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By Chris Lang
ALEXANDRIA — Burke’s Alexandra Austin was the only player to post an under-par round on Tuesday at Mount Vernon Country Club, a 3-under 68 that gave her a three-stroke advantage after the first round of the 45th VSGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship.
Austin, a Springfield Golf & Country Club member who won the Women’s Stroke Play Championship in 2016 at Winchester Country Club, finished with five birdies and two bogeys. She’ll open the second day of the 54-hole championship three shots ahead of Virginia Tech’s Alyssa Montgomery and four-time event champion Lauren Greenlief of Ashburn.
The second round of the Women’s Stroke Play Championship is scheduled for Wednesday, with the third and final round set for Thursday. Also on Wednesday, play begins in three 36-hole championships at Mount Vernon: The Senior Women’s Stroke Play, Super Senior Women’s Stroke Play, and the first VSGA Women’s Net Stroke Play Championship.
THE STORY
For Austin, who regained her amateur status a couple of years ago after a brief dalliance with professional golf, practice opportunities are few and far between thanks to her job. So she tends to get most of her practice on course during competitive rounds.
She certainly didn’t look rusty on Tuesday. She was dialed in with her irons and wedges, hit a ton of shots close and converted on several occasions. Her biggest issue during the first round? Lag putting, as the few times when she was more than 15 feet out, she misjudged speed, leading to three-putt bogeys.
“She hit a lot of shots really, really close to the hole,” said Montgomery, who played in Austin’s group. “Her furthest putt today was probably 25 feet, so that was pretty impressive.”
Austin reached 4 under after a birdie on 16 but slid back to 3 under after a three-putt bogey on 17. Still, she said she was satisfied with her round on Tuesday.
“My ball striking today was really good,” Austin said. “I was probably within 10 or 15 feet on almost every green, and when I wasn’t, I got up and down when I needed to.”
Montgomery, a Tennessean who is a member at Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech and recently completed her junior year in Blacksburg, played in last year’s Women’s Stroke Play at Wintergreen Resort and finished in a three-way tie for second place behind Jessica Spicer. She had an up-and-down round with four birdies and four bogeys on Tuesday.
“It was pretty back and forth today,” Montgomery said. “My approach shots with my irons probably weren’t the best. I mishit several and hit some bunkers. So that was where the bogeys came from. But all of my birdies were from the same club probably (a 50-degree wedge). I had 110 to 115 yards on a lot of holes, and I made birdie from inside of eight feet about every time.”
Greenlief, who won the last of her four Women’s Stroke Play titles in 2019 at Willow Oaks Country Club in Richmond, finished with two birdies and two bogeys and noted that she struggled to find a rhythm with her putting on Tuesday. Improvement in that area will be a point of emphasis heading into Wednesday’s second round.
“I hit the ball solid all day and had a ton of birdie chances but couldn’t convert them,” Greenlief said. “So that was frustrating. But you can’t win the tournament on the first day. You can lose it though. So I hung in there.”
NOTES
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.