( atc )
70TH VSGA SENIOR AMATEUR
CHAMPIONSHIP
One competitor fought memories of a sting-
ing defeat in the previous year’s Senior
Amateur championship match. Another
was participating in his first VSGA cham-
pionship. In the end, Rich Buckner’s moti-
vation and stellar play won out. Buckner
(Robert Trent Jones GC) surged around
the turn in the 18-hole championship match
against Duncan Hardcastle (Magnolia
Green GC), built a huge lead and closed out
a 5-and-4 victory at Keswick Golf Club with
a kick-in birdie on 14. Buckner, who lost 6
and 5 to Keith Decker in 2016’s champion-
ship match, took a 1-up lead with a par on
No. 4 and never trailed against Hardcastle.
12TH SENIOR OPEN OF VIRGINIA
Amateur Buck Brittain, a 50-year-old
senior circuit rookie, was steady down the
stretch, and that demeanor served him
well at Two Rivers Country Club. Brittain
(The Virginian GC) has been a mainstay
near the top of leaderboards in VSGA
championships, and he reached the title
match at the 2012 VSGA Amateur. But he
had never broken through until this year’s
Senior Open, where he shot a two-day
aggregate 138 to finish a stroke clear of
professional Rick Schuller for his first title
in a VSGA sanctioned championship. “I
thought I could get there, but I just never
had,” Brittain said afterward.
23RD VSGA SUPER SENIOR
AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Three past VSGA champions added to
“I thought I could get there,
but I just never had.”
Buck Brittain
their resumes at James River Country
Club, as Mike McDonald (Two Rivers
CC), Bill Engel (Army Navy CC) and Ned
Baber (Roanoke CC) won their respec-
tive age divisions. McDonald defeated
Mike Ancel (Newport News GC at Deer
Run) 2 and 1 in the 65-69 championship
match. Engel held off 2016 champion Jim
Hudson (Salisbury CC) 1 up in the 70-74
title match. Baber jumped to an early lead
in the 75-over age group and defeated
O.D. Gardner (The Woodlands GC) 4 and
3 in the title match. Baber earned his
sixth VSGA title, 57
years after he won
his first champi-
onship at the 1960
VSGA Amateur.
From left, Leon Roday, Mike McDonald, Bill Engel and Ned Baber.
8
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 17
2ND VSGA
MID-SENIOR
AMATEUR
CHAMPIONSHIP
Leon Roday (Kin-
loch GC), who has
spent most of the
l a st t w o s e a s o n s
near the top of the
VSGA senior player
rankings, earned his first championship,
defeating Jim Wright (Roanoke CC) 6 and
5 in the Mid-Senior Amateur, created for
players ages 60-64. Roday birdied the first
hole of the title match and made the turn
with a 3-up lead before rolling to the win.
5TH VSGA SUPER SENIOR FOUR-
BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Longtime friends Charles Green III (The
Virginian GC) and Bob Rotella (Glenmore
CC) tied a tournament record by shooting
a bogey-free, two-day aggregate 129 to
win the championship by four strokes
over Peter Jacobi and Bill Engel (Army
Navy CC). Green won his sixth VSGA
championship, while Rotella claimed his
first. Jacobi and Engel made 16 birdies
over the tournament’s 36 holes but five
bogeys were their undoing.
Also
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
The Virginia team posted a three-day 445
and tied for 10th at the final playing of the
U.S. Women’s State Team Championship
in Santa Fe, N.M. Team members were
Lauren Greenlief (International CC),
vsga.org
Seniors
Buck Brittain carded a two-day
aggregate 138 to win his first
VSGA crown at the 12th Senior
Open of Virginia.