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By Arthur Utley
RICHMOND — Connor Johnson Jr. (CC of Virginia) shot a 1-over-par 71 in the second round of stroke-play qualifying Wednesday to earn medalist honors at the 28th Virginia State Golf Association Junior Match Play Championship being conducted at Richmond Country Club.
Johnson, 18, finished the 36-hole qualifying with a total of 3-under 137. Johnson, a St. Christopher’s graduate headed to Virginia Tech, secured the qualifying medal and top seed out of the 16 players who qualified for match play for the second year in a row.
First round and quarterfinal matches are set for Thursday. The semifinals and scheduled 18-hole final are Friday.
Johnson’s first-round opponent is George Clark (Chantilly National G&CC). Clark, Caleb Choe (Bayville GC) and Ben Kruper (Old Hickory GC) finished the two days of qualifying with 4-over totals of 144. The three-players-for-two-spots playoff concluded on the first hole when Clark and Choe made pars.
Choe will meet Bryan Lee (VSGA Junior Circuit) in the round of 16. Lee posted Wednesday’s best score, a 3-under 67, to share second place with Ben Carroll (Blacksburg CC) at 1-under 139. Lee received the second seed in a blind draw.
Carroll (72) is the third seed. Ross Funderburke (Hidden Valley CC) followed an opening 71 with a 1-under 69 for 140 and claimed the fourth seed. Dylan Fox (Salisbury CC) is the fifth seed after shooting 71-141.
Garrett Kuhla (Willow Oaks CC) also shot 71-141 and is the sixth seed.
Defending champion Michael Brennan (River Creek Club) bounced back from a first-day 73 with a 1-under 69 to earn the opportunity to successfully defend. He is the No. 8 seed and will face No. 9 seed Charlie Kennedy, an RCC member who shot 74-142.
Kennedy (Mills Godwin High) won the VHSL Class 5 state title last fall at Magnolia Green Golf Club. Brennan finished fourth.
Johnson, Brennan, 11th seed Drew Brockwell (GC at The Highlands), Johnson’s teammate at St. Christopher’s and also bound for Virginia Tech, and 14th seed Everett Whiten Jr. reached match play again after qualifying last year.
Johnson toured RCC’s front nine on Wednesday in 3-under 32 to reach 7-under par. He bogeyed the long, par-4 12th and then gave three shots back with a triple bogey at No. 18.
“I just have to toss it off. I was trying to guide the ball a little bit on the back nine and not doing what I did the first day and the front nine today. I just changed my game plan. It was not what I wanted, but I think I’m going to throw that away and focus on what I’ve been doing really well…I’ve been playing really well. I’m excited about tomorrow,” Johnson said.
Winning the medal is a good thing, but “at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter… It’s nice to be the one seed, but now my focus is on winning my matches tomorrow. I think I’m going to have the same strategy I’ve had the first two days...not being overly aggressive but still sticking to my game plan, make birdies where I can and see what happens.”
Lee torched the front nine with five birdies, including three consecutive 3s on Nos. 7-9, and a bogey to turn in 4-under 31. He strung together eight pars before making a bogey at No. 18.
Carroll logged 15 pars, a birdie, a bogey and a double bogey to reach his goal of making match play.
“I played a lot more conservative today than I did yesterday. I was going for the center of the greens and two putting,” Carroll said. “I pretty much did what I wanted to do except for the double on 7. It was the only bad swing I had all day… I’m very confident in my game right now.”
Retired Richmond Times-Dispatch writer Arthur Utley is a frequent contributor to VSGA.org and Virginia Golfer magazine.