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By Matty Madden
ROANOKE — After the stroke play qualifying round on day one of the 95th Virginia State Golf Association Women’s Amateur Championship at Roanoke Country Club, Julie Shin (VSGA Junior Golf Circuit) earned medalist honors in her Women’s Amateur Championship debut. The 16-year-old Shin posted a 1-under-par 70 with five birdies to earn the stroke-play medal and the top seed in the match play portion of the tournament.
“In the practice round, I didn’t actually hit a lot of greens, but today, my second shots were a lot better, my drives were hitting fairway and I was actually making putts, so everything just worked better today than yesterday,” Shin said.
While this is Shin’s first time in the VSGA Women’s Amateur Championship, she has experience with match play, saying, “I played in the Bobby Bowers (at Springfield G&CC), which is kind of like this but only with juniors. I did pretty well there, so I’ll just do the same thing here. It’s match play, so the last hole doesn’t really matter, so I’ll just stay focusing forward.”
As far as her goals for the tournament, Shin said, “just to make it past tomorrow.” Shin will face No. 16 seed Reagan McCoy (Virginia Beach National GC) tomorrow in the first round of match play. McCoy's twin sister, Delaney (Virginia Beach National GC), also qualified for match play and will face Sidney Walker (Springfield GCC).
Fellow newcomer Tatum Walsh (Salisbury CC) also found success in the qualifying round, posting an even-par 71, including two birdies, earning the second seed in match play.
“I just kept my composure, kept calm, hit greens. Everything was pretty consistent, just hitting greens,” said Walsh. She’s paired with 15-seed Sue Lee (Mount Vernon CC) for the match play round.
Behind Walsh is Danielle Suh, who made the quarterfinals in last years’ tournament. Suh finished third with a 1-over-par 72, that included one birdie on No. 7. Suh credited her steady play for her success, saying, “I feel like everything just went well today. There wasn’t really one thing that stood out to me. I feel like my whole game just played well together.”
Suh had a memorable run in last year’s tournament, going to 22 holes to outlast Diana Domenech in the first round, before falling to medalist Becca DiNunzio in the quarterfinals. She said her goal for this year is to make it past the quarterfinals, and hopefully get to the championship round. She will face 14-seed Mariah Hopkins (Danville GC) in match play tomorrow.
Last year’s finalist and current head coach of the Old Dominion University women’s golf team, Mallory Hetzel (Princess Anne CC), went five-over-par for a score of 76. She isn’t dwelling on her score and is focusing on tomorrow’s matches, saying, “anything can happen in match play. Once you get in to match play, you can score 60 and lose or score 80 and win. There’s a bit more strategy involved with it and I love that, so hopefully I wake up on the better side of the bed, hit it a little bit straighter, and have a run at it.”
Hetzel looks to bounce back from her championship-match loss to Rory Weinfurther at the 94th VSGA Women’s Amateur Championship when she faces off against sixth-seeded Melanie Walker (Springfield G&CC) tomorrow.
Among the championship qualifiers was Roanoke CC member Kathryn Ha, a 13 year old who posted a 4-over-par 75 to earn the eighth seed. She’ll play ninth-seeded Sirena Walsh (International CC). Ha credited Roanoke Country Club for her success, saying they’ve helped her improve a lot as a player and gave her a place to practice when COVID-19 caused several courses to temporarily close.
Matty Madden is a P.J. Boatwright intern for the VSGA.
95th VSGA Women’s Championship
At Roanoke Country Club, Roanoke
Par 71, 5,870 yards
Tuesday’s first-round scores
Julie Shin (Brambleton), 35-35--70
Tatum Walsh (Midlothian), 35-36--71
Danielle Suh (Herndon), 36-36--72
Alexandra Austin (Burke), 40-33--73
Kendall Turner (Chesapeake), 38-35--73
Delaney McCoy (Virginia Beach), 39-35--74
Melanie Walker (Burke), 37-37--74
Kathryn Ha (Roanoke), 36-39--75
Sirena Walsh (Aldie), 39-36--75
Isabel Bae (Bristow), 40-36--76
Mallory Hetzel (Virginia Beach), 39-37--76
Naomi Mitchell (Norfolk), 39-37--76
Sidney Walker (Springfield), 38-38--76
Mariah Hopkins (Danville), 41-36--77
Sue Lee (Lorton), 39-38--77
Reagan McCoy (Virginia Beach), 40-37—77
Did not qualify for championship flight
Emma Landis (Virginia Beach), 41-37--78
Ester Choi (Midlothian), 38-41--79
Jayde Dudley (Roanoke), 38-41--79
Kaitlyn Mosdell (Roanoke), 39-40--79
Cassidy Chambers (Goodview), 42-38--80
Alexandra Delgado (Fairfax), 41-39--80
Vynie Chen (Centreville), 41-40--81
Ashnoor Kaur (Roanoke), 40-41--81
Melissa Meng (Blacksburg), 41-40--81
Siena Ferrick (Vienna), 41-41--82
Caleigh Street (Jewell Ridge), 43-39--82
Christine Bates (Chantilly), 42-41--83
Abby Hunter (Blacksburg), 43-40--83
Sutasinee Rudd (Haymarket), 43-40--83
Kyndall Campbell (Arlington), 43-41--84
Caroline Gilreath (Roanoke), 40-44--84
Allison Cherry (Chesterfield), 47-38--85
Yiqing Gong (Charlottesville), 44-41--85
Rachel Detore (Spotsylvania), 43-46--89
Angela Baskette (Arlington), 45-46--91
Grace Anne Braxton (Fredericksburg), 46-45--91
Allison Douglas (Covington), 49-45--94
Wednesday’s round-of-16 championship flight matches
#1 Julie Shin (Brambleton) vs. #16 Reagan McCoy (Virginia Beach), 8:50 a.m. (Hole 1)
#8 Sirena Walsh (Aldie) vs. #9 Kathryn Ha (Roanoke), 8:50 a.m. (Hole 10)
#4 Kendall Turner (Chesapeake) vs. #13 Isabel Bae (Bristow), 9 a.m. (1)
#5 Alexandra Austin (Burke) vs. #12 Jayde Dudley (Roanoke), 9 a.m. (10)
#2 Tatum Walsh (Midlothian) vs. #15 Sue Lee (Lorton), 9:10 a.m. (1)
#7 Delaney McCoy (Virginia Beach) vs. #10 Sidney Walker (Springfield), 9:10 a.m. (10)
#3 Danielle Suh (Herndon) vs. #14 Mariah Hopkins (Danville), 9:20 a.m. (1)
#6 Melanie Walker (Burke) vs. #11 Mallory Hetzel (Virginia Beach), 9:20 a.m. (10)