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By Chris Lang
LORTON — The last time the Virginia State Golf Association contested its Women’s Amateur Championship in Fairfax County, the semifinals featured Caroline Curtis, Abby Portyrata and Lauren Greenlief.
Wednesday at Laurel Hill Golf Club in the 92nd VSGA Women’s Amateur, those three advanced to the final four once again. They’re joined by a first-time semifinalist in Khushboo Thiagaraj, whose previous deepest foray into the Women’s Am was a quarterfinal appearance in 2013.
Thursday, Curtis (Hermitage CC), the stroke-play medalist and top seed in match play, will meet Thiagaraj (Dominion Valley CC) at 8 a.m. in the first semifinal. The second semifinal will be a rematch of the championship match at the 90th VSGA Women’s Amateur, held in 2015 at the Country Club of Fairfax, as Portyrata (First Tee of Greater Richmond) will tangle with Greenlief (International CC) at 8:15 a.m.
The winners advance to the 18-hole championship match, scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Curtis, Thiagaraj and Greenlief will all be seeking their first titles. Portyrata will look to claim her third straight championship in the event, which hasn’t happened since Salem’s Lee Shirley won three in a row from 1996-98. She defeated Greenlief 1 up in 2015 to win her first title.
Curtis advanced to the semifinals for the third straight year. She’s looking to become the first medalist to claim the championship since Amanda Steinhagen in 2010. The youngest player remaining in the field, she fended off two opponents who were teammates on the winning VSGA squad at the recent Virginia-Maryland Junior Girls’ Matches.
Curtis topped Diana Domenech (VSGA Junior Golf Circuit) 2 and 1 in the round of 16 before beating Naomi Mitchell (Sewells Point GC) 4 and 3 in the quarterfinals.
“I love both of them so much, love playing with them and loved being on the team with them,” Curtis said. “So we had a great time out there for sure.”
Curtis is on the opposite side of the bracket from Greenlief, who ousted her in 2015, and Portyrata, who defeated her last year. Curtis said hitting key shots at key times paid off for her Wednesday, and she won’t change her approach as she tries to advance past the semifinals for the first time.
“I haven’t made it there yet, so we’ll see,” Curtis said. “I think I’ll do a lot of the same things I did today, take it one shot at a time and just see where I’m at after the first nine and see what I need to do from there. I know there are a lot of great women left in it, so I’m definitely going to need to be on top of my game.”
Thiagaraj, who will begin her final season at Radford University next month, ousted the 2017 VSGA Women’s Stroke Play Champion Amanda Hollandsworth (Great Oaks CC) 1 up in the round of 16 before rolling past Kristine Rohrbaugh (Hidden Creek CC) 8 and 7 in the quarterfinals. Thiagaraj won the first two holes of her match with Hollandsworth and the first four against Rohrbaugh.
“I see myself as more of a stroke-play player, and not as much as a match-play player,” Thiagaraj said. “I really didn’t expect much. … Winning the first few holes of the match, that’s a really good flow to start on.”
Portyrata eliminated Lyndsey Hunnell (Hanging Rock GC) 3 and 1 in the round of 16 and fended off a late charge from Alexandra Austin (Springfield G&CC) for a 2-and-1 win the quarterfinals. Portyrata noted that her short game was a little rusty heading into this week, but she clinched her quarterfinal win with a deft chip from past the green on 17 that finished inches from the hole.
“I’ll surprise myself sometimes,” Portyrata joked afterward.
Greenlief had the shortest path to the semis. She didn’t play past 15 in either match, ousting fellow International CC member Sirena Walsh 6 and 4 in the round of 16 before beating Karishma Thiagaraj (Dominion Valley CC) 4 and 3 in the quarterfinals.
Her semifinal match with Portyrata promises to be a good one. Portyrata has won her last 10 matches in this event. Greenlief has made a six-match run to a national title at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship in 2015 and has made it to the finals at the VSGA Women’s Am three times.
“She’s in the hole from anywhere,” Greenlief said of Portyrata. “She can drive it deep in the rough and find a way to make par or find a way to make birdie. She has a great short game and a really good set of hands. You can’t really count her out if she’s off the green, because she might chip in. She’s just always in the hole.”
Portyrata shared similar sentiments about Greenlief’s match-play prowess.
“She just never gives up,” Portyrata said. “She’ll make a few mistakes and have some bad holes, but she’s also capable of birdie streaks that are unbelievable. I think that’s what match play is. It’s just being explosive. And she is.”
Chris Lang is the Editor of Virginia Golfer Magazine and Manager, Digital Media for the VSGA.