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By Chris Lang
RICHMOND — Kendall Turner was in such a zone on Thursday afternoon that she didn’t realize how well she was playing. After surviving her semifinal showdown at the 97th Virginia State Golf Association Women’s Amateur Championship at Meadowbrook Country Club, she went on a birdie blitz in the final match against stroke-play medalist Danielle Suh.
By the time she made the turn, she had made six birdies (some conceded) and held a 5-up lead, essentially sucking the drama out of the back nine. When both players made par on No. 14, Turner secured a 5-and-4 win for her first VSGA championship.
“I honestly didn’t think about it much,” Turner said after the match. “I didn’t really realize how many birdies I made until you said something.”
Turner, who is entering her fourth year at James Madison University, displayed a sort of steely grit during the final match, rarely giving Suh an opening. She won the first two holes with birdies, the first coming after Suh hit her opening drive out of bounds. Suh, entering her third year at High Point University, held her ground and made some birdies of her own and was only 1 down through five holes.
But Turner won the next four holes to build a commanding lead, and Suh was unable to catch up.
“Honestly, today, I didn’t feel that good about my game overall,” Suh said. “I don’t think my ball striking was as good as it was the past two days. I was just trying to play my best with how my swing was today. She just did really well today. I’m not mad. She was playing her game and just played really well.”
Turner needed a spark late in her semifinal match to advance. Turner was 1 down to future JMU player Amber Mackiewicz of Virginia Beach through 14 holes, but she made a birdie on No. 15, then made pars on 16 and 17 as Mackiewicz began to struggle with her putter, and suddenly, the match was over.
Suh’s path to the final including a meeting with her best friend and High Point teammate and roommate Vynie Chen. Suh won that match on the 18th green when both players made par, clinching a 1-up win for Suh.
“It was exciting, but it was also more nerve wracking than the other matches that I played,” Suh said. “I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because we’re so close, and it’s like best friends battling each other. Neither of us played our best game today, but it was still fun.”
One person not surprised to see how well Turner played in winning four matches this week was David Williams Jr., a fellow member at Greenbrier who used to be the teaching professional there before leaving the golf business and regaining his amateur status about three years ago. Williams began working with Turner when she was just 9 years old and still works with her—on a pro-bono basis, of course.
“As good as she was in the junior ranks, I think—and she believes—that she didn’t work as hard as she could have during that time,” said Williams, who was on site at Meadowbrook on Thursday to support Turner. “When we went to the U.S. Junior Girls’ in Wisconsin, she saw how good everybody was, and she knew it was attainable for her. I think once she got through her freshman year of college, she realized she could be really, really good, and now she’s one of the hardest working people I’ve seen.”
Since Turner began at JMU, she’s set the Dukes’ freshman scoring record (2018-19), won CAA Player of the Year (2020-21) and set the program record for lowest round, a 66 in spring 2022.
Now add in a Women’s Amateur championship, and you can see why Turner’s game is trending in the right direction as the Dukes prepare for a move to the Sun Belt Conference next season.
“It’s given me a lot of confidence,” Turner said. “I’m ready for the different competition, it’ll be fun.”
Add that confidence to an obvious level of talent has Williams excited to see where Turner’s game goes next.
“She’s finally learned to think her way around the golf course,” he said. “She’s pretty solid in every aspect of the game, and I don’t think you’re going to get blown away by any one thing that she does. But she’s gotten really good at limiting her mistakes, which is the main thing we’ve talked about the last two years. It’s pretty fun to watch.”
NOTES
- This is the second straight year the VSGA Women’s Amateur was won by a college player by a 5-and-4 margin. Becca DiNunzio (Virginia Tech) won by the same score last year.
- Turner and Suh both advanced to the championship match for the first time. Turner reached the semifinals in 2020 at Roanoke Country Club. Suh made the semifinals last year at Evergreen CC.
- The last time the top two seeds advanced to the final match was in 2014, when No. 2 seed Lyberty Anderson defeated No. 1 seed Lauren Coughlin at Hidden Valley Country Club. Coughlin now plays on the LPGA Tour.
- Winners in the three additional flights at the VSGA Women’s Amateur were Paris Fieldings (first flight), Adrienne Schmidt (second flight), Amellia Boyer (third flight).
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.