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By Arthur Utley
HOT SPRINGS – Allisyn Terry of Leesburg and Cheryl Grigg
of Sea Island, Ga., were the only players to break par on the Omni Homestead
Resort’s Old Course on Monday, and they shared the qualifying medal for the 62nd
VSGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. Each shot 1-under 71.
Meanwhile, Dot
Bolling of Salem posted a 3-over-par 75 on the Old Course to earn the medal and
top seed in match play in the first VSGA Super Senior Women’s Amateur
Championship for players ages 65 and older.
The 18-hole
stroke-play qualifying round determined the 16 players who advanced into the respective
championship flights in the two tournaments.
Neither the seniors
nor super seniors needed a playoff to fill their match-play fields. Players
with the same qualifying totals were seeded based on a blind draw.
Terry (River Creek
Club) won the VSGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play at Willow Oaks Country Club last
month and is playing in the Senior Women’s Amateur for the first time. She drew
the top seed.
Grigg, who is a
member of the Country Club of Virginia and is the second seed, was the medalist
in last year’s Senior Women’s Amateur.
Terry and Grigg
finished five strokes clear of a trio of players who each returned 4-over 76: Cindy
Hollingshead (Manakin-Sabot), Lindsay Wortham (Richmond, CCV) and three-time
past champion Shelley Savage (Alexandria). Wortham is the third seed,
Hollingshead is No. 4 and Savage is No. 5.
Terry’s first-round
opponent is Cindy Thompson of Keswick, and Grigg faces Amy Phelan of Reston.
Terry logged a
birdie, an eagle and two bogeys on the Old Course front nine on Monday. The
eagle came on the par-4 eighth when she holed a pitching wedge from 100 yards
out. After a bogey at the ninth, she carded nine consecutive pars.
“I hit a lot of
greens in regulation. I wouldn’t say I putted great. My long putting was not
very good, but I made all my comeback putts…seems like they were 5-6 footers
every time, and I made them coming back. The greens were a lot faster than [the
practice round]. It was hard to get used to them,” Terry said.
“I actually came
into this tournament with not much confidence. I took another lesson from my
pro. I had been hooking the ball. He got me straightened out a little bit, and
it seemed to work today. I tried to qualify for the U.S. Senior Women’s Am and
hit the ball not good…I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my putting, but I
made enough putts. I still three-putted three times. It helps when you hole out
(No. 8)…It always feels good when you know you’ve played well. That’s why I didn’t
go to the range tonight like I did after my round yesterday. It must feel good
if you aren’t out there working on something.”
Grigg picked up
four birdies but had trouble with two of the back-nine par-3s. She double
bogeyed No. 11 and made bogey at No. 16.
“I did have my eye
on playing well again. I’m so happy to pull it off. I’ve been playing well. I
was just hoping it would hold out this week,” Grigg said.
Even with four
birdies, she said she left some out on the course.
“I just had a good
feel with my putter and I was hitting the ball really well; right where I
wanted it to go…I had some other good looks…of course everybody’s human,” she
said. “You’re just trying to get through the day. Trying to make as many pars
as you can and when you make those birdies it’s always a treat.”
Grigg is one of
five CCV members to reach match play. Only Brenda Baril is in the upper
bracket.
In addition to
Savage, five past champions advanced into match play. Defending champion
Natalie Easterly (Charlottesville, CCV) meets Mimi Hoffman (Springfield, Belle
Haven CC) in a rematch of last year’s final. Hoffman has won three times and
has been runner-up twice since 2011. Easterly is a two-time champion.
Also in the lower
bracket, Boodie McGurn (Richmond, CCV) squares off against Linda DiVall
(Alexandria, Mount Vernon CC). Both are three-time winners of the event.
In an upper bracket
match up, 2017 champion Mary Cabriele (Vienna, CC of Fairfax) meets Baril
(Richmond, CCV).
First-round losers
will drop into the championship consolation flight. Matches also are being
played in five other flights. First-round losers in those flights drop into
consolation flights as well.
Bolling has been lobbying
for a Super Senior (65-and-over) tournament for many years.
“I kept on pursuing
it every chance I could, and finally they caved in,” Bolling said. “You know
the squeak gets the grease.”
Bolling finished
three strokes clear of Sara Cole (78) of Salem in the Super Senior qualifying.
Valeta Pittman of Roanoke was the only other Super Senior to break 80. Pittman,
who was the Senior Women’s Amateur runner-up in 2004, carded a 7-over 79.
Bolling won the
Senior Women’s Amateur in 2001 and was runner-up three times. She was medalist
twice and shared the medal two other times. She also won the VSGA Women’s
Amateur in 2000 and was runner-up in 1993.
Cole was the
Women’s Amateur runner-up in 1992, and Pittman was runner-up in the 2004 Senior
Women’s Amateur.
All three advanced
to match play in last year’s Senior Women’s Amateur.
“It’s good to be in
that position again (medalist and top seed),” Bolling said. “I hit the ball
well. The greens were really, really fast. I had four birdies but I had a
four-putt at No. 4 and three-putted No. 7. I wasn’t too happy. You had to be
very careful not to get above the hole.”
Bolling’s
first-round opponent is Deltaville’s Christy Pitts. Cole plays Debbie Swinson
of Chesterfield, and Pittman meets Debbie Young (Roanoke).
“You know match
play. Everything changes tomorrow. I’m hoping I’ll be there Friday to play
somebody. That’s all I can do. Take it one day at a time.”
Three other past
Senior Women’s Amateur champions qualified. Five-time winner Peggy Woodard
(1996-98, 2000, 2002) received the No. 7 seed based on the blind draw. Fran
Hensley of Ridgeway (1999 champion) is the No. 6 seed, and 1989 winner Joan
Darden of Henrico is the eighth seed.
Utley is a retired
Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer and frequent contributor to VSGA
championship coverage.