Championship website | Scoring | Preview | Record book: Senior | Super Senior
Dates: Monday, August 24 - Friday, August 28
Format: 18 holes of stroke-play qualifying on Monday, with the top 16 players advancing to championship flight match play in each event. Ties for the final spots will be resolved via playoff. All others placed in consolation flights. Round of 16 on Tuesday; Quarterfinals on Wednesday; Semifinals on Thursday; 18-hole championship matches on Friday.
Starting Times: All play begins off No. 1, starting a 7:30 a.m. Monday-Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday and Friday.
Host site: The Omni Homestead Resort (Old Course)
Day 5: Shifflett, Savage win titles at The Homestead
(Senior champion Kristin Shifflett and super senior champion Shelley Savage on Friday at The Homestead. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
HOT SPRINGS -- Kristin Shifflett (Two Rivers CC) and Shelley Savage (Army Navy CC) earned titles at The Homestead's Old Course as the 69th VSGA Senior Women's Amateur and 8th VSGA Super Senior Women's Amateur concluded on Friday morning.
Shifflett won her third straight Senior Women's Amateur title, making her just the fourth woman in event history to win at least three in a row, topping close friend Deborah McManus 1 up. Savage, a three-time Senior Women's Amateur winner, earned her first Super Senior Women's Amateur title with a convincing 6-and-5 win over Shawn McCullough.
69th VSGA Senior Women's Amateur
Shifflett said on Thursday that she expected a tight match with McManus, whose game has evolved nicely over the past year. Her suspicions were correct, as neither player held more than a 1-up lead at any point during Friday morning's final. Shifflett broke a stalemate to take a 1-up lead on No. 15 with a par, but McManus immediately answered by winning the next hole with a par.
The tricky downhill par-4 17th proved the pivotal hole. Shifflett's drive landed in the fairway, but McManus' strayed right into thick rough. A tough lie made her situation even more difficult, as her second shot ended up short of the green, and she caught a flier with her third shot, which flew well past the green. With Shifflett in two-putt par range, McManus conceded and moved on to the par-3 finishing hole.
"The ball was buried, it was a downhill lie," McManus said. "I was actually trying to lay up and go left of the bunker. My short game was good all day, so I was going to rely on my short game to make a par and make her make a birdie. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. But you just move on in match play."
On 18, Shifflett put the pressure on, hitting her tee shot to the back left hole location within 10 feet, below the hole. McManus ended up 15 feet above the hole, and needing birdie to extend the match, missed her putt long, allowing Shifflett to win her third straight title with a two-putt par.
"This was totally expected," Shifflett said. "I knew how well Deborah has been playing, and I knew I needed to play my best today. ... I've been so impressed with the work she's put into her game and the progress she's made. Honestly, it wasn't a surprise to me to see how well she's done here. I'm super proud of her to see her make it as far as she did, and it was just unfortunate that we ended up against each other today."
Last month, Shifflett qualified for the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, a year after advancing to the round of 32 in that event down Sam Snead Highway at the Homestead's Cascades Course. She said she identified some areas of her game that needed shoring up before heading to Oregon at the end of September for the championship.
After the match, McManus took an opportunity to soak in the accomplishment of reaching the final, and to praise The Homestead and the positive things the resort does for women's golf.
"It's been such a joyous week, not just because of the weather and the resort," she said. "But because of all of the female camaraderie. You're probably aware of a certain golf influencer that released a video, and they're no longer in partnership with Callaway, the PGA Tour, and Golf Channel. And all of that is happening while all of these women are doing their best, playing the game, and supporting each other. All of the camaraderie ... we meet people and see them here year after year. It was a good place to be while something like that was going on in the rest of the world.
"I want to thank The Homestead. They gave the course to 95 women for six days, which is incredible. And that does not go unnoticed by the women in golf in Virginia."
8th VSGA Super Senior Women's Amateur
In earning her 10th VSGA championship, Savage joined an elite group of senior women to have won the Senior Women's Amateur, Senior Women's Stroke Play, Super Senior Women's Amateur, and Super Senior Women's Stroke Play titles. Linda DiVall, Mimi Hoffman, and Dot Bolling are the others.
Savage had one advantage that no one else in the 16-player bracket did this week -- she only played three matches after Bolling conceded their round of 16 match due to a conflict. Early in Friday morning's final with McCullough, Savage took advantage of some uncharacteristic missteps from her opponent, taking a 5-up lead through seven holes without making a birdie. Instead, she made clutch par after clutch par to apply pressure.
McCullough settled in with a par on No. 8, then won Nos. 9 and 10 with pars to cut Savage's lead to 3-up. The turning point came on the par-3 11th, when Savage made a key par after McCullough failed to get up and down for par out of a greenside bunker, pushing the lead back to 4-up. Savage then made the only birdie of the match on the par-5 12th, pushing the lead back to 5-up before closing out the match with a par on No. 13.
Savage was still riding the high of Army Navy Country Club's Women's State Team Matches victory over Mount Vernon Country Club earlier in August, and she made sure to mention that she was one of three ANCC members to win her flight this week at The Homestead. Karen Marcotte (Senior third flight) and Christina Young (Senior fourth flight).
"I was thinking about that, and I really wanted to make it an Army Navy clean sweep," Savage said. "So congratulations to them, I'm very happy for them. And they'll be very happy at Army Navy."
Day 4: Friendly competitors advance to the finals
(Deborah McManus smiles after her birdie on No. 9 Thursday at The Homestead's Old Course. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
By Chris Lang
HOT SPRINGS -- A year ago at The Omni Homestead Resort, Deborah McManus won the first flight at the VSGA Senior Women's Amateur Championship before rolling over to the 15th hole at the Old Course to caddie for longtime friend Kristin Shifflett. When Shifflett returned several weeks later for the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur Championship, McManus reprised the same role, caddying for Shifflett as she made match play and won her round of 64 match.
Turns out McManus is a pretty fair player herself. She rolled to a third straight impressive victory in the 69th VSGA Senior Women's Amateur Championship on Thursday, ousting Bev Lane before riding out to watch the result of the second semifinal. It took 21 holes, but Shifflett drained a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 3rd hole to sneak past Kolette Hoyle and earn her spot opposite McManus in Friday morning's final match.
The 8th VSGA Super Senior Women's Amateur featured a similar storyline, as Shawn McCullough and Shelley Savage advanced to Friday morning's final. Though members of rival clubs, Mount Vernon CC's McCullough said she considers Savage (Army Navy CC) a dear friend, a notion Savage seconded after her semifinal win over Mount Vernon's Linda DiVall.
The super senior final is scheduled to begin at 8:10 a.m., with the senior final to follow at 8:30.
69th VSGA Senior Women's Amateur
Shifflett and McManus took differing routes to reach Friday's final. McManus, who said she entered the week just hoping to make the 16-player championship flight match-play field, has bulldozed three straight opponents and has yet to play past the 15th hole in match play this week. She jumped on Lane, a past finalist, early, winnig the first three holes before making birdies on Nos. 8 and 9 to take a commanding 5-up lead to the turn.
Simply put, McManus is riding on good vibes this week at The Homestead.
"I'm in a good place," she said. "I just had my first two grandchildren. I have a lot of joy and gratitude. I'm here with good friends, Kristin and Bev among them. The weather has been beautiful. Honestly, no expectations. I'm just having a good time and taking the shots as they come.
"I've been working a lot (at my game). Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't in golf. So it's been special to see it all come together, and Kristin has been one of my mentors in helping me along the way."
Shifflett, who is seeking her third straight SWA title, found herself in a back-and-forth scrap with Kolette Hoyle in the other semifinal. Hoyle led 2-up through three holes, but Shifflett won the next two to tie the match. Neither player held more than a 1-up lead the rest of the way. Hoyle showed tremendous nerve on No. 18. Tied heading to the final hole, her tee shot on the par-3 hole spun back into the right greenside bunker. Shifflett then hit a dart to 8 feet. Unfazed, Hoyle hit an excellent shot out of the bunker to 5 feet. Shifflett missed her birdie putt, and Hoyle converted her par, the sand save sending the match to extra holes.
Shifflett's length advantage paid off on the third extra hole. She drove the ball 100 yards farther than Hoyle, allowing for a shorter iron shot in that caught the right edge of the front of the green before rolling to 8 feet. Hoyle managed to make par, but Shifflett converted the birdie to win in 21 holes.
"I hit a good drive, so it gave me a little bit of a shorter iron in my hand than I had this morning when we played," Shifflett said. "I know when it comes up the right side of that green, it rolls around nicely, so that was my target, and it worked out."
Shifflett and McManus have stayed together all week, and they were jokingly talking about ways to sabotage one another prior to the final match. In all seriousness, though, Shifflett said she's not surprised at all that her friend finds herself in Friday's final match.
"It's going to be awesome," Shifflett said. "I know how hard she has been working on her game and I know how well she is capable of playing. It was just a matter of time before the results started to come for her. Honestly, I'm so happy for her that she's done as well as she has. And I'm not at all surprised to see how far she has advanced."
8th VSGA Super Senior Women's Amateur
McCullough is making her fourth Super Senior Women's Amateur final apperance and is seeking her second victory. Savage, a three-time winner of the Senior Women's Amateur, reached the final of the 65-plus division for the first time.
Savage slugged her way to a 2-and-1 win over DiVall. Though the match was tight throughout, Savage never trailed. She went 2-up with a par on 16 and clinched victory when both players parred No. 17. Savage said she was surprised she was still playing this deep into the tournament, noting she needed to postpone a doctor's appointment on Friday, along with a trip to a mega gas station outside Harrisonburg with a famous rodent as a mascot.
"I expected to be on my way to Buc-ees by now," she joked, before adding. "I figured anything I would do here would be gravy, after winning State Team this year. Just lucky to be in the finals."
McCullough survived her semifinal with three-time Senior Women's Amateur winner Boodie McGurn by winning with a par on the 20th hole. The match featured massive swings. McGurn won four of out five holes to take a 3-up lead at the turn, and McCullough erased the deficit by winning the next three holes to tie the match. McGurn went back 1-up with a par on 13, and McCullough took advantage of a short par-putt miss from McGurn to tie the match on 15. They tied the next four holes before McCullough emerged victorious on the 2nd green.
"I feel so gratified," McCullough said. "I have changed my approach to golf, so that I'm more grateful just being here. I don't worry about the outcome, I just practice my technique on the course. That's helped me a lot. I'm very grateful to be here playing in the final. Shelley is a dear friend and a great golfer, so it's just going to be a beautiful day tomorrow."
Day 3: Shifflett advances, Hoffman ousted as semifinal fields are set
(Two-time Senior Women's Amateur champion Kristin Shifflett advanced to the semifinals on Wednesday. Credit: Hayden Hundley/VSGA)
By Chris Lang
HOT SPRINGS -- One defending champion survived Wednesday's quarterfinals, one did not. The semifinal fields are set at the 69th VSGA Senior Women's Amateur and 8th VSGA Super Senior Women's Amateur at The Homestead's Old Course.
Kristin Shifflett, winner of the last two Senior Women's Amateur, topped Diana Kim 3 and 2 to reach the semifinal stage. In the Super Senior Women's Amateur, medalist Shawn McCullough made it through the semifinals, but last year's winner -- Mimi Hoffman -- fell to 4 and 3 to Boodie McGurn in the quarterfinals.
69th VSGA Senior Women's Amateur
Shifflett, Bev Lane, and Deborah McManus are all staying in the same house this week at Hot Springs. They managed to avoid meeting one another through the first two rounds of the championship, but that will change Thursday. Lane defeated stroke-play medalist Joan Gardner 2 and 1 to advance. She'll meet McManus, a 5-and-3 winner over Renee Lyles, in the semifinals. The other side of the bracket features Shifflett and Kolette Hoyle, who advanced with a 1-up win over Stephanie Boyles Griffin.
Shifflett will look to become the fourth player to win at least three straight Senior Women's Amateurs, joining Andrea Miller (four), Peggy Woodard (three), and Kay Schiefelbein (three). Her match play week got off to a shaky start, as she squandered a 3-up lead over Maggie DeBoard with three holes to play in Tuesday's round of 16 before winning in 20 holes. She took a 2-up lead early on Wednesday against Kim, but Kim battled back to tie the match by the sixth hole. Shifflett then won holes 7 and 9 to go 2-up again held at least a 2-up lead the rest of the way before closing the match with a par on 16.
"There are so many good players here, and with match play, anything can happen," Shifflett said. "So I just try to focus on my round and play the best I can. If that works out, it's great, and if somebody else has their best day and they end up winning, I can feel good about that too. So honestly, it's not that much pressure (being two-time defending champion."
Hoyle was 3-up through 12 against Boyles Griffin before the latter began to rally, tying the match with a deft up-and-down for par on 16. Hoyle won 1-up with a bogey on No. 18.
Lane and Gardner went back and forth, neither holding more than a 1-up edge through 14 holes. Lane won 15 with a birdie and 16 with a bogey before closing Gardner out with a par on 17. She'll face an intriguing opponent in McManus, who has won both of her matches this week comfortably, not playing past the 15th hole in either match.
"We played the practice round together, and she has a beautiful game that's just getting better and better every year," Lane said. "So it'll be a tough match."
8th VSGA Super Senior Women's Amateur
McCullough is looking for her second title in this event. The remaining road won't be easy. The three other semifinalists -- McGurn, Linda DiVall, and Shelley Savage each are three-time winners of the VSGA Senior Women's Amateur, and DiVall also has a Super Senior Women's Amateur title to her credit, having defeated McCullough in the final in 2023.
"Those three other players -- Shelley, Boodie and Linda -- have so many championships between them," McCullough said. "It's wonderful to be playing in the semis with them."
McCullough admitted to feeling some nerves early in her quarterfinal win over Pamela Luse, who won the first two holes before McCullough settled in. McCullough tied the match on the 6th hole and went 3-up by the 10th before rolling to a 5-and-3 win.
"I didn't have a free-flowing swing," McCullough said. "Once I got that back and started focusing on hitting targets that had to be hit, and less on the outcome of the match, I played much better. If you focus on the outcome of the match, you just get frozen with anticipation -- good or bad."
McGurn took control during the opening stretch of the inward nine in her 4-and-3 win over Hoffman, winning four straight holes to turn a narrow 1-up lead at the turn to 5-up after the 13th. DiVall, who rolled 7-and-6 in her opening match, found the going considerably tougher in a 2-and-1 win over Cindy Hollingshead. The match was tied through 10 holes before DiVall won No. 11 with a par and No. 12 with a birdie after hitting her approach inside of 3 feet. She closed the match with a birdie on No. 17.
Savage was playing her first match after her round-of-16 opponent -- Dot Bolling -- conceded due to a conflict. Savage broke open a tight match with 2025 finalist Becky Hawkins, taking a 3-up lead after a par on No. 10 and a birdie on the par-3 11th after hitting her tee shot inside of 5 feet. An extra twist to the second semifinal -- DiVall is a member at Mount Vernon CC, Savage is a member at Army Navy CC. Earlier this month, Army Navy upended Mount Vernon to win the VSGA Women's State Team Matches, and DiVall and Savage each played for their respective clubs in that event.
Day 2: Nerves flare as top Senior seeds avoid upsets; Super Senior medalist McCullough cruises
(Joan Gardner comforts Peggy Freeman after a tough loss on the 18th hole of The Homestead Old Course on Tuesday. Credit: Hayden Hundley/VSGA)
HOT SPRINGS -- Two-time defending VSGA Senior Women's Amateur champion Kristin Shifflett (Two Rivers Country Club) had to fend off No. 15 seed Maggie DeBoard (The Piedmont Club) in a two-hole playoff during the round of 16 of the 69th VSGA Senior Women's Amateur Championship at The Omni Homestead Old Course on Tuesday.
DeBoard, who played with seemingly nothing to lose, won six of the last eight holes to force the playoff against Shifflett. However, the defending champion stuck her tee shot on the second hole within 10 feet of the pin and eventually had two putts to win the playoff. Shifflett is looking to become just the third player in VSGA history to win three Senior Women's Amateurs in a row. She will face Diana Kim (The Golf Club at Landsdowne) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
More drama occurred during the No. 1 vs. No. 16 matchup between Senior medalist Joan Gardner and Peggy Freeman, who earned the No. 16 seed during a three-person playoff on Monday. The two fought in a back-and-forth battle throughout the round and were tied on eight holes on Tuesday.
Unfortunately for Freeman, she suffered flashbacks to last year's quarterfinal loss to Gardner, as the Senior medalist took advantage of Freeman's errant tee shot on the 18th hole and avoided a playoff. Gardner, who was also last year's Senior medalist and runner-up, is still looking to win her first VSGA Senior Women's Amateur Championship. She will have to go through 2023 finalist Bev Lane on Wednesday in the quarterfinal to do it. Lane decisively won her round of 16 match against Sunny Small (The Piedmont Club) 8-and-6.
The Super Senior Division play went by without as much drama on Tuesday, as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds cruised by their opponents. Super Senior medalist Shawn McCullough defeated Rica Rohrbaugh (Meadowbrook Country Club) 4-and-3, while No. 2 seed Linda DiVall (Mount Vernon Country Club) beat Helene Meyer (Hermitage Country Club) 7-and-6. No. 13 seed Mimi Hoffman (Belle Haven Country Club) defeated No. 4 Cynthia Cox (International Country Club) and No. 12 seed Boodie McGurn (Country Club of Virginia) beat No. 5 Kit Burns (Fawn Lake Country Club), but don't call either of these wins' upsets. A legendary matchup between Hoffman and McGurn is set for 10:18 a.m. on Wednesday, as the pair have a combined eight VSGA Senior Women's Amateur Championships. Hoffman is the reigning VSGA Super Senior Women's Amateur Champion.
Day 1: Gardner, McCullough earn qualifying medalist honors
HOT SPRINGS -- Mount Vernon Country Club members Joan Gardner (Senior Division) and Shawn McCullough (Super Senior Division) both earned medalist honors out of their respective divisions during the qualifying round of the 69th VSGA Senior Women's Amateur and 8th VSGA Super Senior Women's Amateur Championships on Monday at The Omni Homestead Old Course.
Despite being eligible for the Super Senior Division, this is Gardner's second year in a row earning medalist honors out of the Senior Division. She finished the front 9 even par, even with most of the field having more trouble on the front of the course than the back 9. Only two other players in the Senior and Super Senior Divisions were able to birdie either the fourth or fifth holes on Monday, and Gardner birdied both. Her hot start provided her the wiggle room to earn medalist honors, paying dividends when she recorded back-to-back bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes. She finished the first qualifying round 3-over 75, which was three strokes higher than defending two-time champion Kristin Shifflett (Two Rivers Country Club).
There was a three-way playoff on the first hole for the last spot in the Championship Flight to earn the chance to face Gardner in the round of 16 between Laura Kuhn (Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club), Peggy Freeman (Stonehenge Golf & Country Club) and Lisa Mulford (Fauquier Springs Country Club). Freeman won the playoff in one hole.
In the Super Senior Division, McCullough beat out Linda DiVall (Mount Vernon Country Club) by two strokes with a score of 5-over 77. Similarly to Gardner, McCullough also got off to a speedy start, recording birdies on the first and third holes. She was the only player in either division to record a birdie on the par-5 third hole on Monday.
McCullough will face Rica Rohrbaugh (Meadowbrook Country Club) in the round of 16 on Tuesday. This is the first year the Super Senior Championship Flight will feature 16 players after featuring eight players the past seven years.