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By Chris Lang
SUFFOLK — Fredericksburg teenager Grayson Wood and Roanoke’s Ross Funderburke—who plays at Furman University—won twice on Thursday at Cedar Point Club to advance to the 36-hole championship match of the 109th Virginia State Golf Association Amateur Championship.
The championship match will begin on Friday at 7:30 a.m.
Wood—who won the 31st VSGA Junior Match Play Championship last Friday at Willow Oaks Country Club in Richmond and is seeded fourth—defeated Liberty University’s Isaac Simmons 3 and 2 in the semifinals. Funderburke, the No. 6 seed, ousted No. 2 seed Evan Beck of Virginia Beach 2 and 1 to advance to the final.
Both competitors are making their first appearance in the championship match.
THE STORY
Two years ago, Funderburke (Hidden Valley CC) ran into the championship buzzsaw that was Mark Lawrence Jr. at River Bend Club, falling in the quarterfinals 5 and 4. Last year at Country Club of Petersburg, he reached match play but lost a tough match to mid-amateur Ryan Patrick.
“Those weren’t bad memories, actually,” Funderburke said, noting how well his competitors played in those matches.
Still, he was eager to prove he was ready for a deep run in the Amateur.
“I definitely came in—I’m not going to say expecting to win—but expecting to be able to win,” Funderburke said. “I know I’ve gotten a lot better in the last year and a half, I’d say.”
Funderburke opened Thursday with a 2-and-1 win over No. 3 seed Carlo Pizzano. His reward was facing Beck, who was well rested after a 7-and-6 win over Garrett Kuhla, a match that ended on the 12th green. Funderburke was aware of the challenge, noting Beck’s resume over the last year, which included wins in the State Open of Virginia, VSGA Mid-Amateur, and the prestigious Thomas Invitational in Los Angeles.
And for the second straight year, Beck ran into a long-hitting college player in the semifinals who simply outplayed him. Beck shot 4-under over his 17 holes, but Funderburke was even better, working around a bogey on the par-3 16th to shoot 5 under. He jumped to a 3-up lead before Beck started chipping away, beginning with a birdie on the 237-yard par-3 9th hole. Funderburke regained his footing and led 4-up through 14 holes, but he knew Beck wasn’t going away.
Beck won the next two holes and put big-time pressure on Funderburke by nearly holing an eagle chip on 17. Funderburke responded by getting up and down for birdie, clinching the match by sinking a nervy 5-foot putt.
“It’s crazy,” Funderburke said. “It hasn’t set in yet because there’s still 36 holes to go.”
Said Beck: “I didn’t make a bogey and made four birdies. He just beat me today.”
On the other side is Wood, who is riding an epic hot streak heading into Friday’s championship match. Consider this: He had never played in a tournament match before lining up opposite Blacksburg’s Major Ewing last Thursday at Willow Oaks. Since then, he’s rattled off eight straight victories and is on the precipice of doing something that’s never been done in Virginia golf—winning the Junior Match Play and Amateur championships in the same year.
To say it’s been a heck of a two weeks would be an understatement.
“I don’t know, match play is just a lot different than stroke play,” Wood said. “There’s a lot more strategy involved. At least for me, it’s a lot more than just hitting golf shots.”
Perfect example: Wood trailed Simmons early but tied the match with a birdie on No. 6. He lined up to hit his tee shot on the par-4 7th and piped it left into the trees. He was concerned enough that the ball was lost that he hit a provisional. (He found the original ball.) Simmons drove his ball in the fairway but his approach came up just short of the green.
Seeing that, Wood hit a simple punch back into the fairway, then threw a dart at the green, nearly holing out from the fairway for birdie. His approach was within one inch of the hole, and the players went to 8 still tied.
Simmons, who had trouble all week with holes 9-12, continued to struggle with that stretch on Thursday. Wood took advantage and built a 4-up lead through 12 before Simmons rallied, winning the next two holes, including a chip-in for birdie on 14. Unfazed, Wood hit a strong drive on 15 and hit his approach to three feet, sank the birdie putt, then won the match when both players made par on 16.
Simmons, whose previous best result in the Amateur was an appearance in the quarterfinals, was disappointed with the loss but—big picture—left Cedar Point with a renewed sense of confidence heading into his next two events: The Monroe Invitational in New York and the State Open of Virginia at Independence.
“It was a cool week,” Simmons said. “I was actually kind of struggling with my game this week and kind of pieced it together. So it was cool to know that I had maybe my B or B- game and still had a chance to win this.”
NOTES
- As semifinalists, Beck and Simmons are exempt from qualifying for the next two VSGA Amateur Championships. The winner of today’s championship match is exempt from qualifying for life. The runner-up is exempt from qualifying for the next three years.
- The last junior to win the VSGA Amateur was current Wake Forest standout Michael Brennan at Keswick Golf Club in 2019.
- Three of the players Wood defeated on the way to his title last week made match play at Cedar Point this week: Kuhla, Logan Reilly and Jake Albert.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.