women's Golf Association's City-County tournament appears to have been given a reprieve. Salem's Dot Bolling, who has won the event a record 15 times, has withdrawn in the wake of her selection to the Virginias squad that will compete in the 53rd Virginias-Carolinas team matches that run Monday through Wednesday at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Bolling and Ridgeway's Fran Hensley are among eight senior players named to the squad. Reigning VSGA Junior Girls' champion Jessica Hollandsworth of Floyd, last year's State Amateur runner-up Misha Harvey of Forest, and Bassett's Kameron Carter, who lost in the semifinals of last week's State Am, also were named to the squad.

Dime a dozen

So you've never made a hole-in-one? Roanoke's Jack Dillon has made a few.

The old-timer recorded his course-record 40th ace on July 4 at the par-3 Brookside Golf Club, holing out at the 75-yard eighth hole with a sand wedge.

Sand blasts

Hollandsworth, who is heading to Maryland on scholarship this fall, won both matches in which she competed in helping her home state squad to victory in the Virginia-Maryland team matches last week in Ellicott, Md. Virginia has never lost in the competition, posting a 9-0-1 record. ... Buoyed by her first AJGA victory in last month's Stars of Texas event, Roanoke's Meredith Swanson has moved to a career-high 109th in the latest Golfweek/Titleist rankings. Swanson buried the field by 14 shots. ... Roanoke's Chris Wirt will finish his college playing career at Radford University. Wirt is transferring from Elon (N.C.) University and will have two years of eligibility left.