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Dates: Monday, May 19 and Tuesday, May 20
Format: Two-round of four-ball stroke play. If there is a tie after 36 holes in any division, a sudden-death playoff will be utilized to determine a champion.
Host site: Williamsburg Golf Club
Day 2: Pool, Stinnett rally for two-stroke victory
(Jason Pool and Ryan Stinnett celebrate Pool's birdie putt on 17 on Tuesday. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
BY CHRIS LANG
WILLIAMSBURG -- In a battle of the gray beards versus the no beards, experience won out on Tuesday at the 60th Virginia State Golf Association Four-Ball Championship at Williamsburg Golf Club.
Jason Pool (River Bend Club) and Ryan Stinnett (Poplar Grove Golf Club) posted a second-round 63 for a two-day aggregate total of 14-under 130 to win the championship by two strokes over teenage brothers Noah and Liam Maclauchlan, both members of the VSGA Junior Golf Circuit who earned their way into this championship via a March victory in the MAPGA/VSGA Junior Four-Ball Championship.
How stark was the age difference? Stinnett celebrated his third Four-Ball championship on Tuesday, 18 years after winning the second of back-to-back titles with Keith Decker in 2007. Noah Maclauchlan was born five months later. Pool turns 50 in July. Stinnett turns 44 in November.
"That's the great thing about golf," Pool said. "You can still compete. We just kind of putted and chipped our way there."
For Pool, Tuesday's victory marked his first VSGA championship, though he had come close once before. "Wait, you don't remember the miracle on grass?" he quipped, referring to when he reached the final of the VSGA Amateur in 2005 and lost 9 and 8 to future PGA Tour winner Billy Hurley III.
Stinnett and Pool both contributed to the winning cause down the stretch. For the second straight day, they started with a bogey on WGC's par-4 opening hole. After saving par on the tricky par-3 2nd, they caught fire, making five straight birdies to surge into the lead. They held off charges from playing partners Bobby Dudeck and Robb Kinder, who nearly pulled within a shot on the par-5 16th when Dudeck made about a 30-foot putt for eagle. Fortunately for Stinnett, he was able to catch a read off Dudeck's line, and he responded by sinking a 20-foot birdie putt of his own to maintain a one-stroke lead over the Maclauchlans, who were playing in the group ahead.
The Maclauchlans couldn't make up ground at the end, finishing with back-to-back pars. Pool answered Stinnett's birdie by sinking a 30-foot birdie bomb on the par-3 17th, and he made a professional par on No. 18, the first hole of the entire tournament that both partners were out of position off the tee. Stinnett's drive on 18 ended up far left in a practice-area bunker (which was considered in play in the general area). Pool was in a tough spot right of the fairway. They discussed their options once Stinnett advanced his shot to the right of the 18th green. Knowing one of Pool's strengths is his wedge play, Stinnett encouraged his partner to put it in play to a point where he could give himself a good chance at an up and down for par.
"If we got to 14 (under), we knew it was over," Stinnett said.
Indeed, Pool stuck his wedge shot into par range and sank about a 15-footer to keep the lead at two. Though several sides remained on the course, none had a realistic shot at reaching that number. After finishing as the top side in their qualifier at Raspberry Falls G&HC last month, they backed it up with an impressive victory at Williamsburg.
NOTABLE
- Stinnett and Pool both earned exemptions into next month's VSGA Amateur Championship at Birdwood Golf at Boar's Head Resort in Charlottesville.
- Stinnett and Pool also received a 10-year exemption into the VSGA Four-Ball Championship.
- Stinnett became just the seventh player all-time to record three VSGA Four-Ball Championship victories, joining Decker (six) and five others with three wins: Charles Green III, David Partridge, J.W. Entsminger, David Brogan, and Tom McKnight.
- The top five sides earned exemptions into next year's VSGA Four-Ball. Along with the winners and the Maclauchlans, the three sides tied for third at 11-under 133 are exempt next year: Kinder and Dudeck, Justin Young and Jason Spaar, and Nick Brediger and Ryan Rettberg.
- Noah Maclauchlan turns 18 in August and is a rising high-school senior. Liam just turned 16 and is a rising junior.
- Brediger and Rettberg came into the day tied with Trent Young and Zack Wehrman for first. Brediger and Rettberg may have simply run out of gas, having played two practice rounds and two competition rounds at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball before journeying to Williamsburg for two rounds at this event. Young and Wehrman shot a 3-under 69 on Tuesday and finished in sixth at 10-under 134.
- The biggest mover of the day was Adam Horton and Brock Kelley, who followed their first-round 73 with a second-round 63 to finish in eighth, a 25-spot leap up the leaderboard.
QUOTABLE
- "Jason's just a great dude. Extremely generous, just an awesome guy. You don't feel any anxiety playing with him. His game is great, obviously. But I think we just enjoy each other's company." -- Stinnett
- "It helps that we both generally drive it straight, so we're mostly in play, and there's not too much stress." -- Pool
- "He kept talking about the whole time. He hit a good shot into 17, and he was saying, 'Time for me to make one. Time for me to make one.' And he just poured it right into the heart of the hole." -- Stinnett
- "Ryan had said it all day. To win one of these, you've got to make a bomb at some point. So why not make one here?" -- Pool on his putt on 17.
- "I guess it's just a confidence builder for the rest of the year. Coming into this tournament, we were confident we could compete, no matter who was playing. Yesterday was a little rough, today was a little better, and glory to God for that." -- Noah Maclauchlan
- "Today, we just made sure that one of us was on the green and had a good look for birdie, even if the other one was out of play. So we did a good job of that." -- Liam Maclauchlan
Day 1: Two sides tied atop leaderboard at 7-under
(Ryan Rettberg and Nick Brediger are among the sides tied for the lead at 7-under. Credit: Chris Lang/VSGA)
BY CHRIS LANG
WILLIAMSBURG -- Picture-perfect conditions on Monday at Williamsburg Golf Club produced low scores and a tight leaderboard after the first round of the 60th Virginia State Golf Association Four-Ball Championship. Ryan Rettberg (The Federal Club) and Nick Brediger (Spring Creek GC), fresh off an appearance the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, posted a 7-under 65 in the final grouping of the day, matching the score Hermitage CC members Trent Young and Zack Wehrman came in with earlier.
Roanoke CC's Justin Young and Jason Spaar and Princess Anne CC's Patrick Hineline and Miller Carr each recorded rounds of 6-under 66 and are tied for third. Four sides were tied for fifth at 5-under 67. The second and final round will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, with the two co-leaders going off at 10:30.
NOTABLE
- Rettberg and Brediger, who were teammates at Radford University, missed the playoff for the final match play spots at last weekend's U.S. Amateur Four-Ball by two strokes. Because they had an early starting time on Sunday, they were able to travel back from New Jersey in time for their 10:30 a.m. starting time at Williamsburg. They posted a bogey-free round on Monday.
- Trent Young was one nine players to make an eagle on the par-5 4th hole on Monday, sinking a 45-foot putt to make his three. Young added three more birdies, and Wehrman carded two during the bogey-free round.
- Justin Young normally plays with Scott Shingler in the Four-Ball, but Shingler is abroad and was unavailable to play. Spaar was a natural choice as a partner, as the two play a lot of golf together at Roanoke Country Club.
- Carr, who began his college career at High Point before transferring to Wofford, played for a second straight year with Hineline, who spent two years as part of the club team at James Madison University. They finished two strokes off the pace last year at Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech. Hineline was another to eagle No. 4, but his was a little more straightforward than Trent Young's, as he blasted a drive, then hit 9-iron in to 15 feet before sinking the putt.
- The side of Noah and Liam Maclauchlan, a brother tandem who earned an exemption by winning the MAPGA/VSGA Junior Four-Ball Championship in March, was one of the four sides tied for fifth at 5-under 67. Another side of brothers that earned an exemption -- Senior Four-Ball Champions Steve and Jay Serrao -- was one of three tied for ninth at 4-under.
- Ryan Stinnett and Jason Pool bogeyed their first two holes before rallying to play the next 16 at 7-under to find their way into the tie for 5th at 5-under.
QUOTABLE
- "The rough was the big adjustment. You could actually hit greens from the rough out here." -- Brediger on the difference between Plainfield CC in New Jersey (U.S. Amateur Four-Ball) and Williamsburg.
- "I think it was a mindset, too. We were kind of in survival mode, just trying to keep it around par. Even par was a really good score yesterday, we shot 1-over. So we had to get back into the mindset of making birdies. I think it freed us swing wise, knowing that if we hit it a little off line, we weren't just chipping out. We had a shot. There's just not a lot of rough out here." -- Rettberg
- "Those kind of par saves really help with momentum. It kept us moving forward for sure. After (escaping with par on 16), I kind of looked at Trent and said, 'hey, let's go birdie the last two.' I hit a good one on 17, and he stuffed one on 18. We same some good putts, they went in." -- Wehrman on he and Trent Young's round.
- "I think it'll take the same number, maybe even a little deeper." -- Trent Young on what it will take to win on Tuesday.
- "We started off really well, and then we put in neutral for a bit. But once (partner Patrick Hineline) made birdie on 3 and eagle on 4, we kind of got rolling after that." -- Miller Carr, whose side started on No. 10.
- "Our games complement each other, even if he's 40 yards ahead of me. But the big thing we did today is we made putts. I think that's the deal out here, with where the pins were and how firm the greens are. If you're not making putts, you're not going to shoot a number. It's not like you can attack everywhere. You can attack, have it bounce over the green, then you're dead." -- Justin Young