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By Chris Lang
CROZET – Virginia Beach’s Amber Mackiewicz (pictured above) and Herndon’s Danielle Suh each used key eagles to jumpstart their rounds on a sweltering Monday at Old Trail Golf Club, and each ended the first round of the 51st Virginia State Golf Association Junior Girls’ Championship with a share of the lead.
Suh, set to begin her collegiate career at High Point University next month, and Mackiewicz, a rising sophomore at Bayside High School, posted 6-under-par rounds of 65 to take the early lead in the 36-hole championship. The second and final round is scheduled to begin Tuesday morning.
The pair hold a one-stroke lead over two-time Junior Girls’ champion Victoria Tip-Aucha of Vienna, who is taking one last stab at winning her record-tying third title in this event before heading to Penn State University next month. Faith Garcia, a 15-year-old from Suffolk is two shots back after returning a 4-under 67, and Midlothian’s Tatum Walsh, who won last week’s VSGA Women’s Amateur Championship, is three shots back after posting a 3-under 68.
Mackiewicz’s eagle came on No. 4 and represented a key momentum swing in her round. She started with bogeys on two of her first three holes before chipping in for eagle on the 4th.
“The two bogeys were actually three-putts, so I was a little freaked out. I just needed to regroup,” said Mackiewicz, whose 65 was the best round of her career. “Right after that, I chipped in for eagle, so my round completely turned around after that. Once that hole happened, it was just game on from there.”
Mackiewicz has won all three VSGA Junior Golf Circuit events she has competed in so far in 2020, but the Junior Girls’ Championship offers a significantly higher level of competition. After the eagle, she birdied No. 6, then made birdie on five of the first seven holes on the back nine to charge up the leaderboard.
“My consistency has improved. Last year, I was all over the place – left, right, short, long,” Mackiewicz said. “Now I’m a lot more dialed in. If I make a mistake, I can fix it right away.”
Suh, a third-place finisher in this event last year and a quarterfinalist at last week’s Women’s Amateur, made her eagle on No. 3. She also recorded five birdies and one bogey in a steady round. After several close calls in this event, Suh said she’s worked on playing more freely.
“Honestly, I always pressure myself, and I end up doing worse than I should,” Suh said. “For this tournament, I’m not going to stress about anyone else’s scoring. I’m just going to play my own game.”
Tip-Aucha won back-to-back Junior Girls’ titles in 2016 at Evergreen Country Club and 2017 at Salisbury Country Club. She hasn’t played much tournament golf this year, but nearly joined Mackiewicz and Suh atop the leaderboard but dropped a shot with a bogey on the final hole. She made eagle on No. 10 and added four other birdies.
“I didn’t expect much,” Tip-Aucha said. “I just wanted to come out and have fun. I didn’t try to put too much pressure on myself.”
Garcia made bogey on No. 2 but quickly recovered with a birdie on the third hole. She made a run in the middle of her round with three straight birdies starting on No. 8, and she made a two-putt birdie on No. 14 to get to 4 under for the day.
“I just felt really consistent today, really solid,” Garcia said. “I was just glad that I was able to recover after any bad hole. That just made me fired up so I would do better on the next hole.”
Bristow’s Isabel Bae, Virginia Beach’s Emma Landis and Burke’s Melanie Walker each returned scores of 2-under 69 and will open Tuesday’s final round four shots back of the leaders. Centreville’s Vynie Chen and Lorton’s Sue Lee posted 1-under 70s and will start the final round five strokes back.
Chris Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.