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By Chris Lang
HARRISONBURG — Stroke-play qualifying was completed at Spotswood Country Club on Monday at the 6th Virginia State Golf Association Mid-Senior Amateur Championship and the 27th VSGA Super Senior Amateur Championship.
Eight players in three of the four age divisions advanced to the championship flight of match play. (All seven players advanced in the 75+ division). Quarterfinals in each bracket will be held Tuesday, with the semifinals and finals scheduled for Wednesday.
The Mid-Senior Amateur features players ages 60-64. The Super Senior Amateur features three age divisions: 65+, 70+, and 75+.
Keith Decker, a 32-time VSGA champion, earned the top seed in the Mid-Senior Amateur. Stroke-play medalists in the Super Senior Amateur were David Partridge (65+) and Mike Ancel (70+). In the 75+ age division, George Owens and John Casstevens shared medalist honors but Casstevens earned the top seed for match play. Because there are only seven players in that bracket, Casstevens receives a bye to the semifinal round.
THE STORY
Decker, the defending champion in the Mid-Senior Amateur, scorched Spotswood’s layout with a 7-under-par 65, by far the best score of the day. Decker got off to a blazing start, opening his round with three straight birdies and five birdies in his first seven holes. He had one hiccup, a bogey on the par-4 11th hole. But he recovered to make birdie on Nos. 12, 15 and 18 to close at 7 under.
Decker will open his title defense on Tuesday against Richmond’s Mike Ligon, who returned a 9-over 81 and finished a stroke clear of Samuel Bailey for the final championship flight spot.
Roanoke’s Mark Funderburke earned the No. 2 seed, shooting a 1-over 73, a shot better than Yorktown’s Bob Bailey, who returned a 2-over 74. Funderburke will face Lexington’s Kurt Swenson (79) on Tuesday. Bailey will meet Herndon’s John Lombardozzi (78); and two players who shot 76—David Corliss and David Brogan—will meet in the other quarterfinal.
In the Super Senior 65+ division, Partridge—who was inducted into the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame last Wednesday—was the only player to post an under-par score, finishing at 2-under 70 to take medalist honors by two shots over Tony Green and Jack Allara. Partridge—who won the VSGA Super Senior Stroke Play title in June in the same age division—will meet Powhatan’s Jim Woodson in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Woodson survived a three-for-one playoff to claim the final championship flight spot.
Partridge finished his round with three birdies and a bogey.
Ancel posted a 1-over 73 to claim the medalist honor in the 70+ division by three strokes over Williamsburg’s Mike McDonald. Ancel will face Arlington’s Lynn Wessman, who nabbed the final spot in the championship flight by winning a four-for-one playoff.
The two players who teamed to win the 75+ division at the VSGA Super Senior Four-Ball Championship in August shared medalist honors in the same age division on Monday. Both Casstevens and Owens posted 2-over rounds of 74, four shots better than the pair tied for third (Rich Fischer, Steve Kincheloe).
NOTABLE
- Decker is looking to become the first two-time winner of the Mid-Senior Amateur.
- Partridge and Allara finished 1-2 in the Super Senior Stroke Play 65+ in June.
- Mike Brown, who won the VSGA Super Senior Stroke Play 70+ title in June and won the 70+ Super Senior Amateur in 2018, missed out on championship flight match play in the 70+ division. He was one of the four players in the playoff that Wessman won.
- McDonald defeated Ancel in 2017 in the 65+ division Super Senior Amateur title match. McDonald was runner-up in the 70+ division at June’s VSGA Super Senior Stroke Play Championship.
- Should he win, Owens would be the first player to ever win three straight titles in any age division of the Super Senior Amateur.
- Play begins on Tuesday at 8 a.m.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.