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By Chris Lang
HOT SPRINGS — Three years ago, the Virginia State Golf Association added a super senior division to its women’s golf offerings, giving ladies ages 65 and older a chance to compete against players at their level. Since then, five championships have been held in the super senior division, and Salem’s Dot Bolling has won four of them.
Bolling rallied for a 1-up win over Maidens’ Maggie Balch in the driving rain on Thursday at the Omni Homestead Resort’s Old Course, claiming her second straight title in the VSGA Super Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. Bolling won last year’s inaugural edition of the event and has also claimed two of the three titles in the VSGA Super Senior Women’s Stroke Play Championship.
Also on Thursday, the championship match was set in the 63rd VSGA Senior Women’s Amateur, as Richmond’s Boodie McGurn and Keswick’s Andrea Miller rolled to semifinal wins. They’ll square off in Friday morning’s title match.
2nd VSGA Super Senior Women’s Amateur Championship
Bolling’s victory featured several wild swings down the stretch. Balch, a member at Hermitage Country Club, tied a back-and-forth match after making a par on No. 15. Bolling (Hidden Valley CC) got in trouble with her approach shot, hitting it into a greenside bunker. Bolling could only escape as far as the surrounding rough and failed to get up and down for par.
Balch then hit a fantastic shot on the par-3 16th, the ball hitting the apron on the front of the green before trickling to within 10 feet. Bolling’s struggles continued on 16 tee, as she shanked her tee shot deep into the woods. She quickly conceded the hole, giving Balch a 1-up lead with two holes to play.
Then things got weird on No. 17, a short par-4 hole. Bolling rolled in a putt for bogey and retreated to her cart, leaving Balch with a par putt, mere feet from victory. The putt just missed, but instead of tapping it in for bogey to tie the hole, Balch picked it up without marking it, a one-stroke penalty. However, Bolling had not conceded the putt before Balch picked up her ball, meaning Bolling suddenly had won the hole to even the match.
Bolling hit the green with her tee shot on the par-3 18th while Balch hit her tee shot long and left into the rough. Balch couldn’t get up and down for par, and Bolling won by making a two-putt par.
“It’s good,” Bolling said of the win. “But I wish it wouldn’t have been like this.”
The Super Senior Women’s Amateur also featured play in first and second flights for those who didn’t qualify for the championship flight, as well as consolation brackets in all three flights. For results, please click on the “Event Home” link above.
63rd VSGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship
McGurn (CC of Virginia) won this tournament in 2004, 2009 and 2015. So five years after her last title, it seems like she should be due for a fourth win, right?
She’ll face a tall task in defeating Miller (The Club at Glenmore), who has used her distance off the tee to defeat three straight opponents without playing past the 14th hole. Miller is newly eligible for the senior division and is making her debut in the event.
McGurn first had to defeat another three-time champion, Alexandria’s Shelley Savage (Army Navy CC). Savage admittedly “didn’t have it” on Thursday. McGurn certainly did, and she rolled to a 6-and-5 victory in a rematch of the 2012 final, which Savage won.
McGurn never trailed and led 5 up by the eighth hole. She won the match with a par on the par-5 13th.
“I caught Shelley on a really off day,” McGurn said. “That was unfortunate. That happens at our age.”
McGurn said she’s happy with how she’s hit the ball in a limited tournament schedule this summer, adding that a lesson with CCV professional Eric Layton helped focus her game recently.
“I actually did what I tell other people to do,” McGurn said. “I wrote down a tip on each thing – putting, chipping, full swing. I always think I’ll remember it, but I don’t. And before I go out the door, I look at it. And I don’t know, something has just clicked. I hope it stays with me tomorrow.”
Miller ousted five-time champion Mimi Hoffman 5 and 4, winning with a birdie on 14. Her power was on fine display on that hole, as she drove the green on the par-4 hole and two putted for her birdie.
“This course sets up well for me,” Miller said. “I’ve been competing in the regular events for a while, trying to keep up with the college kids. This is a better pace for me. … And I actually like this course better than the Cascades Course (at The Homestead) because I can overpower it.”
The match was tied after eight holes but turned in Miller’s favor in a hurry. She won five of the next holes, including the final three with birdies, to clinch the match.
“On 8, I had about a 70-yard shot into the green,” Miller said. “And I just slipped. I sort of toed it off to the right, and I ended up chipping on and three putting. Mimi won the hole, and I said, ‘that’s it, that’s enough.’ I just settled down and started playing really well. I started throwing darts.”
After defeating Peggy Freeman in the round of 16, Miller eliminated two-time champion Natalie Easterly and five-time champ Hoffman in the next two rounds. Next up: the three-time champion McGurn.
“Boodie, I just have the highest respect for,” Miller said. “I know it’s going to be a really tough match. She lives up here. She knows this course extremely well. She’s very, very tough. I just have to keep playing my game.”
The Senior Women’s Amateur also featured play in the first flight for those who didn’t qualify for the championship flight, as well as consolation bracket matches in both the championship and first flights. For results, please click on the “Event Home” link above.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.
63rd VSGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship
At The Omni Homestead Resort (Old), Hot Springs
Par 72, 4,963 yards
Championship flight
Tuesday’s round of 16 matches
#1 Shelley Savage (Alexandria) def. #16 Bev Lane (Great Falls), 3 and 2
#8 Joan Gardner (Alexandria) def. #9 Kay Tyler (Springfield), 5 and 4
#4 Joanne Kitusky (Glen Allen) def. #13 CJ George (Richmond), 5 and 4
#5 Boodie McGurn (Richmond) def. #12 Amy Phelan (Reston), 3 and 1
#2 Natalie Easterly (Charlottesville) def. #15 Cindy Hollingshead (Manakin Sabot), 1 up
#7 Andrea Miller (Keswick) def. #10 Peggy Freeman (Richmond), 9 and 7
#3 Mimi Hoffman (Springfield) def. #14 Karla Knight (Richmond), 4 and 3
#6 Diane Garstka (Springfield) def. #11 Linda DiVall (Alexandria), 3 and 1
Wednesday’s quarterfinal matches
#1 Savage def. #8 Gardner, 2 and 1
#5 McGurn def. #4 Kitusky, 4 and 2
#7 Miller def. #2 Easterly, 6 and 5
#3 Hoffman def. #6 Garstka, 1 up
Thursday’s semifinal matches
#5 McGurn def. #1 Savage, 6 and 5
#7 Miller def. #3 Hoffman, 5 and 4
Friday’s championship match
#5 McGurn vs. #7 Miller, 8:36 a.m.
2nd VSGA Super Senior Women’s Amateur Championship
At The Omni Homestead Resort (Old), Hot Springs
Par 72, 4,823 yards
Championship flight
Tuesday’s quarterfinal matches
#1 Dot Bolling (Salem) def. #8 Janet Cochrane (Cloverdale), 3 and 2
#4 Fran Hensley (Ridgeway) def. #5 Kailynn Sprinkle (Salem), 6 and 5
#2 Tillie Aguiar (Manakin Sabot) def. #7 Susan Gallienne (Midlothian), 19 holes
#6 Maggie Balch (Maidens) def. #3 Marie Anderson (Lorton), 4 and 3
Wednesday’s semifinal matches
#1 Bolling def. #4 Hensley, 3 and 2
#6 Balch def. #2 Aguiar, 1 up
Thursday’s championship match
#1 Bolling def. #6 Balch, 1 up