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By Chris Lang
HOT SPRINGS — At this point, reaching the championship match of the VSGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship is old hat for Belle Haven Country Club’s Mimi Hoffman. After defeating Shelley Savage in Thursday’s first semifinal 2 and 1, she’ll be making her sixth appearance in a title match on Friday morning.
Her opponent, Country Club of Fairfax’s Mary Cabriele, is a two-time VSGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play champion, but she’s never made it to the final at the Senior Women’s Amateur until this year. She capped her run to the title match with a 5-and-4 win over Joanne Kitusky, setting up the first meeting in this event between a couple of northern Virginians with a championship pedigree.
“I can’t tell you how thrilled I am about this,” Cabriele said. “I’m just over the moon, because the field is so deep, and anyone can do anything.”
Cabriele reached the semifinals of last year’s event before losing 2 and 1 to Dot Bolling. She’s had the shorter path to the championship match and has yet to play past the 15th hole in three days of match play. She got off to a strong start against Kitusky (The Dominion Club), who struggled with her short game all day, and even went as far as to try to jokingly sacrifice her putter at the scoring area after the match.
Cabriele won comfortably despite making just one birdie. She took the lead with a birdie on the par-5 3rd hole and pushed her edge to 4 up by the turn. She led 5 up after making a solid two-putt par on 11, and the players halved the remaining holes for the 5-and-4 final.
“Joanne, I definitely caught her when her putter was cold today,” Cabriele said. “She’s a really good golfer, and she was a really good sport today. It was such an easy, laid-back match. She didn’t put a lot of pressure on me because her short game was off. But I don’t think I was letting her in, either. … My ball striking was terrific.”
Hoffman, facing the three-time champion Savage (Army Navy CC), got a much sterner test. Savage led 1 up after 13 holes before Hoffman rallied, winning 14 with a par, 15 with a birdie and 16 with a two-putt par. It was similar to last year’s championship match, when she made a back-nine charge to surge past Bolling for the title.
“It’s the length,” Hoffman said of that closing stretch of holes. “I hit the ball far for an old lady, and I’m really confident with my woods. So I just love those holes.”
On the downhill, short par-4 17th, Hoffman hit the green in regulation while Savage’s wedge approach came up short. Savage made things interesting by bombing home a 35-foot par putt from the fringe, but Hoffman was able to two putt for par to close the match.
Cabriele and Hoffman each shot 78 and qualified for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur last week in Maryland, so Friday’s final pits two players on top of their games.
“She’s a great player,” Hoffman said. “She won the (Senior Women’s) Stroke Play a couple of times. So it’s going to be tough. But she’s my friend, and it’s going to be a great match.”
Chris Lang is the editor of Virginia Golfer magazine and the VSGA’s manager, digital media.