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By Chris Lang
VIRGINIA BEACH – You’ll rarely see big displays of emotions
out of Becca DiNunzio on the golf course. The Norfolk teenager generally plays
with a stoic demeanor, never getting too high or low throughout the play of a
round. So when she lets her guard down a little bit, it tends to tell you
something about how the round is going.
Take her crucial
putt on No. 17 during Tuesday’s second and final round of the 50th
Virginia State Golf Association Junior Girls’ Championship at Broad Bay Country
Club. Clinging to a two-shot lead with Rory Weinfurther hard on her tail, she
deftly rolled a 20-foot putt to save par, and reacted by giving a little fist
pump. She knew the significance of the moment.
The putt
essentially sealed DiNunzio’s victory, and after a birdie on 18, the soon-to-be
Virginia Tech freshman had finally won a championship that she had coveted
since she first played in it as a middle schooler.
“It’s definitely a
huge accomplishment,” said DiNunzio, who followed her opening-round 69 with a
5-under 65 Tuesday to post a two-day aggregate 134 and win by four shots. “It’s
always been one that I’ve wanted to win, ever since I was in the eighth grade.
I always looked up to the girls who won this tournament. To say I won it before
my junior career ends, it’s a good feeling.”
Midlothian’s
Weinfurther, who won the VSGA Women’s Amateur earlier this month, shot 138 to
finish second. Ashburn’s Sydney Hackett, a 15 year old who plays at Rock Ridge
High School, tied for third with Herndon’s Danielle Suh, as both shot two-day
totals of 141. Hackett closed with a 67, the second best score of the day
behind DiNunzio’s 65.
Though the final
spread was four strokes, there was high drama until DiNunzio’s crucial par on
17. DiNunzio and Weinfurther entered the round tied, but DiNunzio made the turn
with a one-stroke advantage and pushed it to two shots with a birdie on No. 11.
Weinfurther, who is committed to the University of Richmond, managed to chip
away at the advantage, sinking a long birdie putt on 14 as DiNunzio made par.
But any time
Weinfurther closed the gap, DiNunzio seemed to dial up a big shot. She hit her
tee shot on the par-3 15th to within six feet and converted her
birdie putt, and Weinfurther made a two-putt par, pushing the edge back to two.
“As the day went
on, she just started throwing darts,” Weinfurther said. “And she converted them
into birdies. It was really fun to be a part of her group.”
DiNunzio admitted
that any time Weinfurther got close, it helped fuel her focus and intensity.
“It definitely adds
to the competitive fire,” she said. “It’s a good learning experience. In
competition, it hurts when a competitor gets something on you. But to be able
to bounce back on the next hole, that’s something that’s definitely good to do.
I’m thankful I was able to do that today.”
On 17, DiNunzio hit
her drive far right into the trees, leaving her a very difficult out with no
real shot at the green. Weinfurther’s drive landed in the middle of the fairway,
and her approach was hole high and far left, leaving her a long birdie putt and
a chance to potentially move into a tie for the lead should DiNunzio fail to
get up and down.
DiNunzio punched
into the rough right and short of the green and hit a tricky pitch shot that
ran 20 feet past the hole before stopping. Weinfurther barely missed her birdie
putt, leaving it about a foot short. DiNunzio then rolled home the nervy par
putt, and Weinfurther missed her tap-in. Instead of going to the par-5 18th
down one stroke, Weinfurther suddenly found herself down three.
“That was huge
moment,” DiNunzio said. “After the bad tee shot, I had to be really risky on my
second shot. That working out OK, it gave me some confidence. Making that long
putt, that was a big moment, because you don’t know if those are going to go in
or not. You just put a good stroke on it and hope it goes in. When it went in,
I felt like I could actually do this.”
It was only
appropriate that the tournament eventually came down to DiNunzio and
Weinfurther, who sparred in the Women’s Amateur semifinals and have chased each
other up and down leaderboards throughout their junior golf careers.
Weinfurther has one more chance to add this title to her resume next year. For
DiNunzio, the win is the beginning of the end of her junior golf career as she
transitions to ACC golf at Virginia Tech.
“I have an AJGA
event up north, and then an AJGA invitational out in California,” DiNunzio
said. “So that will be a good experience for me heading into college golf.
There’s going to be a lot of good competition, so I’m looking forward to ending
my junior career and getting started at Tech.”
Lang is the editor of
Virginia Golfer magazine and the VSGA’s manager, digital media.