NOTE TO MEDIA: Links to scoring, the event preview, photos and previous recaps from this event can be found on the event portal at the link posted above. Please click on the “Media” tab to find those items.
By Chris Lang
GREAT FALLS — Co-medalist Mark Lawrence Jr. of Richmond was one of eight players to advance to the quarterfinals of the 107th Virginia State Golf Association Amateur Championship Thursday at River Bend Club, but it wasn’t easy. The Virginia Tech senior had to rally in both his round of 32 and round of 16 matches to survive, advance, and remain in pursuit of his second Amateur title in four years.
“You’ve just got to try to play your best every single day,” Lawrence said. “You can’t really take your foot off the gas, because you never know when you’re going to run up against a guy who’s just on fire. You’ve just got to put yourself in position to make a lot of birdies.”
The other co-medalist, River Bend member Brandon Berry, wasn’t as fortunate on Thursday. Berry held a 2-up lead with three holes to play in the round of 32, but his opponent, Alex Price, won the last three holes to secure a 1-up victory.
A look at all eight quarterfinalists follows.
Lawrence (Richmond/Independence GC)
Seed: 1 | Results: def. #32 Parker See, 1 up; def. #16 Jordan Utley, 3 and 2
How he got here: Lawrence, pictured, found himself 2 down at the turn in both of his matches Thursday. In both cases, he was able to turn things around. Getting past See, who plays at Radford University and was “hitting the ball as well as I’ve seen him hit it,” Lawrence said, was a chore. Lawrence didn’t take his first lead until making birdie on the par-5 14th. He took the lead for good with a par on 17 but had to roll home a nervy 4-footer on 18 to secure the 1-up victory.
In his second match, Lawrence held steady after the turn while Utley struggled on the inward nine. Utley made back-to-back bogeys to start the back, and Lawrence made birdie on 12 to take a 1-up lead. A birdie on 14 put him 2 up and he closed the match with a par on 16. Lawrence and Utley have met several times in high-profile events, including three times in the VSGA Amateur—the 2018 round of 32, the 2017 final and the 2014 quarterfinals.
Lawrence seems to have an affinity for courses in northern Virginia, having won the title at Creighton Farms in Aldie in 2017 and advancing the quarterfinals at River Bend.
“I like the way the golf courses play up here. I like bentgrass courses,” Lawrence said. “They’re bigger golf courses where you hit a lot of drivers. They’re tree-lined, which suits my eye. I like tree-lined courses. It sort of gives you an idea of where you’ve got to hit it instead of everything being wide open.”
Ross Funderburke (Roanoke/Roanoke CC)
Seed: 8 | Results: def. #25 Connor Johnson Jr., 6 and 5; def. #9 Jimmy Taylor, 1 up
How he got here: After a dominating win in the morning, Funderburke survived a roller coaster of a match in the afternoon. Next up, a quarterfinal matchup with Lawrence Friday morning.
Funderburke looked to be on his way to another stress-free victory in the afternoon, going 3 up on Taylor through eight holes. Funderburke, a sophomore at Furman University, wasn’t fooled, though. He knew what kind of competitor Taylor was, having played a 20-hole marathon against him in last year’s VSGA Junior Match Play Championship. Sure enough, Taylor won the next three holes to tie the match after 11. Funderburke went 2 up again before Taylor won holes 16 and 17 to send the match to the 18th tied.
There, Funderburke drained a tricky downhill putt for birdie to win the match.
“It was probably 12 to 15 feet, but it was just not where I wanted to leave myself,” Funderburke said. “It was a downhill slider. I knew I couldn’t give it a run because Jimmy would probably make par. I tried to find the right line where it could just dive in the hole.”
Funderburke said last month at the State Open that his short game has improved immensely since starting his college career at Furman, and that held true on Thursday. He chipped in three times on the front nine alone against Taylor.
“My chipping and putting have been the rock I’ve been leaning on these past couple of days,” Funderburke said.
Vince Wheeler (Roanoke/Roanoke CC)
Seed: 20 | Results: def. #13 Frank Alafoginis 2 and 1; def. #4 Blake Carter, 1 up
How he got here: Both of Wheeler’s matches on Thursday changed on River Bend’s three closing holes. In the morning, he was 2 down to Alafogonis before winning 16, 17 and 18 to go to the turn 1 up. (They started their match on No. 10). The situation was a bit more dire in the afternoon against Martinsville’s Carter.
Wheeler was 2 down with three to play, but again, managed to sweep the final three holes, two-putting for par on 18 to defeat Carter after the latter dropped a shot for hitting his approach into a penalty area.
“I mean, I was stressed out,” Wheeler said. “I didn’t want to go home yet. And I’m glad I didn’t have to.”
Tyler Gulliksen (Dunn Loring/Fort Belvoir GC)
Seed: 12 | Results: def. #21 Bryce Corbett, 2 and 1; def. #5 Justin Young, 3 and 2
How he got here: By defeating a close friend in the afternoon. Gulliksen never trailed against Young, held a 2-up lead at the turn and pushed it to 3 up on 15. He won the match with a par on 16.
“You don’t want to play a friend in the bracket, especially for us mid-ams,” Gulliksen said. “There are so many good college kids, you just want to see (the mid-ams) spread out so we have a chance. I knew JY would grind it and win his morning match. He’s a great player. He didn’t play his greatest today, but I just played solid. I didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes and just kept the ball in the fairway.”
Gulliksen is making his farewell tour of the VSGA circuit—for now at least. Gulliksen is in the U.S. Navy and will head back to San Diego in October to meet his wife, who is active in the U.S. Marine Corps. Both will be on active duty but hope to return to Virginia once their service is done. For Gulliksen, a deep run in this event would be special.
“I’m going to miss it,” Gulliksen said. “I’m going to miss all of my buddies. I want to make of the most of it right now, play some good golf and play with a lot of my friends before I have to depart.”
Dustin Groves (Charlottesville/The Club at Glenmore)
Seed: 26 | Results: def. #7 Carter Morgan, 19 holes; def. #23 Chris Lane, 3 and 1
How he got here: Groves, who reached the quarterfinals of the Amateur in 2018 at The Federal Club, needed to survive a nine-for-eight playoff on Wednesday just to reach match play. But once there, he dispatched Morgan, another 2018 quarterfinalist, in the morning before cruising past Lane in the afternoon session.
Groves won the first hole against Lane with a birdie and led the entire match. He took a 3-up lead after five holes, and though Lane cut the lead to one hole with a birdie on 11, Groves regained control with a par on 13 and won the match with a par on 17.
Alex Price (Purcellville/Stoneleigh G&CC)
Seed: 31 | Results: def. #2 Brandon Berry, 1 up; def. #15 Matthew Cocorikis, 20 holes
How he got here: At the last minute, basically. Price wasn’t in the field until Monday morning. As an alternate, he took the place of Brandon Cigna, an exempt player who dropped out early Monday.
“I mean, I was hoping for it, but I wasn’t expecting it,” Price said. “My dad and I were actually talking, and we were saying that if by last Thursday or Friday, if we don’t get the call, it wasn’t going to happen. I just happened to go to bed early and wake up early on Monday.”
Given an opportunity, Price ran with it. But appropriately, he too needed to survive the nine-for-eight playoff to reach match play. Then he blitzed Berry, the hometown favorite, taking a 3-up lead after seven holes. But Berry was up to the task, rallying to take a 2-up lead through 15. Price swung the momentum again, winning the final three holes to advance to the afternoon.
Price again needed late-match magic in the afternoon, making birdie on 18 to force his match with Cocorikis to extra holes. He won with a par on No. 2, the 20th hole.
Teddy Zinsner (Alexandria/Belle Haven CC)
Seed: 3 | Results: def. #30 Charlie Kennedy, 4 and 3; def. #14 Mikey Moyers, 21 holes
How he got here: By making an unlikely birdie on 18 to force extra holes in the afternoon. Zinsner, a past VSGA Junior Stroke Play champion who plays at Yale, made a mess of his third shot on 18 against Moyers, but made an impressive putt for birdie to keep the match going.
“It was pretty crazy,” Zinsner said. “My first two shots were fine, and I had like 40 yards in. It was a little touchy shot, and I just kind of decelerated on it and left it 40 feet away on the front of the green, and then made it.”
Zinsner made a conceded two-putt par on No. 3, the third extra hole, and advanced when Moyers’ 4 footer for par lipped out. Zinsner advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time.
“This is definitely the tournament I was looking forward to most this summer,” Zinsner said. “So it’s nice to finally break through.”
David Stanford (Vienna/Army Navy CC)
Seed: 6 | Results: def. #27 Drew Brockwell, 2 and 1; def. #11 Isaac Simmons, 1 up
How he got here: Stanford continued his mastery of River Bend’s 18th hole, tapping in from two feet away from birdie to defeat Simmons and advance to meet Zinsner. Both Stanford and Zinsner are past VSGA Junior Stroke Play champions. Stanford made eagle on 18 in both stroke-play rounds and despite being “a little scared” after Simmons hit it to three feet on the previous two holes to cut Stanford’s 3-up lead to 1, he said he was confident he would hit the green on 18, and he did.
On the way, Stanford played two rounds with Virginia Tech’s Lawrence and defeated another Hokie in Brockwell in the round of 32. Committed to Tech, Stanford heard plenty of good things about the program over the tournament’s first few days.
“I’ve been asking questions pretty much throughout all of the rounds,” Stanford said. “It’s so great to hear what they have to say about the program. It just tells me that I chose the right place.”
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.