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By Arthur Utley
VIRGINIA BEACH – As it was at the VSGA Men’s Amateur
Championship, a junior golfer has been crowned champion at the 94th
VSGA Women’s Amateur Championship.
Rory Weinfurther,
17, (Midlothian, Independence CC) defeated Old Dominion University women’s golf
coach Mallory Hetzel, 32, (Virginia Beach, Red Wing Lake GC) 1-up Thursday
afternoon at Princess Anne Country Club.
The championship
match went the 18-hole distance for the first time since 2015 when Abby
Portyrata defeated Lauren Greenlief 1 up.
“I don’t even know
if it’s sunk in yet. I couldn’t stop smiling when I got off the green. I don’t
think it’s really hit me yet,” Weinfurther said. “Right now I feel honored. I
feel accomplished. This is one of the biggest tournaments for the state. It
just feels great knowing that I got to the semifinals last year, but this year,
to win it, it’s awesome.
“My main focus
today was definitely to hit fairways, hit greens, give myself good
opportunities for birdies. I think I accomplished that goal most of the day.
Towards the end there I also stayed calm. I took deep breaths. I told myself
‘don’t overthink it. I’ve been doing this all day. Just keep it up’ and it
worked in my favor.”
Weinfurther was the
13th seed based on two days of stroke-play qualifying. Hetzel was the
third seed.
The two won
semifinal matches Thursday morning to claim their spots in the championship
match.
Weinfurther
eliminated good friend, medalist and top seed Becca DiNunzio, 17, (Norfolk,
VSGA Junior Golf Circuit) 3 and 2. Hetzel ended the run of 15-year-old Melanie
Walker (Burke, Springfield G&CC) 4 and 2.
The championship
match featured stellar golf from Weinfurther, a senior at St. Catherine’s in
Richmond who has committed to the University of Richmond, and Hetzel, who has
won seven career Carolinas Golf Association tournament titles including
back-to-back Carolinas Women’s Match Play titles in 2014-2015 before she became
ODU’s coach in 2016.
Hetzel logged three
birdies and no bogeys, and Weinfurther carded three birdies and a bogey through
16 holes.
Hetzel rolled home
a seagoing 50-foot birdie putt on the second hole to go 1-up.
“It’s the second
hole. That was my thinking. There’re 16 more holes that I have a chance to make
that up,” Weinfurther said. “That was a great putt though.”
Hetzel birdied the
fifth to go 2-up before Weinfurther answered with a birdie on the par-3 7th
hole. Weinfurther‘s bogey on the par-3 ninth put her in a 2-down hole. Both
players birdied the par-5 10th before Weinfurther cut her deficit to
1-down with a birdie on the par-3 11th.
Hetzel sank a
12-foot par putt at the 16th for an unexpected up and down out of a
bunker, and Weinfurther missed a shorter putt for birdie to keep Hetzel 1-up.
The match turned at
the par-3 17th where, after Weinfurther’s tee shot wound up short of
the green, Hetzel tugged her tee shot into the water guarding the front of the
green. That led to a double bogey and allowed Weinfurther to tie the match.
At the par-5 18th,
Weinfurther hit her third shot 8 feet from the hole. Hetzel drove in the rough,
pulled her second shot into pine straw behind trees and didn’t have a shot at
the green for her third. She hit it to the right of the green and pitched her
fourth shot to just inside Weinfurther’s ball.
Weinfurther missed
her birdie try to win the match, but Hetzel missed her par putt that would have
extended the match.
“I’m so bummed. I’m
just gutted. I can’t believe that I screwed up that bad on the last two holes.
I really wanted it, and I felt like when she missed the green on 17, I felt
like I was going to stuff one in there and make a two and win it,” Hetzel said.
“That’s how it goes. You’ve got to execute till the end. It’s a championship
match. You have to anticipate good golf. That’s really what stinks about it
because she and I played outstanding the whole day.
“It’s a bummer that
I played those last two so poorly and just gave it to her. It would have been
nice for one of us to make a birdie or something and finish like that. It’s
kind of what the match deserved, but that’s golf and I’ve been playing it
longer than she’s been alive so I know how it works.
“What I take from this
is I can still slap it around a little bit. Maybe not as good as I once was, but
it’s been a lot of fun, and I was really happy to be in the championship match
and have a shot.”
Weinfurther’s next
tournament is the 50th anniversary edition of the VSGA Junior Girls
Championship just down the road from Princess Anne at Broad Bay CC in 11 days.
She is chasing some
history. Weinfurther could become just the third junior to win the Women’s
Amateur and the Junior Girls in the same year. Kandi Comer accomplished the
feat in 1980 and Amanda Steinhagen did it in 2010.
Utley is a retired
Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer and frequent contributor to VSGA
championship coverage.