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By Chris Lang
RICHMOND — John Hatcher Ferguson IV called his back-nine approach in the final match of the 28th Virginia State Golf Association Junior Match Play Championship “conservatively aggressive.” That’s not to say he wasn’t willing to take chances. He just wasn’t willing to put himself in a lot of trouble, especially in a tight match.
The approach worked out perfectly. As he continued to hit greens and leave himself makeable birdie putts and manageable par putts, his opponent—Ben Carroll—began to falter, especially with the putter. It all added up to a 3-and-2 victory on a cloudy afternoon at Richmond Country Club.
“If you want to win golf tournaments, especially in match play, you have to take risks,” said Ferguson, who earned the right to hoist the Clyde Luther Trophy after his victory. “But at the same time, you have to weigh out the consequences. Am I looking at penalty strokes, or hitting into a hazard, or going out of bounds? Am I bringing trouble into play? Or am I looking potentially having to chip from just off the green, instead of having a 10-foot putt.
I think it’s important to just manage your game, and I think that’s something that by the end of the week, I did a lot better job of.”
The championship match featured a pair of Southwest Virginia standouts. Ferguson (The Water’s Edge CC) won the 2016 VHSL 6A individual championship at Franklin County High School. Carroll (Blacksburg CC) finished third in last fall’s 4A championship for Blacksburg High School. The two have been friends for several years, and they had to survive strong semifinal challenges just to reach the title match.
Ferguson ousted defending champion Michael Brennan (River Creek Club) in 19 holes. Carroll knocked off Caleb Choe (Bayville GC) in 20 holes in the other semifinal match.
The Ferguson-Brennan match swung back and forth, with Brennan taking an early 3-up lead before Ferguson rallied to go 1-up after the turn. Brennan squared the match with a birdie putt on 16 and took the lead by making a par on 17. But his approach on the long par-4 18th sailed left into the woods, leaving him stuck behind a tree with no clear shot at the green.
Ferguson made bogey on the hole, and Brennan missed his short bogey putt, extending the match. Given new life, Ferguson took advantage. He striped his drive to within 75 feet of the hole, while Brennan’s drive on No. 1 went short and right. Brennan’s approach went past to the hole to the back of the green, opening the door for Ferguson.
“I couldn’t help but laugh when I looked at the range finder and saw 75 yards,” Ferguson said. “I can’t tell you how many hundreds of shots my coach has made me hit from 75 yards. … That was one that I was used to.”
Ferguson hit his approach to 3½ feet, and after Brennan’s long birdie putt scooted past the hole, Ferguson sank his birdie putt for the win.
Carroll and Choe were both in bunkers on No. 2, their 20th hole. Choe got out but went long, and Carroll gave himself a short putt for par, which he made to advance to the title match.
There was little separation between the finalists on the front nine. Things began to change on the back, though. With the match level, Ferguson made par on No. 11 and then dropped home a birdie putt on 12, and quickly, he was 2 up and Carroll was in scramble mode.
“He was just super solid,” Carroll said. “If he had a putt for par from six feet and in, he made it. He just played super solid the whole day. And when you don’t make anything, you have to start pressing, and some things go wrong.”
Ferguson’s lead went to 3 up after Carroll missed a three-foot par putt on 14. But Carroll didn’t go away. He hit it within a foot on the par-3 15th and tapped in for birdie to win that hole. His approach on the par-4 16th went astray, though, and ended up in mulch behind the green. Still, Carroll hit a nifty low-lining punch that slowed and stopped six feet from the hole. But he couldn’t convert for par—“Just completely misread the putt,” he said—and Jacobs made par to win the match.
Carroll will compete in next week’s VSGA Amateur at The Federal Club, and a deep run at Richmond gave him a needed boost. Carroll made it to match play at last year’s Amateur but lost in the first round to three-time finalist Ji Soo Park.
“This is a great start, just making it this far,” Carroll said. “This gives me a lot of confidence, knowing I can play this well over a span of time like this.”
Ferguson, who will play at Hampden-Sydney College next year, added another individual title to his resume, a huge victory considering he had never made match play in this event until this week.
“Honestly, this is probably my biggest win ever,” Ferguson said. “It was incredible to win the state championship. That was definitely important and special and means a lot. But I think growing up and almost idolizing this tournament—just going through the different rounds and qualifying and all the adversity—to win this, I would say this is my biggest win.”
Lang is the editor of Virginia Golfer magazine and the VSGA’s manager, digital media.