Scoring [icon name="external-link" class="" unprefixed_class=""] | Match play brackets [icon name="external-link" class="" unprefixed_class=""] | Preview [icon name="file-pdf-o" class="" unprefixed_class=""] | Day 1 recap | Day 2 recap
HOT SPRINGS — Mimi Hoffman’s drive for a fifth Virginia State Golf Association Senior Women’s Amateur title is alive and well.
Hoffman, a four-time champion who last won in 2016, handled stroke-play medalist Cheryl Grigg in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at The Omni Homestead Resort’s Old Course, winning 7 and 6 to advance to Thursday morning’s semifinals.
Hoffman, who lives in Springfield and is a member at Belle Haven Country Club, is joined in the semifinals by Keswick’s Cindy Thompson (Glenmore CC), Charlottesville’s Natalie Easterly (CC of Virginia) and Alexandria’s Shelley Savage (Army Navy CC). Hoffman, Easterly and Savage are all past Senior Women’s Amateur champions.
The winners of Thursday morning’s semifinals will advance to Friday’s championship match, which is scheduled to begin at 9:17 a.m.
Hoffman’s victory was an anomaly on a day that featured close matches throughout the championship flight.
Holding a 1-up lead through four holes, Hoffman birdied the par-3 5th, the first of three consecutive holes that she won to take a 4-up lead. She won holes 9 and 10 and clinched the match with a birdie on the par-5 12th hole.
Hoffman will meet Thompson in Thursday’s first semifinal. Thompson won a tight 1-up match with Salem’s Sara Cole (Blacksburg CC) in which neither player led by more than 1 up. Thompson held a 1-up lead through five holes, but Cole won holes 6 and 7 to grab the lead. Thompson won No. 8 to square the match, and after Cole won No. 9, Thompson squared the match again with a win at No. 12.
Thompson won No. 13 with a par to take the lead, the players halved the rest of the holes, sealing Thompson’s victory.
The other semifinal features the last two winners of the VSGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play Championship. Easterly, who won the 2016 Senior Women’s Stroke Play at Blacksburg CC, defeated fellow CCV member Boodie McGurn 2 and 1 on Wednesday. Easterly twice held 3-up leads on the back nine, including after making par on the par-5 13th hole.
Easterly was dormie after each player made par on 15, and McGurn won No. 16 with a par to chip into the lead. But the players halved No. 17, giving Easterly the win. She’s seeking her first Senior Women’s Amateur title since 2008.
Savage, who won this year’s Senior Women’s Stroke Play at Belle Haven, defeated fellow Northern Virginian Joan Gardner (Mount Vernon CC) 1 up in the final quarterfinal match. Savage took the lead in an all-square match thanks to a birdie on No. 16 and held on for the win as the players halved the final two holes.
Savage is seeking her fourth title in the event and her first since 2013.
The Senior Women’s Amateur Championship also features play in six non-championship division flights. For full results, please click the match play brackets link at the top of this release.