NOTE TO MEDIA: Links to scoring, the event preview, photos and
previous recaps from this event can be found on the event portal at the link
posted above. Please click on the “Media” tab to find those items.
By Daniel Stamper
WILLIAMSBURG – Cullen Campbell, Bryan Lee, Robb Kinder and Jimmy Taylor all won two
matches Thursday at the 29th Virginia State Golf Association Junior
Match Play Championship, securing their spots in Friday’s semifinals at
Williamsburg National Golf Club.
Campbell (Riverfront GC), who eliminated
stroke-play medalist Charlie Kennedy in the quarterfinals, advanced to face
Lee. Kinder, the No. 15 seed in match play, will battle Taylor in the other
semifinal. The semifinals begin at 7:30 a.m. Friday, with the 18-hole championship
match scheduled for noon.
The
match of the day featured Kennedy (Richmond CC) and Campbell.
Campbell
a 16-year-old rising junior, advanced to the match play portion of the event
for the first time in three attempts. Campbell started Thursday morning with a
rout of Taylor Hubbard (Aylett), 5 and 4 in the round of 16 and continued his
hot streak into the afternoon with a 1-up victory over Kennedy in the
quarterfinal match.
Campbell
burst out of the gates with a blistering hot start in the quarterfinal match by
going birdie-birdie-eagle in his first three holes to go three up on Kennedy.
Kennedy, up to the challenge, battled back with three birdies himself to square
the match by the 13th hole. After the two players tied holes 14 and 15
with birdies, Campbell grabbed the lead with a birdie on the 17th
hole. He closed the deal on the 18th hole where both players made
par, an anomaly for the matchup.
During
their match, Campbell and Kennedy combined for 12 birdies and an eagle. Even
though Campbell advanced to the semifinal match, Kennedy had a strong week, finishing
20 under par during his four rounds of golf this week at Williamsburg National.
After
Kennedy led the field for the first two days firing rounds of 66-69, Kennedy was
the talk of the tournament. His hot streak continued with a bogey-free match in
the morning against sophomore Mehrbaan Singh (Ashburn) where he won 4 and 3.
Despite
Kennedy’s unbelievable play, Campbell felt confident in his strategy for the
course.
When
asked about his hot start in the quarterfinal match and how he felt about how
Kennedy fought back to even the match, Campbell said: “Well my putter got cold
for a while, and I knew it would get hot (again).”
On
his match play experience, Campbell said, “This is my third time playing in an
official match play and first time I lost, and today was the second two
(matches). Although most the time I play match play with my buddies.”
Lee
(Fairfax), a rising sophomore, is the lone semifinalist to previously reach match
play. He reached the semifinals for the first time. Kinder (Quinton) and Taylor
(Alexandria) round out the final four.
Campbell,
the eighth seed will face Lee, the 12th seed, in the upper bracket
semifinal. Lee eliminated Quint Dingledine (Richmond) 2 up in the round of 16,
and Garrett Kuhla (Henrico) 2 up in the quarterfinals.
The
bottom half of the bracket will see a pair of high school senior golfers battle
it out in their final quest at claiming The Clyde Luther Trophy: The 15th
seeded Kinder will face off against 11th seeded Taylor.
Kinder
won both of his matches 1 up. He slipped by Bryce Corbett (Gainesville) in the
round of 16, by grabbing the lead late with a birdie on the 17th
hole. In the afternoon, he defeated Ben Cooper (Richmond) in the quarterfinals
by holding on to the lead he built up earlier on the back nine.
Taylor
took his time to claim both of his matches by winning both in extra holes. In
the morning, Taylor defeated Gerry Jones, Jr. (Suffolk), by winning the 18th
and 19th holes. The afternoon match between Taylor and Ross
Funderburke (Roanoke) was a stalemate for most of the match, but eventually
Taylor broke through with a win on the 20th hole.
Taylor
and Funderburke were teammates on the eight-member Virginia Team at the 10th
Mid-Atlantic Junior Invitational, held at River Bend Club last October.
Follow
the live scoring of Friday’s matches on the myVSGA App or at vsga.org.
Stamper is a P.J. Boatwright intern at the VSGA.