71st VSGA Junior Stroke Play Championship
Championship website | Live scoring | Preview | Record book
Dates: Tuesday, August 1 - Thursday, August 3
Format: Three rounds of stroke play. The field will be cut to the low 45 players and ties for Thursday's third and final round.
Host site: Birdwood Golf at Boar's Head Resort
Round 3: Preston Burton survives tough conditions, wins title
(Pictured: Preston Burton. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Charlottesville High School graduate Preston Burton had this one circled on his calendar for a year. A chance to end his junior career with a win in the one tournament that eluded him in front of friends and family at Birdwood Golf at Boar's Head Resort? Sign him up.
As the weather deteriorated on Thursday and the scores went south, one player held steady. Burton played the final four holes in even par in miserable conditions to close out the 71st Virginia State Golf Association Junior Stroke Play Championship. Burton's three-day aggregate total of 9-under-par 204 left him four strokes clear of Yorktown's Brandon Sipe.
Burton was runner-up at the 2021 VSGA Junior Stroke Play championship at Roanoke Country Club, finishing a stroke behind David Stanford, who birdied the 54th hole. Burton, bound for William & Mary in the fall, wasn't going to fall short again.
It wasn't easy. Most of the final round was played under cloudy conditions, but outside of random bits of sprinkles, there was no heavy precipitation until the final group approached the par-4 14th. At that point, Burton was at 10-under and held a two-stroke edge over Hudson Pace, who had birdied the par-3 13th to shrink Burton's lead.
Both players bogeyed 14. On the par-5 15th, Burton made birdie as Pace scrambled for par to push the lead back to three. Both players attempted to drive the green on the short par-4 16th, despite the conditions, and both ended up right and short of the hole--Burton in deep rough and Pace in a greenside bunker. Burton's chip went long, leaving him a difficult two-putt chance where he had to navigate a ridge to reach the hole location. He three-putted for bogey while Pace got up and down for par, and Burton went to the par-3 17th up two strokes.
That's where everything changed. Burton's tee shot was right and short, but he was able to two-putt for par. Pace was left of the green in the rough. He left his chip short, then three-putted for a double bogey. When Sipe--who was playing in the group ahead and was two strokes back of Burton as well--doubled No. 18, Burton went to the final hole with a four-stroke lead. He kept it in play and got up and down for par to clinch the victory. Burton shot a 1-under 70 on Thursday and was the only player in the field to finish under par for all three rounds.
Last fall, Burton closed his prep career at Charlottesville with an individual win in the VHSL Class 3A Championship. Thursday's win was another statement as he turns the page from junior golf to college golf.
Notable:
- Chesapeake's Xander Goboy and Leesburg's Vaughn McMeans both finished before the rain and posted the two best scores of the day -- 4-under-par 67s. Goboy finished third overall at 4-under 209 and was the 16-18 age division winner. Sipe (5-under 208) was the 15-and-under age group winner.
- The top 10 players and ties earned exemptions into the 2024 VSGA Junior Stroke Play Championship. Players in the top 10 who are eligible for next year's championship are Sipe, Goboy, Logan Reilly (T4), Luke Libbey (T4), Liam Maclauchlan (T7), and McMeans (T9).
- Pace finished in a tie for fourth at 3-under 210 after making double on his final two holes. Pace's Collegiate School teammate, Tyler Brand, opened the day a shot off the lead but shot a 6-over 77 to finish in a tie for seventh. A tweaked back muscle halfway through the round certainly didn't help his cause.
- Chesterfield's Alex Deas made a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th, eliciting a roar from onlookers that could be heard clearly from across the course on the third green.
- Please see the end of the below Instagram post for an interview with Burton.
View this post on Instagram
Round 2: Burton's 65 moves him into 36-hole lead
(Pictured: Preston Burton walks in a birdie putt on 8. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Preston Burton played high school golf at Charlottesville High School and is a member at nearby Farmington Country Club. He felt plenty at home across U.S. 250 at Birdwood Golf at Boar's Head Resort on Wednesday.
Burton threatened Birdwood's course record of 64 during the second round of the 71st Virginia State Golf Association Junior Stroke Play Championship, missing by a shot thanks to consecutive bogeys to close his round. That shouldn't cloud his brilliant play on Wednesday, however. He made eight birdies to surge into the 36-hole lead with a two-day aggregate total of 8-under 134, one shot better than first-round leader Tyler Brand of Richmond, who followed up a 5-under 66 on Tuesday with a 2-under 69 on Wednesday.
Both players are bound for college golf soon--Burton at William & Mary and Brand at Dartmouth. Both would love to end their junior careers on a high note on Thursday.
Burton has been in this position before. He played in the final grouping of the 2021 JSP championship at Roanoke Country Club and lost by a stroke to David Stanford, who clinched the title with a birdie on the 54th hole.
Four players are tied for third at 4-under 138: Hudson Pace (a teammate of Brand's at Collegiate School), Brandon Sipe, Logan Reilly, and Luke Libbey.
Notable:
- Burton went on two huge runs during his round on Wednesday. He opened with four birdies in five holes, including three straight on holes 3, 4, and 5. He then made birdies on three of four holes on the back nine (12, 13, and 15). He three-putted the par-3 17th to drop his first shot of the day, then hit his approach on 18 in the left greenside bunker and failed to get up-and-down for par for his second bogey.
- Burton's 6-under round was the best in a VSGA Junior Stroke Play Championship since Kelly Chinn shot a 6-under 64 in the second round at James River Country Club in 2020.
- Burton won the VHSL Class 3 individual title last fall at Stonehenge G&CC.
- Brand birdied the first two holes for the second straight day. He was 3-under through seven holes but played the rest of his round at 1-over with a birdie and two bogeys.
- Pace and Sipe each moved nine spots up the leaderboard after following their opening-round even-par 71s with 4-under 67s.
- The biggest mover of the day was Sam Walker, who moved up 25 spots into a tie for 22nd by following an opening-round 76 with a 1-under 70 in the second round.
- Forty-eight players made the cut for Thursday's third and final round.
- See the end of the Instagram post below for interviews with Burton and Brand.
View this post on Instagram
Round 1: Brand rides sizzling start to early lead
(Pictured: Tyler Brand. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Tyler Brand is set to depart for his college career at Dartmouth College at the end of the month. He has one last bit of business to take care of to close out his junior career, however.
Brand, a recent Collegiate School graduate, posted an unusual 5-under-par 66 at Birdwood Golf at Boar's Head Resort on Tuesday to grab a two-stroke lead at the 71st Virginia State Golf Association Junior Stroke Play Championship. Brand began his round birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie to reach the 5-under mark through four holes. Then he parred his final 14 holes to come in at the same number.
Two players posted rounds of 3-under-par 68 and stand tied for second place--rising high-school seniors Xander Goboy of Chesapeake and Luke Libbey of Lynchburg.
Six players were tied for third at 2-under 69. The field will be cut to the low 45 players and ties after Wednesday's second round, which begins at 8 a.m. with play off both tees No. 1 and 10.
Notable:
- Brand's eagle came when he holed out on the par-4 3rd hole. He played Birdwood's four par-5s at a combined 1-under.
- Brand was honored with an award from the VSGA-VIP Scholarship Foundation at VSGA Day in May at Richmond Country Club. Brand, a member at Hermitage Country Club, made the cut at the recent State Open of Virginia and tied for 45th.
- Goboy was a quarterfinalist at this year's VSGA Amateur, where he fell to eventual champion Grayson Wood. Goboy made an eagle on the par-5 2nd and added four more birdies but worked around three bogeys to record his 68.
- Libbey reached match play at the VSGA Amateur, where he fell in the first round to Samir Davidov, who won the Junior Stroke Play Championship last year. Libbey was 1-over through his first 15 holes before making an eagle on the short par-4 16th and ending his round with consecutive birdies.
- Among those in the tie for fourth were 2023 grads Jack Barnes IV (Manakin Sabot) and Preston Burton (Charlottesville), Class of 2024 players Reed Theiss (Leesburg) and Dylan Olinger (Williamsburg); Class of 2025 player Logan Reilly (Lovettsville); and Class of 2026 player Charles Lange (Richmond).
- Birdwood yielded five eagles on Tuesday, with three of them coming on par-4s. In additions to Brand and Libbey's par-4 eagles, Ryan Slonaker made one on the par-4 1st hole.
- Swipe to the end of the Instagram post below for a quick video interview with leader Tyler Brand.
View this post on Instagram