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By Chris Lang
VIRGINIA BEACH — Stroke-play qualifying medalist Scott Bemberis and two-time defending champion Buck Brittain are among the eight players who advanced to the quarterfinals of the 75th Virginia State Golf Association Senior Amateur Championship on Wednesday at Cavalier Golf & Yacht Club.
Bemberis (Independence GC) and Brittain (The Virginian GC) will meet in the first quarterfinal, which is set for 8 a.m. on Thursday. Jon Hurst (Fredericksburg CC) will square off against David Williams Jr. (Sleepy Hole GC) in the second quarterfinal.
On the other side of the bracket, past Senior Amateur champion Steve Serrao (Willow Oaks CC) will meet Jon Zampedro (Pleasant Valley GC), while David Jordan (Willow Oaks CC) will battle Cavalier member Jeffrey Flax.
The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday afternoon, with the 18-hole championship match slated for 8 a.m. on Friday.
THE STORY
To say the remaining field at the Senior Amateur is accomplished would be an understatement.
Five of the eight have won at least two VSGA championships, and Flax won the 2020 VSGA Super Senior Amateur (65+). Among those still seeking his first title is Bemberis, who staved off difficult challenges from Robert Nussey and Harry Thomas to earn his spot across from Brittain, who is looking to become just the second player in history to win three straight Senior Amateurs.
Bemberis jumped to an early 3-up lead on Nussey, who survived a 5-for-2 playoff on Tuesday to earn his spot in the match-play field, but Nussey slowly chipped away until he tied the match with a birdie on 16. With the match tied, Bemberis made par on the 18th to survive.
“Robert played a great back nine,” said Bemberis, who then needed 19 holes to dispatch Thomas in the round of 16. “He hit two birdies out of bunkers on 15 and 16, just great shots. I was lucky to get out of that one. Then Harry and I, we were never really more than one apart all day. I survived. It was a lot like yesterday. It was windy. I found a lot of spots in the rough that I don’t want to visit again.”
Bemberis added that it wasn’t nerves that came into play at the end of his second match. It was fatigue.
“I tell you what, I’m tired,” he said. “I was tired after 18 the last two days, and today I played 36. Things that were easy when you were fresh in the morning seem to be a lot more difficult in the afternoon.”
Brittain (The Virginian GC) slipped by past VSGA Amateur champion David Passerell in 19 holes in the morning before ousting Steven Galing 3 and 2 in the afternoon.
Hurst rode a smoking-hot putter to a pair of comfortable victories, dispatching Carlos Aranda (Springfield G&CC) 6 and 5 before besting Darrell Craft (The Waterfront CC) 4 and 3 in the afternoon.
“My putter was really good today, which was interesting, because it was so bad on Monday (in the first round of stroke play),” Hurst said. “I think that was a fluke because I’ve been putting really well all year. I don’t know what happened on Monday. I guess it was one of those qualifying things. Sometimes you try to protect and I guess I was too overprotective.”
Williams, a reinstated amateur who is also seeking his first VSGA title, beat Stephen Whitfield (Bayville GC) 3 and 2 before topping Mark Alonzi (Stonehenge G&CC) 2 and 1. Afterward, he joked he would do plenty of talking during his match with Hurst but also acknowledged the challenge ahead of him.
“It’ll be fun,” Williams said. “Jon is a great guy. Playing him, it will definitely make me hit all of my shots, that’s for sure.”
If Zampedro is to advance to the semifinals, he’ll have to beat a second straight Serrao brother in Thursday’s quarterfinals. After a 4-and-3 win over Willie Diggs (Westfields GC) in the morning, Zampedro ended the prospect of an all-Serrao quarterfinal by eliminating Jay Serrao 2 and 1.
Steve Serrao is seeking his second Senior Amateur title and third finals appearance in the last four years. He said the key to advancing is getting off to a hot start on Cavalier’s first six holes. He was able to that on Wednesday, going 3-up through six in both of his wins, first against Steve Williams (Eaglewood GC), then against Philip Mahone (Farmington CC).
“I came out firing—I was trying to be 2-up after 1, but I know you can’t do that,” Serrao said. “On the first six holes out here, you have to attack. You have to be 2- or 3-under after six to have a good score.”
As for Zampedro: “It’s like playing the scorecard. He’s not going to make many mistakes. He can shoot a good round and beat any of us here.”
Jordan, who won the 2019 VSGA Senior Stroke Play here and teamed this past April with Hurst to win the VSGA Senior Multi-Format Team Championship, is seeking his second straight semifinal appearance. He lost to Brittain last year at Birdwood. He needed 19 holes to beat Kevin Williamson (Lake Chesdin GC) in the morning and knocked out Mikeal Johnston (Evergreen CC) 3 and 2 in the afternoon.
Flax topped Michael Hays (Princess Anne CC) 2 and 1 in the morning before rallying late to top Jeffrey Klatt (Medal of Honor GC) 1 up in the afternoon. Flax was three down through 12 holes but won four of the next five holes to swing the match and closed it when both players made par on 18.
NOTES
- Two past champions bowed out in the round of 32 on Wednesday—Rich Buckner and David Partridge.
- Six of the top eight seeds from stroke-play qualifying advanced. Only No. 4 Buckner and No. 5 Craft lost.
- Brittain has now won 10 straight Senior Amateur matches, his last loss coming in the first round in 2019.
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.