Championship Website | Scoring | Preview | Record Book: Mid-Senior | Super Senior
Dates: Monday, October 19 - Wednesday, October 21
Format: Four age divisions: Mid-Senior (60+), Super Senior 65+, 70+, and 75+. One round of stroke-play qualifying in each division, with the top 16 advancing to match play in each division except for 75+, where eight players advance. For 16-player brackets, round of 16 on Tuesday morning and quarterfinals on Tuesday afternoon. 75+ will play quarterfinals Tuesday morning. For all age brackets, semifinals on Wednesday morning and 18-hole championship matches on Wednesday afternoon.
Defending champions: Bob Bailey (Mid-Senior), Dave Pulk (65+), Jeff Flax (70+), Bill Engel (75+)
Host site: Spotswood Country Club
Day 3: Four winners crowned in season-ending men's event
(Bob Bailey followed his two Mid-Senior Amateur wins with a victory in his Super Senior Amateur debut. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
By Chris Lang
HARRISONBURG -- New championship, same result for James River Country Club's Bob Bailey.
Bailey turned 65 in March, aging out of the VSGA Mid-Senior Amateur Championship, designed for players ages 60-64. In his initial foray into the Super Senior Amateur, Bailey won another trophy, defeating Princess Anne Country Club's Michael Hays 2 and 1 in the 18-hole final on Wednesday at Spotswood Country Club to win his first title in the 65+ division.
Bailey was joined by three more winners on Wednesday afternoon. Marc Hogan (Lake Monticello GC) topped Todd Phillips (VSGA eClub) 5 and 4 to win the 11th VSGA Mid-Senior Amateur Championship; Steve Marino (CC of Fairfax) defeated Van Renick (Great Oaks CC) 4 and 2 in the Super Senior Amateur 70+ division; and John Osborne (USGA/VSGA GC) ousted George Owens (Princess Anne CC) 3 and 1 in the Super Senior Amateur 75+ division.
Mid-Senior Amateur
Hogan recently retired after 24 years as the golf coach at Woodberry Forest School outside of Orange. After his win on Wednesday, he was quick to credit his many students from over the years for his victory.
"You know, when you coach really good juniors, they push you," Hogan said. "You've got to have a game, or they're not going to listen to you. So I kept working at it and working at it."
Before facing Phillips, Hogan had to go through past VSGA Senior Stroke Play champion and Senior Amateur finalist David Jordan in the semifinals. Hogan proved up to the task early, winning the first hole with a par and taking a 3-up lead after eight holes. Jordan never got closer than 2-down the rest of the way as Hogan won 2 and 1.
The final was a back-and-forth affair in which the 8th hole was the first tied hole. Hogan got up and down from a greenside bunker on 12, converting the par putt from 15 feet to remain 3-up, then closed out the match wins on the next two holes. Hogan has contended in VSGA Senior Stroke Play and Senior Amateurs in the past, but he broke through this time for his first career VSGA win.
"You just build callouses and keep playing," Hogan said. "I just found a game this week. I kept getting better every single day. I really leaned on my putter all week and tried to limit my mistakes. You just want to be there on the back nine, having a chance."
Super Senior Amateur 65+
Since the beginning of last week, Bailey has played 12 rounds of golf, nine in competition, including the Two Rivers Senior Invitational, the Captain's Putter Matches, and the VSGA Super Senior Amateur. After Two Rivers, Bailey wasn't sure how much he had left. His right elbow screamed in pain, but a cortisone shot left him free of pain, but not necessarily free of bruising. After Team Virginias won the Captain's Putter last Saturday at Cedar Point, he showed off a bruise from the shot that had meandered all the way down to his right palm.
That made Bailey's four-match run at Spotswood even more impressive. Along the way, he defeated two past Super Senior Amateur champions (Tim Vigotsky and Dave Pulk), and he bested his partner from the Super Senior Four-Ball (Hays) in the final match.
"I've gotten a lot better as a senior," Bailey said. "I maybe only played competitive golf once or twice a year until I turned 52, the year they changed the age to 50 in Virginia. ... When I retired at 57, my wife asked me what I wanted to do next, and I said I'm playing tournament golf. My good friend Allen Barber has had a great career, and I listened to his stories about the tournaments, so I started playing a lot more, and that made my game a lot better."
Bailey became the second player to win both the Mid-Senior and Super Senior Amateurs, with Pulk being the other. He's won 12 consecutive matches in the two events, noting that one-hole-at-a-time mentality of match play suits his game well. The next question: How long before someone can beat Bailey in this event? Tune in next year to find out.
Super Senior Amateur 70+
Twenty-seven years ago, Marino's son Steve won the VSGA Amateur Championship at Boonsboro Country Club, a launching pad for what would become a successful PGA Tour career. Now the elder Marino has a trophy of his own to add to the family trophy mantle.
Seeded 11th after stroke-play qualifying, the 73-year-old Marino rolled through the match-play bracket, never having to play past the 16th hole. It was that green where he finished off Renick in the final match. Along the way, he beat past 65+ division winner Kevin MacMillan in the first round and two-time 70+ champion Robert Gardiner in the semifinals.
"I was driving the ball pretty well," Marino said. "I was fighting my irons, but I made a bunch of putts when I needed to. And these greens were just super. No bare areas. No nothing on these greens. They were spectacular.
"I started playing some of the other tournaments in Virginia, like the Fox Puss. I just wanted to see where my game was compared to these other guys. Coming out here, I'm hitting 3-wood on a lot of these shots and a lot of these guys were hitting driver, so I'm thinking, hey, maybe I am hitting it pretty long for my age."
Super Senior Amateur 75+
Born and raised in Virginia, Osborne has spent more years outside of the Commonwealth than inside of it thanks to his professional life. But it's always sweet to come home and earn a victory. He did it last year at Blacksburg Country Club, when he teamed with childhood friend Bill Engel to win the Super Senior Four-Ball 75+. And he beat a senior legend in Owens to clinch his first individual VSGA crown since winning a Public Links title in the 1970s.
"It's always a treat to win an event, no matter what it is," Osborne said. "It's always fun to do it in Virginia. I'm a 10th-generation Virginian from southwest Virginia, so it's always a treat to win something in Virginia."
Osborne's toughest test came in Tuesday's quarterfinal, as he defeated Lynn Wessman in 19 holes to advance. He topped stroke-play medalist Mike Ancel 3 and 2 in the morning before jumping on Owens midway through the opening nine in the afternoon final. Owens led 1-up through five holes, but Osborne won the next four holes to go 3-up. Owens got back within 1 with a birdie on No. 13, but Osborne won the next two holes to clinch the victory.
"We play in a number of senior events together," Osborne said. "Unfortunately, he's moved into the 80-and-over group, so we don't get to play together very often. So this was a treat today. It's a lot of fun to play with George. He's amazing as an 82-year-old to hit it the way he does. This rough is brutal if you don't get it in the fairway, and he unfortunately snuck a couple into the rough."
Day 2: Semifinals set across four age divisions
(David Jordan sets up for his approach on No. 14 during the Mid-Senior Amateur quarterfinals on Tuesday at Spotswood. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
By Chris Lang
HARRISONBURG -- Three of the four stroke-play qualifying medalists advanced to the final day of match play at the 11th VSGA Mid-Senior Amateur Championship and 32nd VSGA Super Senior Amateur Championship, held simultaneously at Spotswood Country Club.
Top seeds David Jordan (Mid-Senior), Dave Pulk (Super Senior 65+), and Mike Ancel (Super Senior 75+) all advanced to Wednesday morning's semifinals, with Jordan and Pulk winning twice, and Ancel winning his lone match in the eight-player 75+ bracket. The lone medalist to fall was Jim Woodson, who lost to No. 16 seed Carroll Carter 2 and 1 in the round of 16 of the 70+ bracket.
The semifinals in each division will be held Wednesday morning beginning at 9, with the winners advancing to afternoon championship matches.
Mid-Senior Amateur
With two-time defending champion Bob Bailey moving into the Super Senior Amateur, no past winners or finalists were in the field this year, opening the door to new storylines. One unfolded in the quarterfinals, where debutant David Jordan defeated Pete Johnson 1 up in a matchup of Willow Oaks Country Club members. Jordan will meet Lake Monticello GC's Marc Hogan, who survived a first-round test with a 1-up win over Cedar Point Club's David Corliss before cruising to a 7-and-5 win over Old Hickory GC's Ian Houston in the quarterfinals. No. 2 seed Todd Phillips (VSGA eClub) had a similar experience in his half of the draw, though in reverse. After rolling to a 7-and-6 win over James Shasteen in the opening round, he needed 20 holes to fend off Dave Spencer in the quarters. He'll meet Paul Townsley of Virginia Beach National GC in the semifinals after Townsley recorded wins over Bill Smith and Dean Griffith on Tuesday.
Super Senior Amateur 65+
The four players remaining in the bracket all have name recognition. Defending champion Dave Pulk battled a sore back but rattled off wins over Samuel Bailey and Harry Thomas to advance to a semifinal matchup against Bailey, looking for his first Super Senior Amateur win after two straight Mid-Senior Amateur victories. Bailey ousted past winner and last year's finalist Tim Vigotsky in the round of 16 before besting Richard Lion in the quarterfinals. In the other half of the draw, Princess Anne CC's Michael Hays -- a past U.S. Senior Amateur participant -- defeated Blair Engle and Keith Myers on his way to the semifinals. Myers entered the week at No. 1 in the VSGA Super Senior Player Rankings. Hays' opponent is Mikeal Johnston, who in August advanced to the semifinals at the VSGA Senior Amateur and won the VSGA Super Senior Stroke Play 65+ in July. Johnston and Bailey were the super seniors representing Team Virginias in last week's Captain's Putter Matches.
Super Senior Amateur 70+
The biggest upset of the day was Carter's victory over Woodson, who was part of the winning side at the VSGA Super Senior Four-Ball 70+ in June. Carter then advanced to the semifinals when opponent Bill Burch conceded prior to the match. Carter will meet Van Renick in the semifinals. Renick made an ace on No. 2 in his quarterfinal match against George Riefler on his way to a 3-and-2 victory. The other semifinal will feature two-time age-division winner Robert Gardiner and Steve Marino, the father of the former PGA Tour player of the same name. Gardiner cruised to a 5-and-3 win over Jim Miller in his first match before topping Virginia Golf Hall of Famer David Partridge 5 and 4 in the quarterfinals. Marino defeated past Super Senior Amateur 65+ winner Kevin MacMillan in the first round before defeating Kevin Dunleavy in the quarterfinals.
Super Senior Amateur 75+
The semifinals will feature a rematch of last year's final, as Bill Engel and George Owens each advanced in the bottom half of the bracket. The other semifinal features top seed Mike Ancel and John Osborne. Ancel topped Jim Malone 3 and 2, while Osborne beat Lynn Wessman in 19 holes. Of note, Engel and Osborne teamed up to win the VSGA Super Senior Four-Ball 75+ division last year at Blacksburg Country Club.