Around The Commonwealth
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Amy Ellertson, Natalie
Easterly, Lauren Greenlief, Shabril Derco.
Field and format: Six qualifying sites
and exemptions produced a field of 48
sides for two rounds of stroke play.
First-round leaders: Keith Decker/
Matt Sughrue and Neil Davis/Randy
Newsome (63).
It was over when: Sughrue’s eagle
attempt from the fairway on 18 came
up just short, allowing Bailey and
Nussey’s two-day 128 to stand.
“It’s focused, but it’s not a grind like it might be in
other tournaments. It’s fun partner golf,
that’s what we tell each other.”
—Lauren Greenlief
in the two years the championship was an
18-hole event. In the regular division, Lau-
ren Greenlief and Shabril Derco repeated,
though there was some drama thanks to
strong play from teenagers Tatum Walsh
and Danielle Suh. Greenlief and Derco shot
a two-day 135 to win by two strokes.
Field and format: 36 holes of stroke
play over two days, with four sides
competing in the regular division and
10 sides competing as seniors.
First-round leaders: Greenlief/Derco
(65); Ellertson/Easterly (66)
It was over when: In the senior
division, after Ellertson and Easterly
took a five-stroke lead after the first day.
In the regular division, Greenlief/Derco
made a key birdie on No. 14 to go back
up by two shots after Walsh and Suh
had closed to within a stroke.
37th VSGA Senior Four-Ball
Championship
Stoney Creek at Wintergreen,
Nellysford | May 29-30
Bob Bailey and Robert Nussey turned the
round of a lifetime into a championship
vsga.org
victory. Newport News’ Bailey and Rich-
mond’s Nussey started the second round so
far back that they were in the second group
teeing off No. 10. So they plugged away in
relative anonymity and realized they had
a special round going when they made
back-to-back eagles in the middle of the
round. They finished with a 13-under-par
59, breaking the tournament record by two
strokes and recording
what is believed to be
the first 59 ever in a
VSGA championship.
They won by one stroke
over Keith Decker and
Matt Sughrue, who was
seeking to become the
first player to ever win
both the VSGA Four-
Ball and Senior Four-
Ball Championships in
the same year.
“There’s a guy at our
club who likes to do
these prop bets, and he
asked me what I thought
I’d shoot if I played a
four-person captain’s
choice with me hitting
all four balls. I told him,
12 (under), maybe. You
have to roll a lot of putts
in. So to do that in two-
person best ball,
that’s special.”
—Bob Bailey
VSGA Senior Four-Ball
champs Robert Nussey,
left, and Bob Bailey
broke the tournament
record by two strokes.
J U LY / A U G U ST 2 0 19 | V I R G I N I A G O L F E R
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