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By Arthur Utley
HOT SPRINGS – Co-medalists Allisyn Terry (pictured) and Cheryl Grigg scored victories in their first-round matches and led the advance into the quarterfinals of match play in the championship flight at the 62nd Virginia State Golf Association Senior Women’s Amateur Championship.
Medalist and top
seed Dot Bolling, winner of the 2001 Senior Women’s Amateur, won her opening
match to lead seven others into the quarterfinals of the championship flight at
the 1st VSGA Super Senior Women’s Amateur Championship.
Terry (Leesburg,
River Creek Club), the top seed who is playing in her first Senior Women’s
Amateur, eliminated Cindy Thompson (Keswick, Glenmore CC) 3 and 1 on Tuesday on
the Old Course at The Omni Homestead Resort. The second-seeded Grigg (Sea
Island, Ga., Country Club of Virginia) rolled to a 7-and-6 victory over Amy
Phelan (Reston, NoVa GC).
Four of the six
past champions who qualified for match play – Mary Cabriele (Vienna, CC of
Fairfax), Shelley Savage (Alexandria, Army Navy CC), Mimi Hoffman (Springfield,
Belle Haven CC) and Linda DiVall (Alexandria, Mount Vernon CC) – made it
through to Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Cabriele, the 2017
champion, defeated Brenda Baril (Richmond, CCV) 4 and 3. Savage, a three-time
champion, ousted Bev Lane (Great Falls, Reston National) 4 and 3.
In the heavyweight
match of the day that was a rematch of last year’s final, Hoffman, a four-time
champion, rallied to edge defending champion and two-time winner Natalie
Easterly (Charlottesville, CCV) in 19 holes. Three-time champion DiVall soundly
defeated another three-time champion, Boodie McGurn (Richmond, CCV), 7 and 6.
The other winners
were Kay Tyler (Springfield, Belle Haven CC) in the upper bracket and Lindsay
Wortham (Richmond, CCV) in the lower bracket. Tyler eliminated Cindy
Hollingshead (Manakin Sabot, Hermitage CC) 2 and 1. Wortham defeated Joan
Gardner (Alexandria, Mount Vernon CC) 2 up.
Of the
quarterfinalists, Terry, Cabriele, Tyler, Savage, Hoffman and DiVall represent
Northern Virginia clubs. Grigg and Wortham were the two survivors of five CCV
players who advanced into match play. Each of the matches in the lower bracket
involved a player from CCV.
Terry meets
Cabriele and Tyler squares off with Savage in the upper bracket quarterfinals
while Grigg goes against Hoffman and Wortham, a past finalist, plays DiVall.
The
Easterly-Hoffman match was a sizzler from the start and featured two major
momentum swings.
Both players made
eagle on the par-5 opening hole (tap-in putt for Easterly; 5-footer for
Hoffman). Easterly won the second hole
and was 1 down after five. Easterly won the last four holes on the front nine
(two birdies in that stretch) and the 10th to take a 4-up lead to
the 11th tee.
Hoffman responded
by winning the next four holes to tie the match. She finished off the run by
driving the green on the short par-4 14th and two-putting for
birdie.
“I just loaded up
and hit a really, really, really good drive [to the back of the green],” she
said.
Easterly captured
No. 15 with a birdie to go 1 up before Hoffman won the par-3 18th
with a bogey to send the match into extra holes. Hoffman’s par on the par-5
first hole won the match.
“It was great to be
playing in a match like that,” Hoffman said.
“We started off the match with two eagles. As soon as that happened I
knew it was going to be one awesome match. This one was a very good win for me.
Natalie is a tremendous player.”
Next up for Hoffman
is Grigg. The two played together in the qualifying round.
“She was solid;
putted great; hit a lot of greens; hit a lot of fairways. She’s just all-around
good. I’ve got to re-focus for the (co-) medalist,” Hoffman said.
DiVall was 4 up at
the turn against McGurn and won the first three holes of the inward nine to
advance. Grigg also ended her match with Phelan on the 12th hole.
Terry, winner of
the VSGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play title last month, was 1 down at the turn
against Thompson but claimed the first three holes on the back nine to take the
lead for good. Gardner cut a 3-down deficit to Wortham to 1-down going into No.
18 but Wortham birdied the last to halt the rally.
Four of the
remaining players – Hoffman, Cabriele, Grigg and Wortham – have qualified for
the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Aug. 24-29.
The semifinals are
Thursday, and the final is Friday for both tournaments.
First-round losers
will drop into the championship consolation flight. Matches also are being
played in five other flights.
SUPER SENIORS
In the upper
bracket, Bolling (Salem, Hidden Valley) took out Christy Pitts (Deltaville,
Piankitank River GC) 6 and 5 and will meet Molly Meem (Richmond, CCV) in the
quarterfinals. Meem defeated 1989 Senior Women’s Amateur champion Joan Darden
(Glen Allen, Hermitage CC) 4 and 3.
Colleen Robertson
(Williamsburg, VSGA eClub) advanced with a 4 and 3 victory over Margaret
Mullins (Radford, Pete Dye River Course). Gail Schenck (Richmond, Hermitage CC)
moved on with a 2 and 1 win over Jo Baird (Richmond, Willow Oaks CC).
The loaded lower
bracket features the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds and 1999 Senior Women’s Amateur
champion Fran Hensley (Ridgeway, Gordon Trent GC).
No. 2 seed Sara
Cole (Salem, Blacksburg CC) defeated Debbie Swinson (Chesterfield, GC at The
Highlands) 2 and 1. Cole was the VSGA Women’s Amateur Championship runner-up in
1992. Her next opponent is Mary Parsley (Richmond, CCV). Parsley defeated
five-time Senior Women’s Amateur champion Peggy Woodard (Virginia Beach, Broad
Bay CC) 1 up.
Parsley was 3 up
through nine holes, but Woodard drew even with a birdie at the par-4 17th
hole. Parsley advanced by winning No. 18 with a par.
Hensley whipped
Barbara Wetters (Williamsburg, Williamsburg GC) 6 and 4. Her quarterfinal foe
is No. 14 seed Debbie Young (Blue Hills GC) who logged a 1-up victory No. 3
seed Valeta Pittman (Roanoke CC) in an all-Roanoke match.
Utley is a retired
Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer and frequent contributor to VSGA
championship coverage.