By Arthur Utley
WILLIAMSBURG – The six-golfer team from the Country Club
of Virginia stopped off for breakfast at Shorty’s Diner every morning before playing
their round of the day in the 73rd Virginia State Golf Association
Women’s State Team Matches at Williamsburg Golf Club.
Tuesday morning’s
stop preceded the Richmond club’s championship match with two-time defending
champion Mount Vernon Country Club of Alexandria.
While there on
Monday and Tuesday, the team members got into a conversation with a couple of
York County Sheriff’s deputies. Lindsay Wortham thought to ask them Tuesday for
a police escort to the golf course for the final.
“She said, ‘Would
you all do that?’ and they said, ‘Sure, we’d be glad to do that,” team captain
Boodie McGurn said. “They were great sports. They said we can’t turn the lights
on until we pull into the club. So they pull in and turn the lights on.
Unfortunately there weren’t many people there, but it was really fun.”
To add to the fun, CCV,
seeded second in the championship flight after Sunday’s qualifying round, went
on to defeat top-seeded Mount Vernon 30-24.
In the format, each club is comprised of three
two-player teams with each hole worth a single point for 54 points total.
“We were ready to go.
We felt great coming in. We had the best team we could possibly have. There was
never any negativity in our group. It was a really great, cohesive group,”
McGurn said.
Mount Vernon, which
has won 14 titles overall, was trying to win three consecutive championships for
the third time. Mount Vernon’s first three titles in the event were consecutive
from 1991-93. The club duplicated the trifecta from 2008 to 2010 and had won
eight of the last 11 championships.
Tuesday’s match was
the sixth year in a row the two clubs have played each other in the tournament.
CCV joined Mount
Vernon with 14 titles to its credit. Army Navy Country Club owns the most
championships (15) in the second-oldest tournament on the VSGA women’s
schedule.
CCV last hoisted
the victor’s trophy in 2016. Either Mount Vernon or CCV has won the team title
every year since 2006 with the exception of Elizabeth Manor Golf and Country
Club (Portsmouth) in 2011.
The CCV tandems of
Wortham-Liza Lewis and McGurn-Natalie Easterly defeated their Mount Vernon
counterparts, Shawn McCullough-Debbie Simpson and Joan Gardner-Katie Cox
respectively, 11-7 in each of their matches. Mount Vernon’s leadoff pair, Linda
DiVall-Kim Franks, scored a 10-8 victory Cheryl Grigg-Brenda Baril.
“CCV played very
steady. I know Boodie and Natalie were very solid the whole round, and Katie
and I had more fun [Monday] than we did today in making some birdies that
didn’t seem to come today,” Gardner said. “They were all good matches. They
absolutely played better than we did this year so now we’re back to being tied
again. Congratulations to CCV. They had a really good day today. We gave it our
best, but we’ll be back next year.”
The DiVall-Franks
side never trailed in its match, gaining the lead early and building it to three
points ahead before finishing with the final margin.
Wortham and Lewis
started on the 18th hole in the shotgun format and made pars on nine
consecutive holes. They birdied No. 9 for the lead and stayed up the rest of
the way, closing out the match with conceded birdies on their last two holes.
McGurn and Easterly
won the first two holes they played and led the entire match. They pushed the
margin to four points then saw it dwindle to two before the match concluded
with Easterly making birdie on their last hole (par-5, No. 16).
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
Final:
No. 2 CCV d. No. 1 Mount Vernon 30-24.
FIRST FLIGHT
Final:
No. 1 Belle Haven CC d. No. 3 GC at the Highlands 31-23.
SECOND FLIGHT
Final:
No. 1 Washington G&CC d. No. 2 Bayville GC 29.5-24.5.
THIRD FLIGHT
Final:
No. 1 Williamsburg CC d. No. 2 The Piedmont Club 31-23.
FOURTH FLIGHT
Final:
No. 1 Ford’s Colony CC d. No. 2 Willow Oaks CC 28-26.
FIFTH FLIGHT
Final:
No. 1 Fort Belvoir GC d. No. 2 Golden Horseshoe GC 28-26.