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By Chris Lang
KILMARNOCK – Two defending champions and two other past
champions advanced to the finals of their respective age groups on Wednesday at
the 4th Virginia State Golf Association Mid-Senior Amateur
Championship and 25th VSGA Super Senior Amateur Championship, held
concurrently at Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club.
Defending Mid-Senior Amateur champion David Partridge won twice to set up a final showdown with reigning Senior Open of Virginia champion Dave Pulk on Thursday morning. In the 65-69 age division at the Super Senior Amateur, Richmond’s Dayton Slater (pictured above) won twice and will get a shot to defend his title in the event Thursday against Super Senior newcomer Tim Vigotsky of Centreville.
In the 70-74 age
division, Richmond’s John Cuomo cruised to a pair of victories as he seeks his
second Super Senior Amateur victory, having won the 65-69 division in 2013. In
the 75-plus division, Virginia Beach’s George Owens, who won the 65-69 division
in 2011, advanced to the final.
The four
championship matches will be held Thursday, starting with the 75-plus final at
8:30 a.m.
4th VSGA Mid-Senior Amateur
Championship
Partridge
(Hermitage CC) is seeking his 14th VSGA title, which would move him
into a tie for third all-time. To get there, he’ll have to defeat Pulk (Two
Rivers CC), who is playing as well as anyone on the VSGA senior circuit. Pulk
was a finalist in this year’s VSGA Senior Amateur, won the Senior Open of
Virginia and finished in the top 10 at last weekend’s VSGA Mid-Amateur.
Partridge, a past
Senior Open champion himself, remembers his last competitive match with Pulk
well. Partridge defeated Pulk 2 up in the quarterfinals of the 2015 VSGA Senior
Amateur on the way to winning the title, a victory that included an ace on the fifth
hole at Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club.
“It was a heck of a
match,” Partridge said. He’s a great player and a hell of a competitor, and I’m
sure we’ll have a great match tomorrow.”
Partridge defeated
Virginia Beach’s Jeff Flax 1 up in the quarterfinals before ousting stroke-play
medalist Mark Boedicker of Great Falls 4 and 3 in the semifinals. Boedicker had
won the last two matches he played against Partridge but never got going in the
afternoon session.
“Mark is a
gentleman, and he beat me fair and square (in the previous two matches),”
Partridge said. “I guess it was just my turn today. I played reasonably well,
and he was not at his best, so I was fortunate to come out on top.”
Pulk beat Yorktown’s
Allen Barber 4 and 3 in the morning before drawing Virginia Beach’s Skip Zobel
in the afternoon. Pulk won 1 up in a match where neither player could get going
with the putter. Pulk and Zobel are four-ball partners who won the last two
VSGA Senior Four-Ball Match Play titles, so having to face his friend in a
semifinal match wasn’t easy.
“I’d much rather
have Skip as a partner than as an opponent,” Pulk said. “You hate having to
play a good friend in a match because somebody has to lose, especially when
both players are right there and it could go either way. Today, it went my way.”
Super Senior Amateur (65-69)
The biggest
pressure in playing as a defending champion? Just making it to match play,
Slater said.
“Let’s not
embarrass ourselves and not make match play,” Slater said with a laugh. “But I
had a good round yesterday, shot even par, so that gave me some hope I could
come out here and win some matches.”
After opening with
a 3 and 2 win over this year’s VSGA Super Senior Stroke Play champion, Leon
Roday of Henrico, Slater found himself in a ton of trouble in the semifinal
against Indian Creek member Bob Gillispie of Reedville. With their match tied
going to 18, Slater hit his tee shot into the yellow penalty area bisecting the
fairway. Gillispie reached the green in regulation but muscled his birdie putt
a good eight feet past the hole, leaving an opening for Slater, who two putted
for bogey.
Gillispie left his
comebacker short, sending the match to extra holes. “I was toast,” Slater said
of his predicament on 18. “I was lucky to make bogey there.”
Slater won with a
par on No. 3 to advance to Thursday’s matchup with Vigotsky, who faced
considerably less resistance in defeating Jim Woodson 3 and 2 and stroke-play
medalist Lynn Wessman 5 and 4. Vigotsky made just one bogey in 30 holes on
Wednesday. A past finalist in the VSGA Senior Amateur, he’s looking forward to
the opportunity to add a title to his resume on Thursday.
“Anytime you can
win a state event, it’s huge, no matter what the level – junior, senior, super
senior,” Vigotsky said. “This is what you play for, the chance to win state
events.”
Super Senior Amateur (70-74)
Cuomo will meet
Woodbridge’s Ronald Janicki in Thursday’s final. Cuomo defeated Ray D’Amore 5
and 4 in the morning and beat Terry Towler 5 and 3 in the afternoon. He said he
was able to fix a swing error on the back nine in the morning, and that
confidence carried over into the afternoon match.
“This afternoon, I
didn’t make a bogey, so I just kept putting a lot of pressure on my opponent,”
Cuomo said. “I figured out a couple of things I was doing wrong during the
qualifying and this morning, and it worked out well this afternoon.”
Janicki eliminated
defending 70-74 champ Mike Brown of Clifton 5 and 3 in the morning before
battling No. 8 seed Worth Banner in the semifinals. Banner defeated stroke-play
co-medalist John Casstevens in 19 holes in the quarterfinals.
Janicki’s semifinal
with Banner was even through 11 holes, but Janicki made back-to-back birdies on
12 and 13 to jump to a 2-up lead. Another birdie on 15 pushed the lead to 3 up
with three to play, and when the players both made par on 17, the match ended.
Super Senior Amateur (75+)
The top two seeds
fell in the 75-plus division, though those could hardly be considered upsets
considering the four players who reached match play finished within a stroke of
each other in qualifying.
Owens will meet
McLean’s David Stewart in Thursday’s final. Owens jumped to a big lead before
holding off stroke-play medalist Harold Guy 3 and 2 in one semifinal. Stewart
defeated Staunton’s Joe Cochran, a finalist last year, 2 and 1 in the other
match.
“I was up five on
the front, and by 14 (Guy) had cut it back to two,” Owens said. “Then I birdied
15, so that helped. He just sort of gave me some holes, I hate to say it. I
made all pars on the first nine holes. He just wasn’t playing real well. Then I
wasn’t playing real well on the back side.
“I knew that I
needed to make a putt. I hadn’t made a putt the whole tournament, and I finally
made a putt on 15, about 12 or 15 feet for birdie. He had about a 20 footer and
left it a little short. So then, all I had to do was halve a hole to win, and I
hit it really close on 16, so I didn’t even have to really putt it.”
Chris Lang is the
Editor of Virginia Golfer magazine and the VSGA’s manager, digital media.