By Arthur Utley
HOT SPRINGS — Defending champion, medalist and top seed Boodie McGurn (Country Club of Virginia, Richmond) and No. 2 seed Fran Hensley (Forest Park GC, Ridgeway) advanced to the quarterfinals of match play at the 59th Virginia State Golf Association Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, but it took each an extra hole on Tuesday to get there.
Third-seeded Dot Bolling (Hidden Valley CC, Salem) needed even more holes to earn her place in Wednesday’s quarterfinals on the Old Course at The Omni Homestead Resort.
McGurn, a three-time winner of the tournament, edged fellow Richmond area golfer and No. 16 seed Joanne Kitusky (The Dominion Club, Glen Allen) with a birdie on the 19th hole, the par-5 first.
Hensley, the most senior competitor in the field at the age of 72 and the 1999 Senior Women’s Amateur champion, nipped 15th seed Lisa Cox (Meadowbrook CC, North Chesterfield) with a par on the 19th hole.
The 70-year-old Bolling (Hidden Valley CC, Salem) birdied the par 5 22nd hole (No. 4) to defeat Linda Divall (Mount Vernon CC, Alexandria), a three-time Senior Women’s Amateur champion.
Next up for McGurn in the upper bracket of Wednesday’s matches is three-time champion Mimi Hoffman (Belle Haven CC, Springfield). Hoffman, the No. 9 seed, advanced with a 2 and 1 victory over 2008 champion and eighth-seeded Natalie Easterly (CCV, Charlottesville).
Last year’s losing finalist, No. 13 seed Lindsay Wortham (CCV, Richmond), attained a quarterfinal berth with a 1-up victory over fourth-seeded Cyndi Carlson (Bide-A-Wee, Chesapeake). Wortham meets 12th-seed Cindy Thompson (Glenmore CC, Keswick), who eliminated No. 5 seed Sherry Bowman (Old Hickory GC, Manassas) by the same 1-up score.
In the lower bracket, two-time VSGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play champion Mary Cabriele (CC of Fairfax, Vienna) produced the shortest match of the day with a 4-and-3 victory over seventh-seeded Nevia Cashwell (CC at The Highlands, Chesterfield). Cabriele is Hensley’s quarterfinal foe.
Shelley Savage (Army Navy CC, Alexandria), another three-time champion and the last player to win back-to-back titles (2012-13), defeated Meg Gilmer (Farmington CC, Crozet) 2 and 1 and squares off against Bolling on Wednesday.
The round of 16 losers dropped into the Championship consolation flight.
McGurn trailed Kitusky from the third hole until drawing all square at the 10th. Kitusky went 1 up at No. 13 before McGurn won Nos. 15 and 16 to lead 1 up. A bogey from McGurn at No. 18 sent the match into extra holes.
“My putter wasn’t quite as sharp today as it was yesterday, which I didn’t expect it would be. Joanne played great. She took advantage of a couple of stupid mistakes I made in the beginning,” said McGurn, who is a member of The Homestead courses and has a home there. “It was grueling, and I knew it would be because Joanne is a great competitor. I’ve played a lot with her.”
McGurn and Hoffman were paired in Monday’s qualifying round.
“She didn’t have her best day, but apparently today she had a great day,” McGurn said. Hoffman had five birdies in her match with Easterly and closed out the match with three consecutive birdies. “I’m looking forward to a good match, and we’ll see what happens. Anything can happen with the two of us.”
Hoffman defeated McGurn in the 2014 Senior Women’s final.
Hensley was 2 down through seven against Cox but pulled even at No. 10. Cox regained the 2 up margin with victories at Nos. 11 and 13 before Hensley won No. 14 then was the benefactor of Cox’s bogey at No. 18 that led to the extra hole.
Bolling’s victory over DiVall was the longest match she has played in her VSGA career. Bolling has won eight VSGA championships beginning with the Women’s Stroke Play in 1998. She won the Senior Women’s Amateur in 2001 a year after winning the VSGA Women’s Amateur.
Bolling was 3 up through seven, but DiVall won four of the next five holes (Bolling won No. 9) to square the match. Bolling won No. 14, and DiVall the 16th. They halved the last two of regulation and the first three playoff holes. Bolling had an opportunity to win on the first playoff hole but missed a short putt before final victory came with the birdie on the 22nd.
Was she worn out?
“Yes, just a little bit,” Bolling said. “It was hotter than I’ve ever experienced in past years.”
She thinks “it’s awesome for Fran to be playing as well as she is, and like I was telling the ladies today…I really feel fortunate to be in this position, and that’s kind of how I feel every year. I’ll keep coming until they say, Dot you can’t come back anymore. Seventy is not that old if you stay active, and I sort of stay active.”
Tight matches are expected in all the quarterfinals.
“All these ladies are good golfers,” Bolling said. “Any match you have is going to be tough. You better be on your game.”
The VSGA Senior Women’s Amateur also features flights for players who did not attempt to qualify in the championship division, along with consolation brackets. For a full rundown of those brackets, click here.