40th VSGA Senior Stroke Play Championship

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Dates: Monday, June 15 and Tuesday, June 16

Format: 36 holes of stroke play. If there is a tie atop the leaderboard at the end of the second round, a sudden-death tiebreaker will determine a champion.

Starting times: Starting at 7:30 a.m. off hole No. 1 both days.

Defending champion: Jon Hurst

Host site: Stoney Creek at Wintergreen Resort

Day 2: Craft's sizzling back nine clinches win

(Darrell Craft swapped a long putter into his bag for this championship, and it paid off at the end. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)

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By Chris Lang

NELLYSFORD -- In June 2025, Darrell Craft was making plans to head to Fredericksburg Country Club for his practice round for the VSGA Senior Stroke Play Championship. Just before 5 p.m. on the Friday before the championship was set to start, his phone buzzed. When Craft, then the owner at The Waterfront Country Club in Moneta, saw who had texted him, his heart sank.

It was Waterfront's superintendent, informing Craft that he was resigning. In the news business, that's called the Friday news dump, traditionally used to drop bad news when most have already checked out for the weekend. For Craft, it was another sign that it was time to get out of the golf-course ownership business, something he and his wife Karen had discussed in the past. An avid competitive golfer, Craft's playing time was severely limited simply because of the demands of the business. That text felt like another gut punch.

"Every time I went to the golf course when I owned The Waterfront Country Club, I couldn't relax," said Craft, who spent five-plus years as the club's owner. "I was always looking around at what other courses were doing, what they weren't doing and what they should be doing versus what I thought they should be doing. I couldn't turn that switch off, and it affected my ability to concentrate and play."

Craft, a member at Blue Hills Country Club in Roanoke, sold the club in March to a group of deep-pocketed investors from New Jersey, freeing his mind and allowing him to rediscover his love for competition. The start of 2026 brought a renewed energy, and countless rounds spent playing, joking, and -- of course -- betting with Roanoke Valley friends Jack Allara, Mark Funderburke and Keith Myers helped sharpen his game. And on the back nine at the 40th VSGA Senior Stroke Play Championship at Wintergreen Resort's Stoney Creek Course, he showed exactly how good he could be when dialed in.

Craft, 56, posted a 5-under 31 on the difficult Shamokin nine on Tuesday to break free from a bunched leaderboard and win the championship by three strokes, returning rounds of 73 and 68 for a two-day total of 3-under 141.

"I find it really funny that how last year, when I was so looking forward in this tournament, the Friday before the practice round, before I was scheduled to show up, that I got a text message that forced me to drop out because I wasn't sure who was going to take care of the course, and I knew it was going to fall upon me to do it," Craft said. "Now 365-odd days later, I win this tournament. ... I think it's very symmetrical."

Craft was the only player to post a round in the 60s. 

That number seemed unlikely at the start on Tuesday, as Craft opened his second round with three straight bogeys. After that, he said his goal was to find a way to battle back to level par for the day, a feat he accomplished with a birdie on No. 13, the start of the defining stretch of the tournament. He birdied No. 14 to get to 1-under for the round, then hit the shot of the tournament on No. 15. With 137 left for his approach on the par-4 15th, he hit an easy 8-iron that landed 10 feet from the hole and slowly trickled in. The eagle surged him to the top of the leaderboard and another birdie on No. 17 gave him some breathing room.

"That's probably about the seventh time I've done that in a tournament, as far as holing out from outside of 100 yards," Craft said, adding with a laugh, "I'd love to get that flag and bring it with me."

Craft had to survive a charge from two-time Senior Stroke Play champion Steve Serrao, who also opened with a 73 on Monday but worked his way to 2-under for the tournament after a birdie on No. 13. A tough break on the par-5 17th ended his chances. Hitting 3-wood from the tee, his drive found the wrong side of a tree on the left side of the fairway and bounced into a backyard, the out-of-bounds ball costing him two strokes and leading to a double bogey that dropped him three shots behind Craft. He finished tied for third with Tom Vlahakis at even-par 144.

"I didn't do anything different than I did yesterday," Serrao said. "I took an aggressive line with my 3-wood, and when I'm swinging it well, I can hit a draw. I happened to pull it and hit a draw."

Tony Good, one of the 18-hole co-leaders, rallied at the end to finish alone in second at 1-under 143, but he was too far behind when he began his charge on 16 with Craft already in the clubhouse. Good's birdie-birdie-birdie finish closed the gap, but he was five shots back when he stepped to 16 tee.

Afterward, Craft called the win the best of his career, adding, "I just couldn't be happier right now."

"I have peace of mind now," Craft said. "I'm appreciative of my time at the Waterfront and everything I learned there, but I'll say this in closing, my wife was right. She said, 'you're not going to be able to play golf when you own it.' And as soon as I get away from that golf course, I get my mind somewhat relaxed, I come up here and free-wheel it around, and I was lucky enough to win."

NOTABLE

• Craft earned an exemption into next week's VSGA Amateur Championship at Bayville Golf Club with his victory, along with an exemption into the VSGA Senior Amateur at River Bend Club in August.

• Craft's aunt is Dot Bolling, the VSGA's all-time winningest female golfer with 14 titles.

• Marc Hogan, the other 18-hole co-leader, opened with a birdie on Tuesday but struggled after that, finishing with seven bogeys and a triple bogey on his way to an 8-over 80 that dropped him into a tie for 21st.

• Three players made significant moves on Tuesday. Tom Follain moved 33 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for eighth after posting a 1-under 71. Past champion David Jordan moved up 26 spots into a tie for 6th after posting a 76-71--147; and Scott Shingler shook off a 5-over 77 from Monday to post an even-par 72 and move up 26 spots into a tie for 15th.

Day 1: Hogan, Good share 18-hole lead

(Co-leader Marc Hogan tees off during Monday's first round. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)

Photo gallery

By Chris Lang

NELLYSFORD -- The two nines in play at Wintergreen Resort's Stoney Creek Golf Course couldn't have been more different on Monday. The opening Monacan nine, bookended by par 5s and featuring wide-open fairways gave way to the tighter Shamokin nine, a feast of tight drives, doglegs and tricky greens. The stark difference between the nines led to a bunched leaderboard after 18 holes, with plenty in contention as the second and final round of the 40th VSGA Senior Stroke Play Championship beckons on Tuesday.

Marc Hogan (Lake Monticello GC) and Tony Good (The Hollows GC) each posted 2-under rounds of 70 on Monday to share the 18-hole lead. Virginia Beach's Michael Trueworthy returned a 1-under 71 and was the only other player under par on Monday. Nineteen players are within three shots of the lead heading into Tuesday, setting up an exciting final-round finish.

Four players were tied for fourth at even-par 72 -- Federal Club members Alan Myers and Tom Vlahakis, Jay Serrao (Cavalier G&YC), and Chad Seibert (Spotswood CC).

Twelve players were tied for eighth at 1-over 73, including two-time champion Steve Serrao, the 2022 and 2024 winner.

NOTABLE

• Good came to Wintergreen armed with fresh perspective on the importance of tournament golf. People will toss around "just happy to be here," but for Good, there's a lot of truth to it. Last Wednesday, he was involved in a serious accident where he was rear-ended at 40 mph before slamming into the car in front of him. He escaped serious injury, but his vehicle was totaled. "I'll be honest with you, I'm lucky to be alive," he said. Birdies and bogeys took on a bit of reduced meaning on Monday for him.

• Good was 3-under at the turn after making three birdies and no bogeys on Monacan. The shift to Shamokin changed his fortunes, as he opened the inward nine with three straight bogeys before recovering for consecutive birdies to end the round.

• Hogan's round took a similar path -- a bogey-free 3-under on Monacan, a 1-under with two bogeys on Shamokin.
• Trueworthy broke out last year with a quarterfinal finish at the VSGA Senior Amateur. Like Good and Hogan, he went 3-under with three birdies on Monacan but notched three bogeys and a birdie on Shamokin to finish the day at 1-under.
• Jay Serrao noted that Shamokin basically forced driver out of his hand at the tee, unfortunate for him as his length off the tee is a decided strength. He hit 4-iron off most non-par 3s on the back.
• Vlahakis made an impressive rally after a tough start and was one of the few who thrived on Shamokin. He was 4-over through eight holes but began to turn it around with a birdie on 9. He added three birdies on a bogey-free Shamokin nine (11, 13 and 17).
• UVA men's golf coach Bowen Sargent is among those in the tie for 8th at 1-over 73. He chipped in for birdie on 13. 
• Dave Williams Jr., who paired with Roger Newsom to win the VSGA Senior Four-Ball title in May, is tied for 20th at 2-over 74. Buck Brittain, the 2023 Senior Stroke Play Champion, is also in that tie for 20th.
• Other past champions in the field include David Jordan (T32, +4), Dave Pulk (T41, +5), Tim Kelley (T60, +9), and Mike Krulich (T77, +12).

QUOTABLE

• "Very blessed to be here. Just very pleased to be out here playing golf." -- Tony Good

• "My son, he's at Washington & Lee, and he gave me a couple of tips. He just said you have to stay down into the shot. He's a tennis player, not even a golfer. He actually said, 'Lock in.' Tennis is over for him, he's into academics this summer, and he said he's going to 'lock in,' this summer. I was actually making fun of him, but it's funny how that works. You don't choke as much when you just say, 'lock in.' So that really helped." -- Good on surviving the three-bogey run on the back.

• "It felt great. I was actually playing pretty well until 10, 11 and 12. And I was getting a little shaky down the stretch. So, yes, those two birdies were very nice." -- Good
• "This side here (Shamokin), it was weird. I just took driver out of play, except for that last hole. I think the other side played exactly how I wanted it to. Got to hit driver and hit it well. It's a normal golf course over there, but here, you're putting 4-iron in my hand." -- Jay Serrao on the differences between the two nines.
• "You just have to be very accurate off the tee. Sometimes it runs out into rough, and you don't have that easy of a shot in." -- Jay Serrao
• "I really think the putting is very difficult here. Scott (Shingler) missed three 3-footers. It's hard to go up and hit your 3-footer when someone hits a good putt and it doesn't go in." -- Jay Serrao.