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By Chris Lang
CHARLOTTESVILLE — After an early deluge of rain at Birdwood Golf at Boar’s Head Resort, the first two rounds of match play at the 74th Virginia State Golf Association Senior Amateur Championship were completed on Wednesday, with barely any daylight to spare.
The top three seeds won twice to advance on Wednesday, including stroke-play medalist Keith Decker. Several matches were tightly contested, with six in the round of 32 alone going to 20 holes or more. Three more in the round of 16 went to extra holes.
The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, with the 18-hole championship match set to begin at 8 a.m. on Friday.
SCOUTING THE QUARTERFINALS
#1 Keith Decker (Ballyhack GC) vs. #9 Steve Serrao (Willow Oaks CC)
- Decker’s path: def. #32 Paras Pandya, 3 and 2; def. #17 Ed Patchett, 5 and 3
- Serrao’s path: def. #25 Flip Collins, 3 and 2; def. #8 Mark Funderburke, 3 and 2
Decker, the VSGA’s all-time wins leader with 31, trailed just once in his two matches on Wednesday, falling behind on the third hole against Pandya as the rain reached monsoon levels. The players were then pulled from the course for a two-hour delay.
“That was when the rain was coming really hard, the wind was in our face, and I had to hit a 3-wood on my second shot on a par 4,” Decker said. “I slipped, the club slipped, and the ball went in the pond. It was not fun at all. I’m glad (the rain) stopped.”
Otherwise, Decker had the sort of day expected of a stroke-play medalist. He took the lead for good against Pandya with a birdie on the 9th and pushed the lead to 2-up on the 10th with another birdie. Against Patchett, he was 3 up through six holes and closed out the match with a par on 15.
Seeking his fourth Senior Amateur title and first since 2016, Decker will face the 2019 champion Serrao—a former University of Virginia player—in Thursday’s first quarterfinal. He expects a tough match.
“I think I’d consider him the favorite on this golf course,” Decker said. “He’s played here a bunch. He’s played in a tournament here a couple of weeks ago. He’s a UVA guy and all of that. I hope it’s a good match.”
A match is never over until it’s actually over, as Serrao discovered in Wednesday’s round-of-16 match against Funderburke. Playing freer than he did in a tense early match with Collins, Serrao bolted to a 6-up lead through 11 holes against Funderburke. On the par-5 12th, Serrao’s eagle putt—which would have ended the match—came up a half inch short, and Funderburke made a birdie putt to extend the match.
A couple of Serrao bogeys and a Funderburke eagle later, the match was on the 16th hole. Serrao matched Funderburke’s birdie on that par-4 hole to end the match.
“I’m a goofball out there, thinking ‘what hotel am I going to stay in?’” Serrao said. “And then all of a sudden, it’s like, dang, I’ve got to make some birdies, because Mark’s good. He’s tough. He’s a good putter and a good competitor.”
Serrao was last year’s stroke-play medalist and reached the quarterfinals before falling to Scott Reisenweaver. He expects to play free and loose in Thursday’s match against Decker.
“Everybody respects Keith. He’s so good,” Serrao said. “He destroyed all of us in stroke play. For me, luckily, I saw some better shots this afternoon. I feel if I can do that again, I can compete. And that’s all I’m trying to do. I won’t be worrying about losing, because, who cares if you lose to Keith Decker, right? But I really want to beat him.”
#12 Scott Blankenship (Danville GC) vs. #29 Kevin South (Magnolia Green GC)
- South’s path: def. #4 Neil Davis, 20 holes; def. #13 David Williams Jr., 20 holes
- Blankenship’s path: def. #21 Jeff Hunter, 3 and 2; def. #28 Jay Serrao, 2 and 1
South won the VSGA Junior Stroke Play title in 1987, but the trophy that came with the victory was long gone by the time he was an adult. His mother had apparently donated it to Goodwill before moving across the country. At some point, someone from Nebraska stumbled upon it and contacted the VSGA, trying to find the trophy’s owner. Eventually, it found its way back to South.
“It’s in pretty bad shape,” South noted. “But I have it.”
Having battled some injuries in the last few years, South is back playing competitive golf, and he’s left himself with an opportunity to win another trophy. “It would kind of bookend things, yes,” he joked.
South had to work on Wednesday, going to the second extra hole in both matches before winning. In the match with Williams, he made a birdie on 17 to tie the match and won the match with a par on No. 2.
He’ll meet Danville’s Blankenship, who trailed for just two holes on Wednesday. After losing the first hole to Hunter, he tied that match on 3, led 2 up through seven holes and rolled to victory. He was 3 up through five against Serrao, and his lead never dipped below 2 up after that.
#2 Buck Brittain (The Virginian GC) vs. #7 Matt Sughrue (Trump National GC, Washington DC)
- Brittain’s path: def. #31 Jack Allara, 20 holes; def. #18 Robert Nussey, Jr., 20 holes
- Sughrue’s path: def. #26 Bill Apple, 4 and 2; def. #10 Rich Buckner, 19 holes
The Sughrue-Buckner match was a thriller, with Buckner jumping out to a 3-up lead through three thanks to three birdies, leaving Sughrue in scramble mode the rest of the way. Sughrue, who won last year’s Senior Open of Virginia, nearly made an albatross on the par-5 15th hole and then made a 15-fooot birdie putt on 16 to tie the match. On 18, Sughrue made an excellent up and down, and then won on a conceded birdie on the first extra hole after Buckner lost a ball.
“It was a great match,” Sughrue said. “It could have gone either way.”
Brittain, the defending tournament champion, went the distance to advance to the second day of match play, sinking a 4-foot birdie putt at 8:14 p.m. as the last of the daylight faded to defeat Nussey in 20 holes. On the final hole, the par-5 2nd, both players hit their approach shots into penalty areas but chose to play out of them. Each player knocked difficult shots past the green.
Brittain flopped his fourth shot to within four feet, while Nussey—who had a more difficult lie on his fourth shot—left his short of the green and missed a long par putt.
#3 Jon Hurst (Fredericksburg CC) vs. #22 David Jordan (Willow Oaks CC)
- Hurst’s path: def. #30 Scott Richards, 5 and 4; def. #14 Willie Diggs, 3 and 2
- Jordan’s path: def. #11 Somsak Chivavibul, 20 holes; def. #27 Philip Mahone, 4 and 2
This match will feature the last two winners of the VSGA Senior Stroke Play Championship.
Hurst, who won this year’s Senior Stroke Play title and was on the winning side at the VSGA Senior Four-Ball Championship, kept his hopes alive of winning a third VSGA senior title in 2021 by cruising through a pair of matches on Wednesday.
Hurst jumped out to a 4-up lead through seven holes against Richards and rolled from there, closing out the round-of-32 match with a par on 14. Though he never trailed, Hurst was tested more in the round-of-16 match with Diggs.
Diggs made a birdie on 11 to cut Hurst’s lead to 1 up, but Hurst took advantage of a Diggs bogey on 13 and made par to go back 1 up. He closed out the win on 16.
Jordan won the 2019 Senior Stroke Play title (the 2020 event was canceled due to the pandemic). He survived a tough match with Somsak Chivavibul in the first round, making birdie on the par-5 2nd to win in 20 holes. He took advantage of the back-nine par 5s in the round-of-16 match against Mahone, making birdies on 10 and 12 to take a 2-up lead after the match was tied at the turn.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.