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By Chris Lang
HOT SPRINGS — Charlottesville’s Natalie Easterly capped a sensational summer with a championship 10 years in the making.
Easterly’s birdie on the par-4 17th hole Saturday at the Omni Homestead Resort’s Old Course provided the winning margin in the final match of the 61st Virginia State Golf Association Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. She defeated Springfield’s Mimi Hoffman 1 up to win her second title in the event and her first since defeating Hoffman for the championship in 2008.
Easterly was making her third appearance in the title match. Hoffman, a four-time champion, was making her seventh.
Saturday’s match actually began Friday morning, but dreadful weather rendered an already saturated Old Course unplayable. Heavy rain continued throughout the day on Friday. Ponds formed in fairways. Some greens were partially underwater.
Hoffman won the first hole with a par, but when the players reached the second green, they agreed to suspend play because of the amount of water on the putting surface. At around 2 p.m., play was called off for the day, forcing the rest of the championship match to Saturday morning.
“We were very fortunate to have Barry (Ryder), the head pro, to give us the go-ahead to play today,” Easterly said. “That was really nice of the Homestead,” which was also hosting its member-guest tournament this weekend.
The rain stopped and the skies cleared Saturday, leaving much more desirable playing conditions. The match resumed on the second green, where both players made two-putt bogeys. Easterly (CC of Virginia) took quick control of the match after that, winning four straight holes to go 3 up after six holes.
Hoffman (Belle Haven CC) began to rally, though. She made a par on No. 8 as Easterly made bogey to cut into the lead. Easterly pushed it back to 3 up with a birdie on the par-3 11th hole. But Hoffman answered immediately, making par on No. 12 to cut the lead to 2 up.
Hoffman made a birdie on No. 15 to cut the lead further, and she squared the match by making par on the par-3 16th. Having already rallied from a 2-down deficit with three to play against Cindy Thompson in the semifinals, it seemed Hoffman was making another late run at turning a match in her favor.
But Easterly regrouped for the birdie on 17, a short, downhill par-4 hole. Hoffman made par. The players halved the par-3 18th, and Easterly secured the win.
“On 17, I knocked it to about eight feet, and she knocked hers to about 10 feet,” Easterly said. “She missed her putt, and I made my birdie, which was huge. So now I’m back 1 up. On 18, I was just trying to coast it up there maybe about 12 feet from the hole. She was in the rough, maybe six yards left of the green. She had to chip up and had maybe six or eight feet. She made the putt, so there I was with about a two- or three-foot putt, and I made it.”
Last year, Easterly won the VSGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play Championship, 10 years after she had won her first title in that event. Easterly’s summer included a runner-up finish in this year’s Senior Women’s Stroke Play, along with a pair of titles with Amy Ellertson in the VSGA Senior Women’s Four-Ball and the Trans Senior Women’s Four-Ball championships.
The keys to her success? Easterly is now retired, leaving her more time to practice and play golf. She’s also playing this year to honor her mother, who passed away five months ago.
“I’ve felt inspired to do something with that,” Easterly said. “I felt the same way when my dad died. Get a little help from the other side, I guess? It’s not often that I’ve won something, and I haven’t been able to call my mom and say, ‘Guess what? I won.’”
At the Homestead, she had to navigate a difficult road to the championship, defeating past finalist Lindsay Wortham in the round of 16 before eliminating three straight past champions (Boodie McGurn, Shelley Savage and Hoffman) on the way to the title.
“All great players, and it’s just an honor to win,” Easterly said, crediting friends, family support and mentors for her strong play this year. “It’s tough. You’re just slogging away, trying to make it one more step in the bracket. All of those people have done really well in this tournament, this year and in past years. It’s just a real privilege to be shoulder to shoulder with them. There’s a lot of camaraderie between us.”
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.