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By Chris Lang
HAYMARKET — A lot has changed for Becca DiNunzio since she last held the Pollard Trophy, which is given to the stroke-play qualifying medalist at the Virginia State Golf Association Women’s Amateur Championship.
In 2019 at Princess Anne Country Club, DiNunzio was medalist but was eliminated in the semifinals by eventual champion Rory Weinfurther. Since then, she’s played two years of college golf, performed well in high-level tournaments like The Donna Andrews Invitational and the North and South Women’s Amateur, and has helped Virginia Tech advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time.
DiNunzio put on a show on Monday at Evergreen Country Club in the 96th playing of the VSGA Women’s Amateur, carding eight birdies on her way to a 7-under 65 and the top seed in championship-flight match play, which begins Tuesday with the round of 16 and quarterfinals. The semifinals and 18-hole championship match are scheduled for Wednesday.
“I’ll play the course, for sure,” DiNunzio said. “I’m not really concerned about who I’m playing in match play. I want to go even lower than I did today. Even if I’m playing someone and they have a 40 footer, I have to expect them to make it. It holds me to a higher standard, and it doesn’t let me let up at all. It’s just pedal to the metal, all the way.”
While there’s a sense of unfinished business for DiNunzio, there’s also the reality of how she has evolved as a competitor over the last two years.
“College golf, it really tests you,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of really good learning experiences, especially my freshman year. Then my sophomore year, being able to get into higher level tournaments with the team. The team just really held me to a higher standard. It’s competitive, and it’s just made me a better player.”
DiNunzio (Virginia Beach National GC) had one hiccup on Monday, a bogey on the par-4 8th. She made par on No. 9 to make the turn at 2 under, then scorched the back at 5 under to get in at 65. She’ll open match play Tuesday morning against fellow Virginia Beach resident and No. 16 seed Amber Mackiewicz, who survived a three-hole playoff to land the final championship flight match-play spot.
“It was a little bit rocky on the front nine, I wish my ball striking was a little better,” DiNunzio said. “But I just kept improving on my ball striking as the day went on, getting the ball closer to the hole and getting even more dialed in with the putting speed.”
DiNunzio was four shots clear of a trio who shot 3-under 69: Brambleton’s Julie Shin, last year’s Women’s Am medalist at Roanoke CC; UVA’s Sky Sload; and 16-year-old Sydney Hackett, who is from Ashburn and plays at Rock Ridge High School.
Shin, a finalist last year at Roanoke CC, played with DiNunzio in Monday’s final grouping and posted four birdies and a bogey. She’ll face Isabel Bae in her opening match Tuesday.
Hackett is making her event debut, adding she decided to play this year because several of her friends entered. She made six birdies and three bogeys on Monday and will open match play against Virginia Beach’s Carley Rudolf. Hackett earned some valuable experience in the format two weekends ago in the Virginia-Maryland Junior Girls’ Matches at Wintergreen Resort.
“I was putting really well,” Hackett said. “I made a huge par save on the par 3, 16. I hit a lot of great wedge shots to less than 10 feet and made the putts. So it was just a solid round, no giant mistakes.”
For Sload, Monday’s round was the start of an important summer as she continues to play her way back into competitive shape after missing her first two seasons at UVA with what she described as an “unexpected sports injury.” She also changed clubs before this event, eager to put the new sticks into play in competition.
Sload shot 5 under on the front nine Monday.
“I’ve been waiting for these clubs for a very long time, and I finally got the correct shafts in,” said Sload, who faces past VSGA Women’s Stroke Play champion Alexandra Austin of Burke in Tuesday’s round of 16. “So with that, I was very eager to put them into play. It’s all about trust.”
Centreville’s Vynie Chen shot a 1-under 71 to finish fifth. Her High Point University teammate, Danielle Suh, shot even-par 72 to tie for sixth with two-time Women’s Amateur champion Lauren Greenlief.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.