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By Arthur Utley
VIRGINIA BEACH – First-round leader Becca DiNunzio followed her
opening round 70 with a blistering, course-record setting 6-under-par 64 on
Tuesday and claimed medalist honors after 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying in
the 94th Virginia State Golf Association Women’s Amateur
Championship at Princess Anne Country Club.
The 17-year-old
DiNunzio (Norfolk, VSGA Junior Golf Circuit), who is headed to Virginia Tech in
the fall, finished the qualifying portion of the tournament with a 6-under
total of 134. She is the top seed for the match play portion of the tournament
that begins with first round and quarterfinal matches Wednesday.
The semifinals and
scheduled 18-hole final are Thursday. A first-time winner will be crowned. No
previous winners of the tournament are in the field. Last year’s Amateur
champion, Lauren Greenlief, is competing this week in the North & South
Women’s Amateur Championship in Pinehurst, N.C.
Kendall Turner, 18,
(Chesapeake, Greenbrier CC) posted the second-best score, 2-under 68, in the
second round of qualifying on Tuesday and claimed the second seed with a
two-day total of 1-over 141.
Turner is one of
five players who qualified for match play for the second year in a row. No. 5
seed Sidney Walker (Springfield, Springfield G&CC); eighth seeded Diana Domenech
(Henrico, Independence GC), No. 12 Jayde Dudley (Roanoke, Hidden Valley CC) and
No. 13 Rory Weinfurther (Midlothian, Independence GC) are the others.
Players with the
same qualifying totals were seeded based on a blind draw.
The third seed
belongs to Old Dominion University women’s golf coach Mallory Hetzel, 32,
(Virginia Beach, Red Wing Lake GC), who shot 72-143 in qualifying. Virginia Tech golfer Katie Muscatello, 21,
(Blacksburg, Blacksburg CC) earned the fourth seed ahead of the 20-year-old Sidney
Walker after each posted 7-over totals of 147.
DiNunzio was bogey
free and logged six birdies on Tuesday. The 64 equaled her best score and is
the women’s record at Princess Anne.
“My ball striking
was great [Monday], but believe it or not, it was better today, hitting every
single green [in regulation] so every single hole I basically had a birdie
chance, which was amazing and coupling that with rolling the putter well, I
made a lot of birdies. It was a fun round,” DiNunzio said. “To me, that’s why I
play golf; for those magical moments.”
Her round started
with her hitting the opening tee shot into a fairway bunker (the only fairway
she missed all day), but she played what she called “a gutsy shot” over water
to give herself a 10-foot birdie putt.
DiNunzio missed the
putt but birdied the second and third holes. She carded back-to-back birdies
again at Nos. 6 and 7 and shot 4-under 31 on the outward nine. She added birdies
at the 14th and 16th holes.
Fourteen of the 16
qualifiers equaled or bettered their first-round scores on Tuesday.
“To me, people just
got more comfortable with the shots they were hitting and with the course. It
can be a little tricky, but if you look past that, it is very scoreable … there
are some risk/reward situations … That’s why I think we are all looking forward
to the match play,” said DiNunzio, who doesn’t mind going off in the first
match of the day. “It will be cooler to go off early.”
DiNunzio meets the
16th seed, Emma Landis, 17, (Virginia Beach, VSGA Junior Golf
Circuit) in the first round. Landis shot 80-77-157.
“I’ve seen her name
in a few tournaments, but I’ve never played with her. I’m looking forward to meeting
her and having a nice round,” DiNunzio said.
Rounding out the
upper bracket, Domenech (70-148) meets ninth-seeded Danielle Suh, 17, (Herndon,
VSGA JGC) who shot a pair of 74s in qualifying. Muscatello faces Weinfurther
(74-150), and Walker squares off against Dudley, the reigning VSGA Junior Girls’
champion.
In the lower
bracket, Turner, who logged four birdies against two bogeys in her 68, goes
against 15th seed Delaney McCoy, 15, (Virginia Beach, VSGA JGC).
McCoy shot 76-154 in qualifying.
No. 7 seed Melanie
Walker, 15, (Burke, Springfield G&CC) plays 16-year-old 10th
seed Rachel Detore (Spotsylvania, Lee’s Hill GC). Melanie Walker (unrelated to
Sidney) qualified with 72-148 while Detore recorded 74-149.
Hetzel is paired
against 14th-seeded Kristin Hearp, 21, (Salem, Hidden Valley CC), a
Virginia Tech team member who shot 74-153 to qualify.
No. 6 seed Grace
Huffman, 19, (Fairfield, Lexington G&CC) is paired against No. 11 seed
Victoria Tip-Aucha, 17, (Vienna, VSGA JGC) in the last of the morning matches.
Tip-Aucha (73-149) is a two-time VSGA Junior Girls’ champion and a VSGA Women’s
Am semifinalist in 2016. Huffman (74-148) is a member of the Longwood
University golf team.
Utley is a retired
Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer and frequent contributor to VSGA
championship coverage.