41st VSGA Senior Four-Ball Championship Event Hub
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Dates: Tuesday, May 23 and Wednesday, May 24
Format: Two rounds of four-ball stroke play. Starting times between 8-10 a.m. on both days off both No. 1 and No. 10. If there's a tie after 36 holes, a sudden-victory playoff will be utilized to determine a champion.
Host site: James River Country Club
Round 2: Brittain and Hurst claim third straight title with final-hole birdie
(pictured: Buck Brittain after the winning birdie putt)
NEWPORT NEWS -- Buck Brittain sank a short birdie putt on the final hole Wednesday at James River Country Club, helping he and partner Jon Hurst clinch their third straight Virginia State Golf Association Senior Four-Ball Championship. Brittain and Hurst shot a 6-under par 64 in Wednesday's second and final round of the 41st playing of the championship for a two-day aggregate total of 10-under 130, one stroke better than the Springfield G&CC side of Danny Derisio and Carlos Aranda.
Derisio and Aranda, playing in the penultimate group ahead of Brittain and Hurst and first-round leaders Rob Menefee and Blair Johnson, put the pressure on Brittain and Hurst when Derisio made a 12-foot birdie putt of his own on 18 to return a second-round 65. Both Brittain and Hurst were just short of the green on the par-5 final hole. Brittain chipped his third shot to about three feet, giving Hurst an opening to go for eagle. After Hurst putted his third shot behind the hole and missed the comebacker for birdie, Brittain sank his putt to secure the win.
Menefee and Johnson, who raced to a four-stroke lead after 18 holes, shot an even-par 70 on Wednesday to finish at 8-under 132, alone in third.
Keith Decker and Scott Shingler finished fourth at 7-under 133 and Philip Mahone and David Williams Jr. finished fifth at 6-under 134.
Notable:
- Brittain and Hurst became the third side to win three Senior Four-Ball titles, joining Bob Moyers and Jim Kite (5) and Pat Tallent and Decker (3). Moyers won all five consecutively between 1991 and 1995. Brittain and Hurst are just the second side to win three straight.
- This was Hurst's 11th VSGA championship, putting him seventh on the all-time list. Moyers is sixth with 13 wins.
- After making a bogey on their first hole in Tuesday's opening round, Brittain and Hurst played the rest of the championship at 11-under. Brittain chipped in for birdie on 17 in the second round to put his side in the lead for the first time.
- For the first time during their run, Brittain and Hurst had to come from behind to claim the victory. They quickly closed the gap on Wednesday as they made an early birdie while Menefee and Johnson bogeyed two of their first three holes, moving Brittain and Hurst to within a stroke of the lead.
- Aranda and Derisio were runners-up to Brittain and Hurst for the second time in three years. They also finished second in 2021 at Boonsboro Country Club.
- Harry Thomas and David Partridge made the biggest move of the day, shooting a 5-under 65 to jump 17 spots into a tie for eighth.
- Six sides shot 66 (4-under) or better in the second round.
Quotable:
- "They never really got going. But they made a couple of birdies and made a couple of big par saves and birdied the par-5s like they should have to get it back up to three." -- Buck Brittain on Menefee and Johnson.
- "We weren't when we hit our second shots. But we knew when we got up to the green that we'd have to make a birdie to stay out of the playoff." -- Hurst on knowing where the side stood going into 18.
- "You know what it's for. Right before I hit it, Jon said, 'You've done this 100 times.' You just go through your routine and you hit the shot and hopefully you get a good result." -- Brittain
- "We're a bunch of mutts, we just keep grinding. We're not that good. But we came through today. The point is, it's golf. You chip it in, you skank it in. Whatever. Carlos played really good early. I played better late." - Danny Derisio
- "We were fortunate to play with Shingler and Decker. A good pairing always helps. Great dudes. Great players. We were fortunate to be there in the end. Carlos is a rock star." -- Derisio
- "Definitely for me. This was only my third tournament in the last four years. So if you would have told me we would have finished in the top five, I'd have been happy." -- Blair Johnson on nerves playing a role in the round.
- "I was telling Blair, there were about 10 swings that I made that were just nervous swings. ... It's a different focus and mindset that you need to play under those conditions, especially against two guys who are that good. They just don't give you any openings. Even though we were in the lead, you knew they were going to come after you." -- Rob Menefee
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Round 1: Menefee-Johnson duo surge to four-stroke lead
(Pictured: Rob Menefee, left, and Blair Johnson)
NEWPORT NEWS -- Rob Menefee (Belle Haven CC) and Blair Johnson (Chantilly National G&CC) posted a smooth bogey-free round of 8-under-par 62 on Tuesday at James River Country Club to take a commanding lead after the first round of the 41st Virginia State Golf Association Senior Four-Ball Championship.
Menefee and Johnson lead three sides with plenty of pedigree heading into Wednesday's second and final round. Two-time defending champions Buck Brittain (The Virginian GC) and Jon Hurst (Fredericksburg CC) shot 4-under 66, as did Keith Decker (Ballyhack GC) and Scott Shingler (Dominion Valley CC), and Danny Derisio and Carlos Aranda (Springfield G&CC). Decker is a four-time Senior Four-Ball champ and has won a regular VSGA Four-Ball title with Shingler in the past. Derisio and Aranda were runners-up to Brittain and Hurst in 2021 at Boonsboro Country Club.
Menefee and Johnson reached the championship through qualifying at Laurel Hill Golf Club. They tried to qualify last year out of Potomac Shores but failed to make the cut. Menefee and Steve Mote finished tied for 25th in 2021 and tied for 5th in 2020.
Menefee and Johnson will play in the final grouping with Brittain and Hurst starting off No. 1 at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
Notable:
- James River is a par-70 layout. Players battled consistent 20 mph winds on Tuesday with significant gusting, which changed the strategy on multiple holes.
- Menefee and Johnson's 62 was the lowest first-round score at the Senior Four-Ball since Keith Decker and Roger Newsom shot 59 at the Golden Horseshoe's Gold Course in 2020.
- Shingler was part of a side that lost a round-of-32 match at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship on Monday at Kiawah in South Carolina and didn't arrive at the course until about 90 minutes before Tuesday's first round. Decker said he did not have a backup partner and would have withdrawn had Shingler and Justin Young were still playing at Kiawah.
- Both sides featuring James River members posted even-par rounds of 70 on Tuesday: the side of Allen Barber and Bob Bailey, and the side of JRCC member Brian Killough, who was playing with Kinloch Golf Club's Greg Bales.
- The course yielded no eagles on Tuesday. In fact, two of JRCC's three par 5s played at above par for the field.
- The par-4 11th was particularly tough for the field, yielding zero birdies and playing to a 4.59 scoring average.
Quotable:
- "The course was made for him. Fast fairways, narrow tee shots. The greens were perfect, and he made three putts of over 25 feet. Just a good day. We made some good par saves too. It was about the most we were going to get out of it. " - Menefee on partner Blair Johnson.
- "Rob hit five or six (5-foot or more par saves), maybe more. That just kept the round going." - Johnson
- "For the most part, it seemed to be pretty consistent as far as where it was coming from. When you get crosswinds, that's when we had a little difficulty trying to judge it. But the times it was blowing downwind, it wasn't too bad." - Menefee
- "We've got to keep the pedal down and do the same thing tomorrow, right? Play to win, and not play to not to lose." - Menefee
- "Keep it on the fairway, keep it on the greens, and we'll see what happens from there." - Johnson
- "It was hard to get it close sometimes because there were some gusts. I think that's why the scores weren't as low as they could have been." -- Brittain
- "The greens are perfect, and we putted terrible on perfect greens." -- Brittain, with a laugh
- "I'd like to be playing with them tomorrow so we can look them in the eye. Hopefully we can go out there and get off to a good start and put the pressure on them." - Hurst, who got his wish, as they'll be in the final pairing with the leaders Menefee and Johnson.
- "It's probably what we deserved. We missed a couple that we could have made, but we didn't make anything that we shouldn't have. I did make one from the bunker, and you don't necessarily count on that. We've got to be happy with it, because we made a bogey." - Decker on his side's 66.
- "You always want a chance, I think we have a chance. So hopefully we'll play well." - Decker
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