54th VSGA Junior Girls' Championship
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Dates: Thursday, July 6 - Saturday, July 8
Format: Three rounds of stroke play. The field will be cut to the low 20 players and ties for Saturday's third and final round, which will begin at 8 a.m.
Host site: Orchard Creek
Final round: Rasmussen holds on for one-stroke victory
(Pictured: Macie Rasmussen gets a water bath from friends after her win. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
WAYNESBORO -- The first 54-hole Virginia State Golf Association Junior Girls' Championship produced a wire-to-wire winner.
Chesapeake 14-year-old Macie Rasmussen established an early lead on Thursday and never let go. Despite posting her highest score of the weekend in the third and final round, Rasmussen's six-stroke cushion heading into Saturday's round was too much for the field to overcome. Rasmussen, a rising freshman at Greenbrier Christian Academy, posted rounds of 69-71-76 for a three-day aggregate total of even-par 216 to win the 54th playing of this event by one stroke over Great Falls' Alina Ho, the reigning VSGA Class 6 individual champion. Ho shot 72-75-70 for a three-day 217.
Roanoke's Ashnoor Kaur finished third at 76-71-71--218. Chesapeake's Paris Fieldings was fourth at 73-73-73-219.
The final grouping, which teed off at 9 a.m., was in the 15th fairway at 12:26 p.m. when the horn at Orchard Creek sounded, signifying lightning in the area. Play didn't resume until 3:05 p.m. By then, Rasmussen's lead had shrunk to three strokes. She managed to par 15 but her downhill approach on the par-4 16th came up short and landed in the front of a greenside bunker. She was unable to get up and down for par and settled for bogey. Ho had earlier birdied that hole, meaning Rasmussen's lead was down to one.
Ho parred 17 and 18, meaning Rasmussen needed only to make two pars to secure the win. After hitting her drive left on 17, she recovered to hit her approach to 18 feet for a two-putt par. She was in the middle of the fairway for her third shot on the par- 5 18th and hit a similar approach, leaving her a reasonable two-putt par chance. After missing her birdie, she sank the 2-footer for par to claim the title. Friends mobbed her from just off the green to douse the smiling Rasmussen with bottles of cold water.
This is Rasmussen's fourth VSGA championship in the last three years. She won both the VSGA Junior Golf Circuit girls' championship and the VSGA Youth Championship 12-13 division in 2022. She also won the latter in 2021.
Notable:
- McLean's Sophie Cao had the round of the tournament on Saturday, posting a 4-under 68 that included four straight birdies to close the round. Cao played in the first group off on Saturday and moved all the way up to a tie for fifth.
- Of the 21 players who made the 36-hole cut, six are part of the Class of 2027 that will begin their high-school careers this upcoming season, including two of the top three (Rasmussen, Kaur). Those two coincidentally also have competed in the National Drive, Chip and Putt finals.
- Rasmussen's father, Robby, won the VSGA Junior Amateur (now VSGA Junior Stroke Play Championship) 30 years ago to the month, finishing four strokes clear of Troy Thorne, now the professional at the Golf Club of the Highlands. Macie said she was unaware that her father had won that title but was looking forward to adding some new hardware to the household.
- The USGA will begin offering exemptions to its national championships--including the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women's Amateur, U.S. Junior Amateur, and U.S. Girls' Junior--to winners of those respective AGA championships, beginning in 2024. The VSGA Junior Girls' Championship was expanded to 54 holes to help it gain WAGR points in hopes of gaining that exemption as early as next year.
- An interview with Rasmussen can be found at the end of the Instagram post below.
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Round 2: Rasmussen doubles lead heading into final round
(Pictured: Macie Rasmussen chips to 8 green on Friday. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
WAYNESBORO -- Chesapeake's Macie Rasmussen has steadily climbed the ladder of Virginia State Golf Association youth and junior golf in recent years, winning titles in the VSGA Youth Championship (twice) and VSGA Junior Golf Circuit Championship. In her first appearance in the championship division of the VSGA Junior Girls' Championship, she's poised to add another win to her budding resume.
Rasmussen again tamed a tough Orchard Creek layout on a steamy Friday, posting a 1-under-par 71 for a two-day aggregate total of 4-under 140 at the 54th playing of the VSGA Junior Girls' Championship. She entered the second round with a three-stroke lead. She'll head to Saturday morning's third and final round with a six-stroke edge over three players: 2021 champion Addie Doroh of Charlottesville, Paris Fieldings of Chesapeake, and Amber Mackiewicz of Virginia Beach.
Rasmussen, a 14-year-old rising freshman at Greenbrier Christian Academy, is the only player to post two under-par rounds at Orchard Creek. She leads a 21-player contingent that made the cut, with three players at 8-over 152 just sneaking into Saturday's final round.
Notable:
- Rasmussen is looking to become the third 14-year-old since 2016 to win the title. Victoria Tip-Aucha (2016) and Doroh (2021) were 14 when they secured their wins.
- Rasmussen won the VSGA Youth Championship titles both times she was eligible to play in the 12-13 division. Players who have won Youth Championship titles and Junior Girls' titles: Danielle Suh, Tip-Aucha, Kristen Hearp, and Elizabeth Bose. All four played Division I golf.
- Rasmussen had three birdies and two bogeys on Friday. She got back under par for the day with a birdie on the par-3 12th hole and parred out to return her 71.
- Mechanicsville's Madison Lehr shot the round of the day on Friday, a 2-under 70 after her opening-round 79 that moved her into a tie for eighth. She surged to 5-under for the day with a birdie on 12 but made three bogeys down the stretch to come in at 70.
- Mackiewicz has struggled to avoid the big number at Orchard Creek. She's made two triple bogeys and a double bogey. Her 1-under 71 on Friday included a triple sandwiched between two birdies on the back nine. This is her last summer of junior golf before she begins her career at James Madison University.
- Fieldings, who is headed to North Carolina A&T, posted a second straight 73 on Friday to earn her spot in the tie for second.
- Doroh, a rising junior at Albemarle High School, is seeking her third straight high finish in this championship. In addition to her win in 2021, she tied for runner-up honors last year. She shot a 2-under 34 on the back nine Friday to move up the leaderboard.
- Defending champion Elsie MacCleery, an Orchard Creek member, shot 80-73 and missed the cut by one stroke. Her younger sister Kennedy returned a 1-over 73 on Friday for a two-day 148 and is alone in seventh.
- Yorktown's Rose Hall shot 74-76--150 to win the intermediate division by two strokes over Jasmine Limm of Chesterfield.
Quotable:
- "Definitely not." -- Rasmussen when asked if she thought she'd hold a six-stroke lead after two rounds a year after playing in the intermediate division.
- "My shorter putts have been really good, and I've been driving the ball straight." -- Rasmussen
- "I like that the greens, when you hit into them, the ball stops. It makes it easier to make putts." -- Rasmussen
- "I'll just play my own game like I did the last two days, and not think about winning. At the end, I'll see where that puts me." -- Rasmussen on her strategy heading into Saturday
- "It was so cool to see the pros. I got to watch Tiger and Rory. And to get to compete at Augusta with all of those people, it was a good experience too." -- Rasmussen on her trip to the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals in April.
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Round 1: Rasmussen races to three-stroke lead
(Pictured: Macie Rasmussen. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
WAYNESBORO -- Last summer, Macie Rasmussen teed it up in the intermediate division of the Virginia State Golf Association Junior Girls' Championship. She wasn't eligible to win the championship playing in that division, but she gained valuable experience that helped her later win the VSGA's Junior Golf Circuit girls' championship in August.
A year later, it's clear how far Rasmussen's game has progressed. Rasmussen, who turned 14 earlier this year, posted the lone under-par round -- a 3-under 69 -- in the first round of the 54th VSGA Junior Girls' Championship, held Thursday at Orchard Creek. She did so despite opening her round with consecutive bogeys. Rasmussen got back on track with a birdie on the par-3 4th, jumpstarting a run of three straight birdies to get herself in red numbers for the first time. She bogeyed No. 9 and made the turn at even before posting a bogey-free 3-under on the back to return her 69.
Rasmussen, who is from Chesapeake, will enter Friday's second round of the newly expanded 54-hole championship with a three-stroke edge over Great Falls' Alina Ho and Yorktown's Lillian McDermott, both of whom toured Orchard Creek in even-par 72.
After Friday's second round, the field will be cut to the low 20 players and ties for Thursday's third and final round.
Notable:
- Rasmussen was a 2023 National Drive, Chip and Putt finalists and was among the 80 players who qualified to compete at Augusta National Golf Club prior to the Masters in April.
- Rasmussen won the 36-hole VSGA Junior Golf Circuit girls' title by winning the first playoff hole against Alison Oh last August. She later won the girls 12-13 flight at the VSGA Youth Championship by one stroke.
- Four players were tied for fourth at 1-over-par 73, four shots back of the lead: Chesapeake's Paris Fieldings, Salem's Macy Johnson, Chesapeake's Julia Rafter, and Reston's Felicity Chen.
- Blacksburg's Samantha Skinner shot a 2-over 74 and stands alone in eighth.
- The two local past VSGA Junior Girls' champions in the field had varying results on Thursday. 2021 winner Addie Doroh of Charlottesville was one of four players tied for ninth at 3-over 75. Defending champion Elsie MacCleery of Crozet posted an 8-over 80 and will need a strong round on Friday to make the 20-player cut.
- The roller-coaster round of the day went to Burke's Raquel Walker, who was part of the winning side at May's VSGA Women's Four-Ball Championship. Walker was 5-under after making an eagle on No. 6. She shook off a double bogey at No. 7 and made birdie at No. 9 to make the turn at 4-under before a double bogey on No. 10 turned the round sour. She was 8-over on the back nine and is in a tie for 14th at 4-over 76.
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