77th VSGA Women's State Team Matches
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Dates: Friday, August 25-Sunday, August 27
Format: One round of stroke-play qualifying. Teams will be slotted into flights for match play, which begins Saturday, with the top four teams qualifying for the championship flight. Sunday's final round will begin with a 9 a.m. shotgun start.
Host site: Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club
Day 3: Bide-A-Wee wins second title in three years
(Pictured: The winning Bide-A-Wee team of Leah Onosato, Cyndi Carlson, Alice Striffler, Gigi Smith, Pam Fisher, and Mallory Kane. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
KILMARNOCK -- Two years ago, Portsmouth's Bide-A-Wee Golf Club became a serious player at the Virginia State Golf Association's Women's State Team Matches, breaking through for a victory in an event that had been dominated this century by Mount Vernon Country Club and The Country Club of Virginia.
Bide-A-Wee, it seems, is here to stay. Appearing in the championship flight final for the third straight year, Bide-A-Wee topped Mount Vernon 28.5-25.5 on Sunday at Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club to win its second championship in three years, with both titles coming against Mount Vernon.
"We know that if you're going to win, you have to go through them," Bide-A-Wee's Mallory Kane said of Mount Vernon, a 14-time champion. "They've proved it for many years. We just knew that we were going to have to play well. (Captain) Gigi (Smith) did a great job of organizing us. She did a good job of thinking through everything and giving us the best chance to win."
In this event, a team is comprised of three four-ball sides with a point available on each hole, meaning all matches are played to their conclusion.
Bide-A-Wee won two of the three matches, with Smith and Leah Onosato leading the way with an 11-7 win over Mount Vernon's Linda DiVall and Joan Gardner. Kane and Alice Striffler bested Shawn McCullough and Susan Podolsky 9.5-8.5 in another match. Mount Vernon's Sarah Alvarez and Kim Franks defeated Cyndi Carlson and Pam Fisher 10-8 in the third championship match. Podolsky made an ace on No. 16 on Sunday, using a pitching wedge from 100 yards out.
Bide-A-Wee advanced to the final last year at The Dominion Club, falling to CCV 29.5-24.5.
Onosato, a recent Old Dominion University graduate who played for Kane on the Monarchs' women's golf team, gave Bide-A-Wee a jolt of youthful enthusiasm.
"This was her first experience playing at this new level of golf, being on a team like this," Smith said. "It was wonderful to have her. We need these young girls to come up. When you look around that room, we're all aging up a little bit. I think it's important to get these younger ones involved."
Added Kane: "I say that every year at Carolinas-Virginias (Women's Matches). I always tell the younger girls, if you don't continue to participate in this stuff beyond college, it's going to go away. A lot of these women didn't have an opportunity to play in college, so this is their opportunity to play for a team and play for something meaningful. We sometimes take it for granted, at my age and younger."
Finals were contested in five non-championship flights as well on Sunday:
- First flight: Hermitage CC 32, Brandermill CC 22
- Second flight: The Dominion Club 28, Washington G&CC 26
- Third flight: Spotswood CC 32.5, The Piedmont Club 21.5
- Fourth flight: Belle Haven CC 30.5, Indian Creek Y&CC 23.5
- Fifth flight: Twin Lakes GC 33, Belmont CC 21
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Day 2: Bide-A-Wee, Mount Vernon advance to championship flight finals
(Pictured: Mount Vernon's Shawn McCullough and Sarah Alvarez. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
KILMARNOCK -- The top two seeds in the 77th Virginia State Golf Association Women's State Team Matches advanced to Sunday's championship-flight title match with semifinal victories on Saturday. Top seed Bide-A-Wee Golf Club of Portsmouth ousted Spotsylvania's Fawn Lake Country Club 30.5-23.5 in one semifinal. Mount Vernon (Alexandria) survived another tough tussle with rival The Country Club of Virginia (Richmond), advancing with a 27.5-26.5 win.
In this event, a team is comprised of three four-ball sides with a point available on each hole, meaning all matches are played to their conclusion.
In each semifinal, the A side for both Bide-A-Wee and Mount Vernon led the way. Bide-A-Wee's Mallory Kane and Alice Striffler rolled to a 13-5 win over Fawn Lake's Becki Davis and Roberta Karch. The other matches were closer, with BAW's Leah Onosato and Pam Fisher beating Deborah McManus and Kit Burns 9.5-8.5. Fawn Lake's C side of Kristin Shifflett and Brenda Sites defeated Cyndi Carlson and Gigi Smith 10-8.
Sarah Alvarez and Kim Franks led the way for Mount Vernon with a 12-6 win over CCV's Natalie Easterly and Cheryl Grigg. That win, combined with Linda DiVall and Joan Gardner's 9.5-8.5 win over Liza Lewis and Lindsay Wortham, was enough to propel Mount Vernon into the final. In the other match, CCV's Boodie McGurn and Anne Silverstein defeated Shawn McCullough and Susan Podolsky 12-6.
Finals will also take place Sunday in five non-championship flights:
- First flight: Brandermill CC vs. Hermitage CC
- Second flight: Washington G&CC vs. The Dominion Club
- Third flight: Spotswood CC vs. The Piedmont Club
- Fourth flight: Belle Haven CC vs. Indian Creek Y&CC
- Fifth flight: Twin Lakes GC vs. Belmont CC
Day 1: Bide-A-Wee earns top championship flight seed
(Pictured: Bide-A-Wee's Mallory Kane and Pam Fisher. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
KILMARNOCK -- Portsmouth's Bide-A-Wee Golf Club's three sides posted an aggregate 7-under-par total in Friday's stroke-play qualifying round to earn the top seed in the championship flight at the 77th Virginia State Golf Association Women's State Team Matches, held at Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club.
Bide-A-Wee will face Spotsylvania's Fawn Lake Country Club in the semifinals on Saturday. The other semifinal will feature longtime rivals Mount Vernon Country Club of Alexandria and Richmond's The Country Club of Virginia.
Bide-A-Wee was paced by recent ODU graduate Leah Onosato, who teamed with Gigi Smith and finished with five birdies, two eagles and a bogey.
Mount Vernon shot 4-under and was led by the side of Shawn McCullough and Sarah Alvarez, who shot 5-under. CCV's sides of Natalie Easterly and Cheryl Grigg, and Boodie McGurn and Anne Silverstein both shot 1-under rounds.
Either CCV or Mount Vernon have won 10 of the last 11 championships in this event. Bide-A-Wee won the other, taking the title in 2021. CCV owns a record 16 titles in the event.
Match play brackets for non-championship flights can be found at the championship website link above.