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By Arthur Utley
CHESTERFIELD — Kevin Macmillan (Brandermill Country Club) sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win the 65-69 age group at the 37th Virginia State Golf Association Super Senior Stroke Play Championship.
Macmillan posted a 2-under-par 70 at Lake Chesdin Golf Club on Tuesday and finished the 36-hole tournament with a 1-under total of 143. Defending champion David Partridge from Hermitage CC (70-73) and David Pulk of Two Rivers Country Club (73-70) also concluded regulation with a 1-under aggregate.
Pulk and first-round leader Partridge, playing in different pairings, came to the final hole at 2-under, but each missed short par putts that could have given them the victory.
In the playoff on the par-4 18th hole, all three hit the green with their approach shots. Pulk’s birdie putt was from 60-plus feet. Partridge’s birdie try was from about 18 feet. Each had short par putts again, but Macmillan rolled in the winning putt.
In the 70-74 age group, Van McCarter (Blue Hills CC in Roanoke) shot a 3-over-par 75 for a 36-hole total of 3-over 147 to win his first VSGA title. McCarter was two shots clear of Ronald Cornelison (Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville) and three strokes ahead of Mike Ancel (Newport News Golf Club. Cornelison shot 1-over 73 and Ancel returned 2-over 74 that included an eagle 2 on the par-4 17th hole.
In the 75 plus division, Lake Chesdin is playing to par 71. Mike Brown (CC of Fairfax) logged a 1-over 72 to go with his first-day 73. His 145 total outdistanced runner-up George Owens (Princess Anne CC) by seven shots.
THE STORY
First-round leader Partridge gave up his overnight lead with bogeys on the first and fourth holes and a triple bogey on the sixth.
Robert Friend, the owner and greens superintendent at The Brookwoods Golf Club, assumed the lead at 2-under and held or shared it until making three bogeys in four holes to start the inward nine.
Pulk was 3-under for the day and was the tournament leader at 2-under when he hit his second shot on the final hole to 8 feet from the cup. A stunning three-putt bogey dropped him to 1-under.
Partridge recovered from the triple bogey with four birdies, the last coming at the par-4 17th that put him back in the lead. He hit his second shot over the green at 18 and chipped to about 3 feet but missed the par putt.
Macmillan, at the suggestion of fellow Brandermill member and VSGA rules official Bob Horner, made his VSGA tournament debut at the 2021 Super Senior Amateur and lost in the final match. He won the Richmond Golf Association Super Senior Championship last month.
Macmillan bogeyed the first hole on Tuesday then birdied three holes and played bogey-free the rest of the way before sinking the playoff winning putt.
“I’m ecstatic. I’m almost shaking. To beat the big guns is really exciting. And I don’t like that hole (18th) very much, but now I do,” Macmillan said.
Macmillan didn’t know where he stood in the chase until the 15th hole when a playing partner asked him if he wanted to know.
“I said yes because I thought it would come down to 18,” he said. “I putted well the whole two days.”
Macmillan likes to give each green a close examination.
“The greens here are really grainy. So I wanted to know where my ball was starting with the grain and down by the hole where the grain was. The key was that and the constant good putting. I tend to be a good putter,” he said.
70-74
“I’ve never won anything with the VSGA. I always hoped I would. It just feels wonderful,” McCarter said. “Steve (Isaacs), Ron and Mike played some good golf so it wasn’t a cakewalk. It went right down to the wire.
“Before I turned 65 I really didn’t have much of a chance to play because I was traveling a lot. When I turned 65 I really started playing in some tournaments.”
75 plus
Brown shot his age for the 53rd time with a steady round that consisted of 14 pars, two birdies and three bogeys.
“I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. I had a number of good birdie putts that I missed. I was happy to shoot 72,” he said.
Brown won the Stroke Play 70-74 age group last year and was the victor in the VSGA Super Senior Amateur (70-74) in 2018.
NOTES
- Macmillan was a high school football and basketball official for more than 40 years.
- In addition to Brown and Owens, John Casstevens and Rich Fischer shot their age or better in the 75 plus division. The field’s eldest senior, 81-year-old Gary Zimmerman of Hermitage CC, beat his age by shooting 79.
Utley is a retired Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter and frequent contributor to Virginia Golfer magazine and VSGA event coverage.