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Pictured: Kendall Turner
By Chris Lang
RICHMOND — The semifinals are set at the 97th Virginia State Golf Association Women’s Amateur Championship. The color of the day for Thursday’s final four at Meadowbrook Country Club? Purple.
High Point University’s Danielle Suh and Vynie Chen advanced to the semifinals in the top half of the draw. In the bottom half, current James Madison University standout Kendall Turner and future JMU player Amber Mackiewicz advanced.
The semifinals are slated to begin at 7:30 a.m. The winners will advance to the 18-hole championship match, set to begin at approximately noon.
Suh is making her second straight semifinal appearance. Turner reached this stage in 2020 at Roanoke Country Club. Chen and Mackiewicz are making their first semifinal appearances.
THE STORY
Suh, the stroke-play medalist after firing a 1-under 70 on Tuesday, survived a stiff challenge from Suffolk teenager Faith Garcia in the round of 16 before ousting Charleston Southern’s Erica Whitehouse in a battle of Big South Conference players in the quarterfinals.
Against Garcia, Suh was 2 down through three holes and 1 down through six before rattling off wins in four straight holes to take a 3-up lead. Garcia chipped away, taking advantage of the back-nine par 3s at Meadowbrook, making birdies on 13 and 17 to head to 18 with a chance to send the match to extra holes. Instead, Suh made birdie to close the door on a 2-up win.
In the quarterfinals, Suh and Whitehouse were tied after five holes before Suh took control of the match with a birdie on No. 6 and a par on No. 7. Whitehouse, who lives in Mechanicsville, was never able to tie the match after that, and Suh (Herndon) closed out the win when both players made par on 17.
Suh’s reward will be a matchup with her High Point teammate Chen, who secured a 1-up win over Katelynn Waclawski (Vienna) in the round of 16 before beating Longwood’s Emma Landis (Virginia Beach) 1 up in the quarterfinals. Chen lost in the quarterfinals last year at Evergreen CC.
Against Landis, Chen won by sinking a birdie on the 18th hole. Landis had a chance to answer but her birdie putt lipped out.
Turner earned her spot by ousting Delaware’s Elizabeth Coffren (Owings, Md.) and Methodist’s Jillian Drinkard (Appomattox). Turner, who posted an even-par 71 on Tuesday and was seeded second, won 5 and 4 in the morning before winning a back-and-forth battle with Drinkard 2 and 1 in the afternoon.
After Turner (Chesapeake) took a 1-up lead with an eagle on No. 4, the match remained either tied or 1-up in favor of Turner until the 15th hole. Turner made birdie there and backed it up with another birdie on 16 to grab a 2-up lead, and the match ended when both players made par on 17.
“Me and Jillian’s match was just a whole lot of fun,” Turner said. “It was very back and forth, and we both made a lot of birdies. I was just able to make a lot of putts again today.”
Mackiewicz (Virginia Beach) rallied in both of her matches on Wednesday. She defeated 2021 Women’s Amateur finalist and 2022 VSGA Women’s Stroke Play champion Alexandra Austin of Burke 5 and 3 in the round of 16. She trailed that match through six holes but won holes 7 and 8 to take the lead and never looked back. She won holes 10, 11, 13 and 15 to seal the match.
Against Sload, she trailed even later in the match. Sload won No. 10 with a par to take a 2-up lead, but Mackiewicz won three of the next four holes to take a 1-up lead. On 18, Sload dialed up a perfect approach shot, landing it within four feet on Meadowbrook’s tiny 18th green before making a birdie putt to tie the match.
On the first extra hole, Mackiewicz hit an 18-foot downhill slider for birdie and pumped her fist, putting the pressure on Sload to hit her 15-footer to extend the match. It went long, giving Mackiewicz the win.
“I was a little hesitant with the line, because where I was, there was a hill sweeping to the right,” Mackiewicz said. “I had my original line, and at the last minute, I decided to play it out a little bit more. I saw it going, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s gonna go in.’”
As for her ability to come back from early deficits, Mackiewicz said: “I was on the Virginia-Maryland team (Junior Girls’ Matches) a few weeks ago, and it was kind of the same thing. I was down early and I started finding my way back. So I just thought today, it’s match play, there are so many holes left, and it can be turned around. So I just tried to keep a mellow state of mind.”
NOTES
- Of the top four seeds, only No. 4 Kanchana Duangsam failed to reach the semifinals. At No. 5, Chen is the lowest remaining seed.
- Sload recently graduated from the University of Virginia but will play next year as a graduate transfer at the University of Missouri while pursuing a degree in broadcast journalism.
- Of the remaining players, Suh is the only one to have won a VSGA championship, winning the Junior Girls’ title in 2020.
- Mackiewicz has one year of high school remaining and has verbally committed to JMU but cannot officially sign until later this year.
- Drinkard’s round-of-16 win over Annabelle Jennings was the longest match of the day, going 21 holes.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.