Decker, Sargent share early lead at 74th VSGA Senior Amateur Championship

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By Chris Lang

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Birdwood Golf at Boar’s Head Resort made its Virginia State Golf Association championship debut on Monday, as the 74^th playing of the VSGA Senior Amateur Championship got underway at the University of Virginia’s home course.

Martinsville’s Keith Decker, the VSGA’s all-time wins leader, and Charlottesville’s Bowen Sargent, UVA’s men’s golf coach, each posted rounds of 5-under-par 66 on Monday and share the top spot on the leaderboard. Fredericksburg’s Jon Hurst, who won the VSGA Senior Stroke Play title in June, is third after returning a 3-under-par 68.

The second round of stroke-play qualifying will be held Tuesday, with the low 32 players advancing to the match-play portion of the event, which begins Wednesday morning with round-of-32 matches. The round of 16 will be played on Wednesday afternoon. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, with the 18-hole championship match set to begin at 8 a.m. on Friday.

THE STORY

With the college golf schedule returning to normalcy, Sargent’s focus has shifted once again from his own game to that of his players and recruits. A few weeks ago, for instance, rather than spending a lot of time at the practice facility, he was walking the course at Roanoke Country Club at the VSGA’s Junior Stroke Play Championship, trying to find the next great Cavalier player.

He remarked then that he had only played Birdwood a handful of times, but it’s clear he’s found a level of comfort there. Just eight days ago, he posted a three-day total of 209 to win the Senior Division at the Jefferson Cup at Birdwood by two strokes over past VSGA Senior Amateur champion Steve Serrao.

"That really helped me, because I played a practice round and played three rounds in the tournament," Sargent said. "Some of the hole locations today were very similar to the Jefferson Cup. Being able to play four rounds literally the week before, it helped me a lot."

After and up-and-down opening nine on Monday, he posted a bogey-free, 4-under-par 32 on the inward nine, including a birdie on the final hole to forge a tie with Decker atop the leaderboard.

"To be honest, usually when I play with our team, I play the back tees," said Sargent, a finalist in last year's Senior Amateur. "I hadn't played some of the tees (being used) until last weekend. For me, just picking the right lines off the tees, that really helped me today."

Decker (Ballyhack GC) counts three Senior Amateurs among his record 31 VSGA victories, having won the title in 2013, 2014 and 2016. He returned a smooth 66 on Monday, notching five birdies in a bogey-free round. Decker started his round on the back nine and made consecutive birdies on holes 12 and 13 to get his round going. Like Sargent, he closed his round with a birdie, this one coming on the par-3 9^th hole.

Hurst (Fredericksburg CC) also started on No. 10 and did all his damage early. He made birdies on Nos. 10, 12 and 15—all par 5s—before closing his round with 12 straight pars.

Hurst said he doesn’t feel any additional pressure in this event, having won the Senior Stroke Play Championship earlier this summer.

“I’ve had a really good year, and I’m hitting the ball well,” Hurst said. “I’m very confident. There’s no pressure, really. Obviously, I’d like to win. I’d like to win them all, actually, but I know you can’t do that. It’s very hard to win. But this would be my No. 1 goal, to win the State Am. It would be fun if I did.”

The course itself was a new look for most competitors. The VSGA has hosted championships at Birdwood in the past, but this is the first one on the reimagined Davis Love III layout. Love’s design team completely changed the course, adding several holes on new land and changing the routing of others.

“The course was good,” Hurst said. “The greens were a little on the slow side but they were smooth. The fairways were Zoysia, which is great, obviously. The layout—I hadn’t played it since college so I didn’t remember anything about it. But it’s a really good layout.”

NOTABLE

• Among the four players tied for fourth at 2-under 69 is defending Senior Amateur champion Buck Brittain (The Virginian GC). He made the turn at level par before carding birdies at 14 and 16 to finish the day 2 under. Others in that tie are Charlottesville’s Neil Davis, Danville’s Scott Blankenship and Arlington’s Matt Sughrue, who won the 2020 Senior Open of Virginia. Sughrue recovered from an early double bogey and shot a 4-under 32 on the back.
• Pete Barbera (Belle Haven CC) signed one of the wildest scorecards of Monday’s first round. He opened his round on No. 10 with a bogey but turned it around quickly, making an ace on the par-3 11^th He added three birdies on the front nine and an eagle on No. 2 to get to 6 under for the day before a quad on the par-4 3^rd reversed his momentum. He made three more bogeys coming in to finish at 1-over 72.
• Two recent past champions have put themselves in the mix after the opening round. Steve Serrao (Willow Oaks CC), the 2019 winner, shot a 1-under 70 and is tied for eighth. Rich Buckner, finalist in 2016 and winner in 2017, returned an even-par 71.
• David Jordan (Willow Oaks CC), the 2019 VSGA Senior Stroke Play champion, shot a 2-over 73 and is tied for 20^th.
• After Monday’s round, 11 players were tied for 31^st at 3-over 74. Only the top 32 players advance to match play, and there will be a playoff after Tuesday’s second round, if necessary, to settle the back end of the match-play field.
• Decker was the last stroke-play medalist to win the championship, doing so in 2016. He’s twice won both the stroke-play medal and the title. The only other players this century to win both were David Partridge in 2011 and Vinny Giles in 2000.

Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.