NOTE TO MEDIA: Links to scoring, photos, and a video can be found on the event portal at the link posted above. Please click on the “Media” tab to find those items.
By Sara Buechler
WILLIAMSBURG — Both sets of defending champions in each division are in the lead heading into Sunday’s final round at the 5th Virginia State Golf Association Women’s Four-Ball Championship at Ford’s Colony Country Club.
In the regular division, three-time winner Lauren Greenlief reunited with her 2017 partner, Alex Austin, and posted a 7-under-par 65. Earning seven birdies this round certainly helped them secure the three-stroke lead against Diana Domenech and Emma Landis.
“On the front, Lauren made four birdies like right off the gate, which helped,” Austin said. “It got the momentum going.”
The pair have been playing together for several years now and mentioned they have plenty of Four-Ball experience in the VSGA and USGA. They won the Four-Ball championship in 2017, and then Greenlief secured the title again in 2018 and 2019 with Shabril Derco.
In the senior division, Free Union’s Amy Ellertson and Charlottesville’s Natalie Easterly are attempting to snatch their fifth win and the only title they have ever known as champions of the Women’s Four-Ball. The duo has won every championship since it debuted. The pair ended Saturday’s first round with a 2-under-par 70 and will be entering Sunday with a one-stroke lead over Andrea Miller and Cindy Thompson. Thompson and Miller are no strangers to winning, as they were the inaugural champions of the Regular Championship in 2016.
The round for Ellertson and Easterly started out slow and steady with several pars and then took a turn when Easterly made birdie on their fifth hole. Ellertson then pulled through with two back-to-back birdies on their 7th and 8th hole. The side had one bogey but finished steady with a few more pars and came out still in the lead.
“We were patient,” Ellertson said. “Although we weren’t firing it on all cylinders, we hung in there.”
When asked about the strategy going into the second round for both sets of defending champions, it was simple: “make more birdies.”
The Women’s Four-Ball Championship also features a net division where the players aren’t eligible to win the championship title. Gloria Tschetschot and Laurie Cobb are two strokes ahead going into Sunday’s final round. Close behind are the sides of Patricia Owens and Patti Peterson and Anne Greever and Mary Langer.
The second round will begin with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Sunday for all competitors.
Buechler is a P.J. Boatwright intern with the VSGA.