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Dates: Tuesday, July 29 - Friday, August 1
Format: Two rounds of stroke-play qualifying, with the field being cut to the low 60 players and ties for Wednesday's second round. The top 16 players advance to match play, which begins with the round of 16 and quarterfinals on Thursday. The semifinals and 18-hole championship match are scheduled for Friday.
Host site: 1757 Golf Club
Day 4: Lange tops Evans 3 and 2 to win title
(Charles Lange, right, celebrates with caddie Finn Watson after a birdie in Friday's title match. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
By Chris Lang
DULLES -- At the peak of a stirring run in the middle of Friday's final match of the 34th Virginia State Golf Association Junior Match Play Championship, Charles Lange took a close look at about a 20-foot birdie putt on the 11th green at 1757 Golf Club. His opponent, Ethan Evans, was well inside of that distance and had a good chance to chip away at a lead. The problem: Lange wouldn't open the door. Instead, he rolled his birdie putt dead into the middle of the cup, walking the last few feet in for good measure. Evans then missed his birdie look. It was a huge swing, allowing Lange the cushion he needed to eventually close out the match with a par on 16, securing his 3-and-2 victory and a chance to hoist the Clyde Luther Trophy.
Lange, a member at Willow Oaks Country Club in Richmond and a rising senior at St. Christopher's School, played 43 holes on Friday, first having to complete a quarterfinal match that was suspended by rain on Thursday. In his next match against top seed Jake Lopes, he was 4 down at the turn before rallying for a 19-hole victory. That excellent back nine against Lopes was a precursor for what was to come against Evans, who won his first three matches in this tournament without playing past the 14th hole.
Evans led 2-up through three holes, but Lange quickly quelled any thought of another Evans runaway by making a birdie on No. 4 to cut into the lead. Lange played holes 4-12 at 7-under par, leaving Evans little chance to work his way back into the match.
"Really, it was the putting," Lange said. "I don't know what it was. I saw the lines and I was really dialed in with the putter and they were just going in dead center. It's a feeling I don't feel often, so it was cool."
Evans, a 15-year-old rising sophomore at Trinity Christian in Fairfax, didn't play poorly in the final match. His opponent was simply on fire, and Evans couldn't match that output.
"He was making it pretty hard to beat him," Evans said. "I'm not disappointed in my game. Obviously, this isn't what I wanted today, but to lose to him when he goes on that crazy stretch, it's hard to beat, especially in match play."
NOTABLE
- Lange missed match play in 2022 at Willow Oaks, advanced to the quarterfinals in 2023 at Kiln Creek (losing to eventual champion Talon Dingledine), and missed match play last year at Olde Mill after a rough opening round. This week represented a significant breakthrough for Lange, who has committed to play college golf at Columbia University.
- Friday's title match continued a trend in this event, as no title match has reached the 18th hole since Adam Ball won in 19 holes in 2011.
- Lange's match clinching shot against Lopes was a beauty, as his 125-yard pitching wedge shot out of the right rough nearly hit the hole on the fly. It settled a foot from the hole for a conceded birdie, and Lopes' birdie attempt skipped over the hole, giving Lange the win.
- Evans' wins in his three previous matches were by counts of 5 and 4, 6 and 5, and 5 and 4.
- Shannon Brennan served as referee for the championship match. Her son Michael won the VSGA Junior Match Play title in 2017. Michael currently ranks fifth in the Fortinet Cup standings (PGA Tour Americas) and he has an excellent chance of earning a full Korn Ferry Tour card next season.
QUOTABLE
- "I've been looking for a win like this for a while, so this is really rewarding. Me and my coach (Sean Patterson at Willow Oaks) have been working pretty hard over the last week on some stuff, so it's pretty good to see four solid days of solid play. I'm just really excited." -- Lange
- "I hit it into the water on like every hole, it seemed like. Then I made a small adjustment on one of the holes and it just kind of clicked and I was able to get it around after that." -- Lange on his match with Lopes.
- "I was actually debating hitting another club, but Finn (Watson) my caddie told me to hit a pitching wedge and it came out really nice. That was actually my first ever playoff win. I'd never won a playoff hole in my life, so that was nice." -- Lange
- "I had gotten up a couple of holes at that point, but I knew that one putt was going to come where I needed to counter his good shot, so that was a big one there." -- Lange on his birdie putt on the 11th.
- "I played great opponents all week, and I just kind of had a really hot putter. Played really solid and played the golf course well." -- Evans
- "It makes you go, man, I have a chance to get one back to now I've got to make one just to save the hole." -- Evans
- "This is my first competitive match play tournament. Those three matches really built a lot of confidence. Even that final match, hanging in there ... I think the match play format is super fun and this experience is good, because I'm going to be in a lot of match play tournaments in the future." -- Evans
Day 3: Afternoon rain halts quarterfinals
(Top seed Jake Lopes blasts out of a bunker on 10 at 1757 GC on Thursday. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
DULLES -- A long awaited cold front blasted through Northern Virginia on late Thursday afternoon, provided a much needed reprieve from relentless heat. It also wreaked havoc on the quarterfinal round of the 34th Virginia State Golf Association Junior Match Play Championship at 1757 Golf Club.
All four quarterfinal matches were still on the course when play was called for the final time around 5:20 p.m. Play had been suspended on two different occasions due to lightning in the area. After the second suspension at 5 p.m., rain pummeled the course, leaving no choice but to suspend for the day. The quarterfinals will resume at 7 a.m. on Friday.
At the time of the suspension, top seed Jake Lopes held a 2-up lead on Cameron Sharp, with both players waiting to hit their approach shots on 17. Lopes needs only to tie the hole early Friday to advance to the semifinals. On the same side of the bracket, Charles Lange and Grayden Laird were tied through nine holes. On the other side of the bracket, Ethan Evans held a 4-up lead on Will Carlin through 10 holes, while Luca Rinaldi was 1 up on Owen Love through nine holes.
The semifinals will begin immediately following the conclusion of the quarterfinals, with the 18-hole championship match set to begin some time early Friday afternoon. Cloudy and cool conditions are forecasted for Friday, with no additional rain expected.
The round of 16 unfolded without much drama, with only two matches reaching the 18th hole. Lange defeated Samuel Francis 2 up in one tight match, with Laird outlasting Christian Lee in 19 holes in another tight match. Of the top eight seeds in match play, only one lost, as No. 11 seed Carlin eliminated No. 6 seed Matthew Delpizzo in the final round of 16 match.
Day 2: Lopes earns medalist honors, match-play field set
(Jake Lopes at the VSGA Junior Stroke Play Championship. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
DULLES -- Vienna's Jake Lopes followed his opening-round 63 with a 2-under 68 on Wednesday at 1757 Golf Club to earn stroke-play qualifying medalist honors at the 34th Virginia State Golf Association Junior Match Play Championship. Lopes finished qualifying at 9-under 131, four strokes better than Fairfax Station's Ethan Evans and Midlothian's Luca Rinaldi.
Lopes will be the top seed for match play and face No. 16 seed Jamie Bliley of Richmond in Thursday's round of 16. Bliley posted rounds of 73 and 72 on 1757's par-70 layout to earn the final match-play spot at 5-over 145.
Lopes didn't breeze through Wednesday's round as easily as he did on Tuesday. After going bogey free in the first round, he finished with six birdies and four bogeys on Wednesday.
"I've been working hard on my wedges and my putting, and that's really paid off the last two days with good wedge play and rolling my putter well," Lopes said. "So that was a lot of fun."
Blacksburg's Grayden Laird and Richmond's Charles Lange tied for fourth at 2-under 138, followed by Vienna's Matthew Delpizzo at 1-under 139. The biggest move of the day came from Forest's Rusty Hooks, who jumped 18 spots on the leaderboard by following his opening-round 73 with a 3-under 67. He finished tied for seventh at even par with Blacksburg's Cameron Sharp and Alexandria's Owen Love.
Patrick O'Rourke, finalist at last year's Junior Match Play Championship, posted rounds of 74-72 to finish at 6-over 146 and miss match play by a stroke.
Lopes said he won't change his mindset going into match play.
"Do the same thing I was doing in stroke play," he said. "Try to keep it in play, there's a lot of water here, so it can be tough. Just need to keep it in play off the tee and have fun."
Day 1: Lopes sets early pace
(Jake Lopes at the recent State Open of Virginia. Credit: Kaiden Bridges/VSGA)
DULLES -- Vienna's Jake Lopes posted a bogey-free 7-under-par 63 on Tuesday at 1757 Golf Club to take the early lead in stroke-play qualifying at the 34th Virginia State Golf Association Junior Match Play Championship.
Lopes made seven birdies, including five on the back nine, and holds a three-stroke lead over Midlothian's Luca Rinaldi, who posted a 4-under 66. Rinaldi, who recently earned low amateur honors at the State Open of Virginia, was 2 over through eight holes before getting his round going with a birdie on the par-5 9th. He blitzed the back nine, finishing with six birdies and a bogey.
Ashburn's Will Carlin and Floyd's Isaiah Cantrell each returned rounds of 3-under 67 and are tied for third.
The field will be cut to the low 16 players for match play after Wednesday's second round of stroke-play qualifying. Sixty players at 9-over 79 or better made the initial cut to Wednesday's second round.