1st Women's Open of Virginia

1st Women's Open of Virginia

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Dates: Monday, June 19 - Wednesday, June 21

Format: Three rounds of stroke play. The field will be cut to the low 25 players and ties for Wednesday's third and final round. A sudden-death playoff will be utilized should there be a tie after 54 holes.

Host site: Independence Golf Club

Round 3: Noh claims inaugural Women's Open title

(Pictured: Kaylyn Noh/Credit: Chris Lang, VSGA)

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MIDLOTHIAN -- Kaylyn Noh's trip back east to see family this week came with a bonus: A chance to hold the trophy at the end of the inaugural Women's Open of Virginia.

Noh, a rising junior at the University of California, made the best of awful playing conditions on Wednesday at Independence Golf Club, posting a third-round 1-under-par 35 to finish with a three-day total of 2-under 178 and a four-shot win in the 1st Women's Open of Virginia.

The final round was cut to nine holes after persistent rain and wind delayed the competition for more than five hours. The first group went off at 8 a.m. and four groups had teed off when play was suspended due standing water on several greens. After a lengthy delay, it was determined that the best chance of deciding a champion was to cut the final round to nine holes. As the final grouping finished their round just after 4 p.m., driving rain and wind intensified, and it was almost certain that the competition would have been delayed indefinitely had it started as an 18-hole round.

Noh, from Rocklin, Calif., was the only player to shoot an under-par round on Wednesday. She finished four strokes clear of Keswick's Sky Sload, a former Virginia and Missouri player, who posted a 2-over 38 on Wednesday for a three-day total of 182. Delaware's Christina Carroll and newly turned pro and former UNC Wilmington standout Phu Khine tied for third at 3-over 183.

Notable:

• Noh entered the final round tied with Brambleton's Julie Shin, who plays at Penn, and Khine. Shin shot a 6-over 42 on Wednesday and finished tied for fifth at 5-over 185 with rising James Madison freshman Amber Mackiewicz and former Virginia Tech standout Jessica Spicer, a past VSGA Women's Stroke Play and Women's Four-Ball champion.
• Noh has family in both Chantilly and Alexandria and several family members made the trip to support her.
• Khine was making her professional debut.
• Twenty-five players made the cut and all finished the round, despite the lengthy delay.
• Four professionals made the cut. Khine was followed by Ashley Grier in 14th (9-over 189), Paige Gross in a tie for 19th (11-over 191) and Maggie Will in 23rd (13-over 193).
• How difficult did the course play in those conditions on Wednesday? There were only 14 birdies made, and five of them came on the reachable par-5 8th. The opening hole yielded no birdies and just eight pars.

Quotable:

• Note: An interview with Noh can be found at the end of the Instagram post below.
• Sky Sload: "My original tee time was 9:17 a.m., so I was the second-to-last group off of the day. With the uncertainty of the weather and sitting around, I definitely was very eager to get out onto the course because of my round yesterday. I shot 2-under and put myself back into contention. I wanted to have a good day and try to climb the leaderboard and maybe challenge the girls who were in first. Sitting around was tough. There were some spots where we thought it would let up and we could go out, but it just didn't. We ultimately said we're going to go grind and play in the tough conditions. And we did. It only got worse as we got closer to the end. But I tried to just stay positive and keep my composure and take it one shot at a time. I came in and posted a 2-over which was second lowest of the day. I'm pretty pleased I survived it. You can always say, 'shoulda woulda coulda' on a few shots from earlier in the tournament, but I'm proud of how I played."

Round 2: Three players share 36-hole lead

(Pictured: Julie Shin. Photo credit, Chris Lang/VSGA)

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MIDLOTHIAN -- Scoring conditions remained challenging on Tuesday at Independence Golf Club for the second round of the 1st Women's Open of Virginia, as only three players posted under-par rounds. Two of those players -- professional Phu Khine and amateur Julie Shin -- will join amateur Kaylyn Noh in the final grouping for Wednesday's third and final round. Those three are tied at 1-under-par 143 and will lead the contingent of 25 players who made the cut for the third round.

Khine, who recently completed her career at UNC Wilmington and is playing in her first professional tournament, followed up her first-round 73 with a 2-under 70 on Tuesday. Shin, who lives in Brambleton and his heading into her second year at Penn, followed her even-par opening round with a 1-under 71. Noh, who is entering her junior year at California, opened with a 1-under 71 and followed it Tuesday with an even-par 72.

They hold a one-stroke edge over Keswick's Sky Sload, who matched Khine for the day's best round, a 2-under 70. Sload played college golf both at Virginia and Missouri.

Three players are tied at 2-over-par 146, three strokes off the lead: James Madison's Kendall Turner, the reigning VSGA Women's Amateur champion; Chesapeake's Annabelle Jennings, who plays at Longwood; and first-round co-leader Christina Carroll, who plays at Delaware. The other first-round co-leader, Bailey Davis (Tennessee), struggled to a 6-over 78 on Tuesday and is tied for ninth, though she is still within five shots of lead at 4-over 148 overall.

Wednesday's final round begins at 8 a.m., with the leaders set to go off at 9:28 a.m. All play will begin off No. 1.

Notable:

• Khine was rolling at 4-under for the day after a birdie on the par-4 13th hole. But she played the final five holes at 2-over, including a bogey on 18 to drop her back into a tie for the lead.
• There have been two eagles over the championship's first two days--both coming courtesy of Shin. She holed out from the fairway for an eagle 2 on Monday at No. 10. On Tuesday, she reached the green in two on the par-5 13th and sank a long putt for an eagle 3.
• Sload had a roller-coaster of a round on Monday, finishing with five bogeys and three birdies for a 2-over 74. She was much steadier on Tuesday, making 15 straight pars to open the round before rolling in birdies on Nos. 16 and 18 to finish at 2-under. Sload owns the only bogey-free round of the tournament thus far.
• Carroll had to rally for her 76 on Tuesday. She made a triple bogey on the par-4 10th after catching a flier off a tough lie in a bunker on her approach shot. The shot sailed past the green into a red penalty area, and she struggled from there to reach the green and hole out. She did make a pair of birdies on 15 and 16 to remain within shouting distance of the lead.
• After making five birdies on Monday (including three in a row to close her round), Davis couldn't find the scoring touch on Tuesday. She made six bogeys and no birdies.
• After Khine, Hagerstown's Ashley Grier stands second amongst professionals, tied for 14th at 5-over 149. Other professionals to make the cut were Fairfax's Paige Gross and Richmond's Maggie Will, who were tied for 18th at 6-over 150.
• The cut line settled at 7-over 151. Past VSGA champions to make the cut included Turner, Addie Doroh (2021 Junior Girls'), Jessica Spicer (2022 Women's Four-Ball and 2021 Women's Stroke Play), Alexandra Austin (multiple titles, most recently the 2022 Women's Stroke Play), Lauren Greenlief (two-time Women's Amateur and four-time Women's Stroke Play), and Tatum Walsh (2020 Women's Amateur).

Quotable:

• Please see the below Instagram post for interviews (in order of appearance): Shin and Noh.

Round 1

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(First-round co-leader Bailey Davis; Photo credit Chris Lang/VSGA)

MIDLOTHIAN -- A pair of college players posted 2-under-par rounds of 70 on Monday at Independence Golf Club to share the 18-hole lead at the 1st Women's Open of Virginia.

Bailey Davis of White Plains, Md. (Tennessee) and Christina Carroll of Bear, Del. (Delaware) will enter Tuesday's second round with a one-stroke lead over three players: amateurs and collegians Annabelle Jennings of Chesapeake (Longwood) and Kaylyn Noh of Rocklin, Calif. (California), and professional Ashley Grier of Hagerstown, Md.

Three more amateurs were tied for sixth after returning opening rounds of even-par 72: mid-amateur Lauren Greenlief of Ashburn, junior Jennifer Osborne of Ashburn, and Julie Shin of Brambleton, who plays at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Women's Open of Virginia features a field of amateurs and professionals. After Tuesday's second round, the field will be cut to the low 25 players and ties for Wednesday's third and final round.

Notable:

• Davis finished her round with three straight birdies, including an excellent approach on 18 that settled less than three feet from the hole. Davis played in 18 rounds for the Lady Volunteers this past season, finishing with a scoring average of 73.28, including a team-best score of 63 at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate.
• Carroll, who is an electrical engineering major at Delaware, was an all-CAA second-team performer during the 2022-23 season. She ranked third on the Blue Hens' roster with a 76.00 scoring average and finished third individually at the CAA Championship. Carroll saved bogey from a tough spot left of 9 green to end her round and leave her tied for the lead.
• Noh played one year at Cal Poly before transferring to Cal Berkeley for her sophomore season in 2022-23. She played a mostly steady round on Monday, making birdies on No. 2 and 12 and a bogey on No. 7.
• Jennings was 3-over after five holes (started off No. 10) but played the rest of her round at 4-under par, including birdies in three of her final four holes.
• Shin, a past VSGA Junior Girls' Golfer of the Year, made one of the day's best shots, holing an eagle from the fairway on No. 10.
• Osborne plays at Stone Bridge High School and is set to graduate in 2024.
• James Madison's Kendall Turner, the defending VSGA Women's Amateur Champion, is one of three players tied for ninth at 1-over 73. After a bogey at No. 9, she finished her round with nine straight pars.
• Phu Khine, a former UNC Wilmington player making her professional debut, was also in that tie for ninth at 1-over and was second among professionals after one round. She was followed by Ashburn's Angela Crosby, who was tied for 20th after posting a 3-over 75.

Quotable:

• Please see the below Instagram post for short interviews (in order of appearance): Davis, Carroll, Noh, and Greenlief.