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By Chris Lang
MIDLOTHIAN – Four champions were crowned Wednesday morning at Salisbury Country Club as the 5th Virginia State Golf Association Mid-Senior Amateur and 26th VSGA Super Senior Amateur championships concluded.
Martinsville’s Keith Decker added to his VSGA-leading total with his 31st career victory in the Mid-Senior Amateur for players ages 60 and older. In the Super Senior Amateur, Virginia Beach’s Jeff Flax claimed the title in the 65+ division for his first VSGA championship. There were repeat winners in the other two Super Senior divisions, with Richmond’s John Cuomo (70+) and Virginia Beach’s George Owens (75+) taking home trophies.
5th VSGA Mid-Senior Amateur Championship
Fresh off a win in the senior division of the Fox Puss Invitational at Boonsboro Country Club last weekend, Decker completed an impressive three-day run in his Mid-Senior Amateur debut with a 4-and-3 win over Williamsburg’s Kent Erdahl.
Decker won his 30th VSGA championship in July when he teamed with Roger Newsom to win the Senior Four-Ball, and with this win, he joined David Partridge as the only players to ever win the VSGA Amateur, VSGA Mid-Amateur, VSGA Senior Amateur and VSGA Mid-Senior Amateur championships.
“I can’t complain,” Decker said. “We’re all being careful of where we stay and what we do. We don’t have big dinners like we used to. So that’s been different. But golf has been a real refuge for a lot of people. It’s the greatest sport in the world. Better than the rest of them combined.”
Erdahl (Two Rivers CC) struggled early with his putter, missing two from close range that cost him. Decker pounced to win holes 2 and 3 and grab a quick 2-up lead. He pushed the lead to 4 up by the turn and essentially sealed the match with a par on No. 10 that put him 5 up. Erdahl’s lone win was on No. 11, but he wasn’t able to make up any further ground, as the players split the next four holes. The match ended when they halved No. 15 with pars.
“There’s always tension,” Decker said. “The worst thing you can do is let your mind get ahead of you. Sometimes it does, and only bad things happen then. You’ve got to pay attention. One shot at a time – you’ve heard it 1,000 times – but in this case, I was just trying to hit fairways and greens and force him to go for shots.”
As far as winning?
“It never gets old,” he said. “Never. In fact, it gets better.”
Super Senior Amateur (65+)
Flax (Cavalier G&YC), a Virginia Beach attorney, has been playing in VSGA events since he was a kid, yet he was never able to hoist a trophy before Wednesday. He earned it with stellar back-nine play, turning a close match into a runaway by winning the final four holes to defeat McLean’s Harry Thomas (Kinloch GC) 4 and 2.
“I just tried to play my own game, play steady,” Flax said. “I played really well today, hardly missed a shot.”
Thomas led 1 up after 10 holes before running into disaster on the par-3 11th. After leaving his tee shot right and short of the green, he flubbed his chip shot, leaving it short again. He managed to get up and down for bogey, but Flax made his birdie to tie the match. Flax won Nos. 13 and 14 with pars and clinched the match with back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16.
Super Senior Amateur (70+)
Cuomo (Stonehenge G&CC) won his second straight age-division championship with relative ease. He didn’t play past the 15th hole at Salisbury in match play. Last year at Indian Creek, he only reached the 16th hole in one of his matches. He defeated Patrick Gregory 4 and 3 in the championship match Wednesday, his second straight win over a Salisbury member after eliminating Jim Hudson in the semifinals.
“I don’t know what it is, I just like match play,” Cuomo said. “You don’t have to make a lot of birdies. You just have to drive it in the fairway and putt pretty good, and that’s kind of what I do.”
Cuomo never trailed in Wednesday’s title match, taking a 1-up lead with a par on No. 3. Gregory tied it on the next hole, but Cuomo won the next two holes to go 2 up, and he pushed the lead to 5 up after winning the 12th hole.
Cuomo won his third title in the event, his first coming in the 65+ division in 2013.
Super Senior Amateur (75+)
Like Cuomo, Owens added a third title to his resume, defeating Springfield’s Roger Pitkin (Army Navy CC) 1 up. Owens also won the 65+ title in 2011 at Wintergreen Resort.
After an up-and-down title match in which Owens led 2 up after six holes but trailed by one after 15, Owens rallied with a crucial two-putt par on 17 to tie the match, then won it with a bogey on 18.
“We gave each other a few holes,” Owens said. “You just have to survive, and make a few pars, and that’s what I did.”
Owens’ drive on 18 drifted right and hit a tree, falling well short of the fairway near the cart path. He hit an excellent second shot that settled left and short of the green. Meanwhile, Pitkin’s drive was in the left rough, and his approach went long and over the green. Owens couldn’t get up and down for par, but neither could Pitkin. He elected to try to putt from the fringe to a tricky downhill hole location and left it well short, then slid his second putt well past the hole. He needed two more putts to get home, and Owens won with a two-putt bogey.
“It’s so much fun playing and competing,” Owens said. “Some people like competition, and some don’t. I just like playing with this bunch of good guys. It’s fun.”
Chris Lang is the Editor of Virginia Golfer magazine and the VSGA’s manager, digital media.
5th VSGA Mid-Senior Amateur Championship
At Salisbury Country Club, Midlothian
Par 72, 6,380 yards
Tuesday’s quarterfinal matches
#1 David Partridge (Manakin) def. #8 John Lombardozzi (Herndon), 4 and 3
#4 Keith Decker (Martinsville) def. #5 Hung Yim (Midlothian), 7 and 6
#2 Dave Pulk (Williamsburg) def. #7 Byron Ballard (Richmond), 1 up
#6 Kent Erdahl (Williamsburg) def. #3 Mike Krulich (Blacksburg), 4 and 3
Tuesday’s semifinal matches
#4 Decker def. #1 Partridge, 4 and 3
#6 Erdahl def. #2 Pulk, 2 and 1
Wednesday’s championship match
#4 Decker def. #6 Erdahl, 4 and 3
26th VSGA Super Senior Amateur Championship
At Salisbury Country Club, Midlothian
65+ age division
Par 72, 6,188 yards
Tuesday’s quarterfinal matches
#8 Dayton Slater (Richmond) def. #1 Leon Roday (Henrico), 2 and 1
#4 Jeff Flax (Virginia Beach) def. #5 Jimmy Angel (Midlothian), 2 and 1
#2 Tim Vigotsky (Centreville) def. #7 Randy Leyshon (Kents Store), 6 and 5
#6 Harry Thomas (McLean) def. #3 Mike McDonald (Williamsburg), 3 and 2
Tuesday’s semifinal matches
#4 Flax def. #8 Slater, 7 and 6
#6 Thomas def. #2 Vigotsky, 19 holes
Wednesday’s championship match
#4 Flax def. #6 Thomas, 4 and 2
70+ age division
Par 72, 5,816 yards
Tuesday’s quarterfinal matches
#8 Jim Hudson (Midlothian) def. #1 Mike Brown (Clifton), 3 and 2
#4 John Cuomo (Richmond) def. #5 Jim Malone (Charlottesville), 4 and 2
#2 James Bryant (Richmond) def. #7 Terry Towler (Dillwyn), 3 and 2
#6 Pat Gregory (Midlothian) def. #3 Chips Wooddy (Troutville), 3 and 1
Tuesday’s semifinal matches
#4 Cuomo def. #8 Hudson, 4 and 3
#6 Gregory def. #2 Bryant, 5 and 4
Wednesday’s championship match
#4 Cuomo def. #6 Gregory, 4 and 3
75+ age division
Par 72, 5,449 yards
Tuesday’s quarterfinal matches
#1 George Owens (Virginia Beach) def. #8 Tom Hackett (Powhatan), 3 and 1
#5 Joe Cochran (Staunton) def. #4 Dave King (Reston), 2 and 1
#2 Bill Smiley (North Chesterfield) def. #7 Harry Lea (Danville), 2 and 1
#6 Roger Pitkin (Springfield) def. #3 John Casstevens (Glen Allen), 1 up
Tuesday’s semifinal matches
#1 Owens def. #5 Cochran, 4 and 3
#6 Pitkin def. #2 Smiley, 2 up
Wednesday’s championship match
#1 Owens def. #6 Pitkin, 1 up