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Dates: Tuesday, May 13 and Wednesday, May 14
Format: Two-round of four-ball stroke play in three age divisions: 65+, 70+, and 75+. If there is a tie after 36 holes in any division, a sudden-death playoff will be utilized to determine a champion.
Host site: Blacksburg Country Club
Day 2: Winners crowned in three age divisions
(Jack Allara and Jim Woodson discuss a putting line on the 13th green at Blacksburg Country Club Wednesday. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
BY CHRIS LANG
BLACKSBURG -- Overheard in the Blacksburg Country Club clubhouse on Wednesday: "We got more rain in the last 48 hours than we got in the last 48 days."
Players in the 13th Virginia State Golf Association Super Senior Four-Ball Championship can confirm that. After two lengthy rain/lightning delays suspended play in the first round on Tuesday, players raced to finish their rounds on Wednesday morning. With more rain in the forecast for the afternoon, the committee opted to shorten the second round to nine holes, leaving the originally scheduled 36-hole championship as a 27-hole affair.
That led to a sprint to the finish. Mike Ligon and Jack Catlett emerged from a marathon three-side playoff in the 65+ division, while winners were crowned in regulation in the 70+ (Jack Allara and Jim Woodson) and 75+ (Bill Engel and John Osborne) divisions.
65+
When Ligon and Catlett returned to the Blacksburg clubhouse to collect their trophies after a marathon playoff win, Catlett simply said, "I'm exhausted." Understandable. Though there were a few close calls, Ligon and Catlett, both members at CC of Virginia, and Lakeside Park Club members Rusty Breeden and Tim Kelley were stuck in a rut of two-putt pars for five playoff holes. On the sixth playoff hole, Ligon hit his approach from the right rough on No. 9 to 10 feet and sank the birdie putt to secure victory. Ligon/Catlett, Breeden/Kelly, and Keith Decker/Jon Zampedro all posted 27-hole scores of 8-under 100 to force the playoff.
Once a lightning delay cleared, the three sides teed off on No. 18. Decker/Zampedro were eliminated after a bogey on the first playoff hole, leaving the four Richmond-area competitors to duke it out for the title. Due to course conditions, the sides played No. 18 five times. Each side had a birdie putt lip out in those first five holes, leading to the finish on No. 9, which had dried out enough for the playoff to switch holes.
Both Kelley and Breeden drove left of the hole near the cart path. Catlett was in the middle of the fairway, Ligon in the right rough. Kelley's approach finished 25 feet past the hole, and Breeden put his to within 12 feet. Catlett's approach came up about 20 feet short, leaving Ligon to try to snug it close. Ligon was the last to putt after the other three players all missed their birdie attempts. Ligon hit a slow downhill roller that kissed the bottom of the cup to secure the win.
"It's been a difficult two days with the weather, so it was great to see it go in," Ligon said. "Both sides were dangerously close to birdies earlier (in the playoff)."
Ligon, a Virginia Tech grad, and Catlett, a University of Virginia grad, formed a solid partnership over the two days. They were runners-up in last year's 65+ Super Senior Four-Ball at Fawn Lake Country Club, so to break through in dramatic fashion was satisfying.
"This is a maiden thing for me," Catlett said. "I've played in a bunch of these, and I needed a partner. And Mike was a good one."
70+
Allara (Hidden Valley CC) noted that he and partner Woodson (Mill Quarter) were not neophytes to this sort of competition. They posted a two-day total of 5-under 103 to finish three shots clear of runners-up Jeff Hudgins (CC of Virginia) and Van McCarter (Blue Hills GC). They're also not new to having success at BCC, having won the Alleghany Amateur super senior title earlier this spring at the club.
Woodson has proven a handy partner in four-ball competitions in the last several years. This is his third title in the event since 2019, all coming with a different partner. He won with Leon Roday in 2019, the final year before the event was split into age divisions. He paired with Jimmy Angel in 2020 to win the 65+ division in a playoff. And this week, he won with Allara in the 70+ division. The duo also won the title at the VSGA Super Senior Multi-Format Team Championship last fall.
"I was a football coach for 40 years, and I just love the team part of this," Woodson said. "It's a lot of pressure. You've got your teammate, you don't want to let him down."
The side entered the day two up on the field and managed to "slog it around," as Allara put it, in tough conditions on Wednesday. Woodson made a key birdie on the difficult 12th hole, and the side rebounded from a bogey on 16 to make a birdie on 17 and shut the door on its competition. Hudgins and McCarter posted the best score on the back nine on Wednesday, a 2-under 34, but it wasn't enough to catch the leaders.
75+
Engel, who lives full time in St. Augustine, Fla., but maintains his membership at Army Navy CC and has a home in Virginia, circled this date on the calendar as soon as the schedule was released. He's a "Hokie through and through," and he couldn't pass up the chance to play in a partner competition with one of his childhood friends in Osborne. The two were part of the construction crew some 60 years ago when Blacksburg CC was being built, and he was eager to play in a championship at one of his favorite clubs.
Engel and Osborne took advantage of their length to outpace the field. They finished with a two-day total of 7-under 101 and finished five shots clear of runners-up Terry Towler and Mike Ancel.
"We played in high school together (at Blacksburg HS), and Bill's a year older than me, so we played three years in high school and three years in college together," Osborne said.
That longtime friendship helped the duo navigate the tricky weather conditions.
"It's the same for everybody out here, you have to remind yourself of that," Engel said. "Everything is going through the same thing, so don't let it bother you. Try to make your next shot your best shot."
The winners made just one bogey in the event, on the par-4 10th in Tuesday's opening round.
Day 1: Storms force suspension of opening round
(Tim Vigotsky and partner Dave Pulk hold a two-stroke lead through 15 holes in the 65+ division. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
BY CHRIS LANG
BLACKSBURG -- The unpredictability of spring mountain golf was in full effect Tuesday at Blacksburg Country Club as players in the 13th Virginia State Super Senior Four-Ball Championship battled the elements all day long.
BCC's greens and fairways survived Monday night's steady rains, and though the forecast called for storms for much of Tuesday, a change from tee times to a 9 a.m. shotgun start allowed most players to get in 12 holes or so, some in brilliant sunshine, before play was halted around noon due to dangerous weather in the area. After a delay of more than three hours, play resumed just after 3 p.m., allowing for the completion of a few more holes. But another band of punishing rain just after 4 p.m. halted play for the day.
The first round will resume at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. A decision will be made after that on how the second round will proceed, depending on weather. The forecast (as of late Tuesday afternoon) called for shower chances throughout the morning and into the late afternoon. The second round could be played as scheduled, could be cut to nine holes, or could be scrapped altogether depending on conditions. As long as one 18-hole round is complete, champions in each division can be declared.
NOTABLE
- Eight sides were within three shots of the lead in the 65+ division when play was suspended, with all sides completing at least 14 holes. Tim Vigotsky (Robert Trent Jones GC) and Dave Pulk (Two Rivers CC) were at 7-under through 15 holes in unconfirmed live scoring (scores are only confirmed after a round is complete). They started on No. 12 and racked up five birdies and an eagle. They will finish with holes 9, 10, and 11 on Wednesday.
- Right behind Vigotsky and Pulk were two sides tied at 5-under through 15 holes: Keith Decker (Chatmoss CC) and Jon Zampedro (Pleasant Valley GC), and David Partridge (Hermitage CC) and Bill Williard (Cavalier G&YC). Decker and Zampedro are eligible as super seniors for the first time.
- Pulk is the only person playing in all three men's eligible four-ball championships. He paired with David Partridge in last week's Senior Four-Ball at Orchard Creek and will partner with Nathan Dean next week in the Four-Ball Championship at Williamsburg GC.
- Defending 65+ champions Mike Howell and Paul Gural of International CC have a tough hill to climb if they want to repeat. They finished Tuesday at 1-over, eight shots off the lead.
- Two sides were tied at 2-under in the 70+ division: Allan Craig Waggaman and Craig Hill of Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech, and Jack Allara (Hidden Valley CC) and Jim Woodson (Mill Quarter Plantation). Waggaman and Hill had completed 15 holes, Allara and Woodson 14. Allara and Woodson won the Alleghany Amateur Super Senior Division earlier this year at Blacksburg.
- The defending 70+ champs--Pat Gregory and Mike Moore of Salisbury CC--are at 1-over through 14 holes, three shots off the lead.
- John Osborne (USGA/VSGA GC) and Bill Engel (Army Navy CC) were at 3-under through 14 to lead the 75+ division, and both will open Wednesday with makeable birdie putts, as both were within 8 feet when play was halted. They have a three shot lead over two sides. The defending champs--J.P. Leigh and Glenn Morris--are at 1-over through 14, four shots off the pace.