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By Arthur Utley
WILLIAMSBURG — One of Leon Roday’s best seasons on the
golf course came in 2017, a year highlighted by a victory in the Virginia State
Golf Association’s Mid-Senior Amateur Championship.
Roday likes to keep
notes about his swing and his putting.
Tuesday morning
before teeing off in the final round of the 34th VSGA Super Senior
Stroke Play Championship on the Woods Course at The Club at Kingsmill, Roday reviewed
his notes from 2017.
“It helped me with
my swing and my putting,” Roday said after posting the low score of the day, a
3-under-par 69, that, coupled with an opening 75, gave him a 36-hole total of
par 144 and a one-stroke victory over Bert Allen.
Roday (Manakin-Sabot,
Kinloch Golf Club) began the final round trailing overnight leader John Hoffman
(Fairfax, Evergreen CC) by three strokes. Roday was one of three players to
break par on Tuesday after no one posted a score in red figures on Monday.
Allen (Forest,
Boonsboro CC) started the day a stroke back of Hoffman, closed with a birdie on
the 18th hole Tuesday and shot 72 to go along with an opening 73 for
a two-day total of 1-over 145.
John Cuomo
(Richmond, Stonehenge G&CC), the 2015 champion, was 3 under for the day and
even par for the tournament standing on the tee at the par-3 17th
hole. His tee shot took a hard bounce off a slope and into a hazard. That led
to a double bogey. He parred No. 18 for a 1-under 71 and third place at 2-over
146.
Tim Vigotsky (Centreville,
Chantilly G&CC) finished fourth, rallying from a first-day 77 to shoot
2-under 70 for a 3-over aggregate of 147.
John Bruce
(Lynchburg, Boonsboro CC) also bettered his first-day score (75-73-148) to wind
up fifth.
Three players tied
for sixth at 5-over 149: Jimmy Angel (74-75, Midlothian, Salisbury CC), Hoffman
(72-77); and 2016 champion Charles Green (74-75, Bristol, The Virginian).
Roday made the turn
with a 1-under 35 then got to 4-under for the round and 1-under for the
tournament with birdies at Nos. 12, 15 and 16.
He dropped a shot
at 18 when he failed to get up and down from off the front of the green.
“I was nervous
today on 18. No doubt about it, and my play showed that,” Roday said.
Three 3-putts on
Monday led to his 3-over 75.
“I putted much
better [Tuesday], and I hit the ball better as well. This is a course where
course knowledge is very helpful. The course played great; the superintendent
did a great job; the whole community did a great job; great tournament,” he
said.
Allen, playing in
the final threesome, logged three birdies and three bogeys.
Did he know what
was going on in front of him?
“We didn’t know a
thing,” said Allen, who teamed with Chuck Brewer to win the 2009 VSGA Senior
Four-Ball title. “We were just playing as hard as we could play. Charlie
(Green) and I were close all day. I don’t think either one of us or John
thought we played our best. Sometimes you don’t do that in tournament golf, but
we hung in there.
“Personally, I
didn’t hit my wedges very good today. That’s where I made all my mistakes. I’d
be close in the middle of the fairway with a wedge in my hand. I got it up and
down a bunch, but I also bogeyed a couple holes, too.”
Roday, who retired
for four years, is back at work as a company attorney. He’s commuting to
Philadelphia each week.
“I’m ecstatic. I
went back to work this year, and I didn’t think I’d be having any wins,” Roday
said. “I’m pretty happy.”
Retired Richmond Times-Dispatch sports writer Arthur Utley is a
frequent contributor to VSGA championship coverage and Virginia Golfer
magazine.