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By Chris Lang
GLEN ALLEN — Unlike the various amateur championships the Virginia State Golf Association hosts throughout the year, the match-play field for the VSGA Four-Ball Match Play Championship is not set by a day or two of stroke-play qualifying.
Instead, the seedings for the event come from a season-long accumulation of points in player rankings events and VSGA championships. The sides with the most player rankings points are seeded highest, and the sides with the fewest are seeded lowest. And for the most part Friday at The Federal Club, seeding held form.
There were only two seeding “upsets” in the two age divisions—regular and senior. And no side seeded lower than 10th made it out of the round of 16 and into Saturday’s quarterfinals.
The top two seeds in each division breezed into Saturday, with none of the four sides having to play past the 16th hole. In the regular division, top seeded Jimmy Delp (Laurel Hill GC) and Justin Young (Ballyhack GC) cruised to a 5-and-4 win. Top-seeded seniors Leon Roday (Kinloch GC) and Scott Reisenweaver (Salisbury CC) jumped to a 7-up lead by the turn and rolled to an 8-and-6 win over Nelson Cutler and Michael Ponton (James River CC).
The only lower seeds to advance Friday were the No. 10 seed in the regular division (Brandon LaCroix and Matt Chandler) and the No. 10 seed in the senior division (Randall Newsome and Scott Gilchrist).
That LaCroix and Chandler (Hunting Hills CC) won shouldn’t have surprised anyone. They are the event’s defending champion and have eight VSGA titles between them. They eliminated BJ Maben (Sleepy Hole GC) and Kyle Mutter (Cedar Point CC) 5 and 4, taking out the side that won the VSGA Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship earlier this year.
There were some tight matches, though. In the regular division’s 8-9 match, Garrett Ramsey (CC of Virginia) and McLain Leberte (Farmington CC) needed 19 holes to take out Jay Zapko (Magnolia Green GC) and Matt Paciocco (Richmond CC), winning when Leberte made birdie on the first extra hole.
Adam Houck, playing his home course, and Jerry Burton (Spring Creek GC) rallied from a late deficit to knock off Stephen Bain and Matthew Shelor (Hanging Rock GC) in 19 holes in the 6-11 match in the regular division.
In the senior division, the third-seeded side of Phil Mahone (Farmington CC) and Tim Vigotsky (Robert Trent Jones GC) survived a major scare, ousting Boonsboro CC’s Jimmy Watts and Steve Washburn in 19 holes.
It all sets up an exciting Saturday in both divisions. Quarterfinal matches are slated to start in the morning, with the semifinals to follow in the afternoon. Each division’s 18-hole championship match is scheduled for Sunday morning.
This event’s only two champions will square off in one quarterfinal, as Keith Decker (Chatmoss CC) and Jon Hurst (Fredericksburg CC) will meet Chandler and LaCroix in the regular division quarterfinals. Jeff Long (Evergreen CC) and Kyle Bailey (Roanoke CC), who rolled to a 7-and-5 victory Friday, will face Houck and Burton in a quarterfinal.
Delp and Young will face Ramsey and Leberte, while Buck Brittain (The Virginian GC) and Garland Green (Tazewell County CC) will face the brothers Serrao (Jay and Steve) in another quarterfinal.
In the senior division, VSGA Senior Amateur champion Rich Buckner (Robert Trent Jones GC) is still alive, partnered with Bob Bailey (James River CC). In the same bracket, VSGA Senior Stroke Play champion Dave Pulk (Two Rivers CC) and Skip Zobel (Princess Anne CC) are alive as well.
Chris Lang is the Editor of Virginia Golfer Magazine and Manager, Digital Media for the VSGA.