Team Virginia-Maryland goes back-to-back at Mid-Atlantic Girl's Team Matches

Event: 23rd Mid-Atlantic Girls’ Team Matches

Host Site: Roanoke Country Club, Roanoke, V.A.

Playing Dates: July 27-28, 2024

Social Media: @CGAgolf1909

 

Related: Championship Website  | Scoring |  History  |  Photos 

 

ROANOKE, V.A. - Congratulations to the Virginia-Maryland Team on winning the 23rd Mid-Atlantic Girls’ Team Matches 6.5-5.5. 

The two day event featured two different match formats: four-ball and singles. A total of twelve points were up for grabs with four available during Saturday’s four-ball matches and eight available for Sunday’s singles matches. If any match was tied after 18 holes, a half-point was awarded to both teams.

With a backdrop of the beautiful mountains, Roanoke Country Club’s rolling hills created drastic elevation changes throughout the course. Matches were conducted on the Dogwood and Crabapple 9-hole courses. 

After a practice round on Friday, the teams met for dinner where the pairings for the four-ball matches were announced. 

It was a gloomier morning on Saturday with the sun hardly ever peeking out from behind the clouds as the four matches teed off. 

The Virginia-Maryland Team got off to a fast start by taking a lead in three of the four matches before making the turn. Rachel Joyce of Pinehurst, N.C. and Leah Edwards of Greensboro, N.C., or as the team likes to call them, Big Dawg and Little Dawg, were 2 up at the turn. 

After winning the 14th hole to get to 3 up, their match got close down the stretch, but Joyce and Edwards hung in there to give the Carolinas Team its only point of the day. Virginia-Maryland won the remaining matches to earn three points for the day and take a two-point lead heading into Sunday.

Edwards told her teammates how she just focused on the fact that golf “is just a game” to relax herself during match play. That advice seemed to resonate with the Carolinas squad as singles matches hit the ground running on Sunday morning.

Voted cheerleader of the Carolinas Team, Claire Green of Okatie, S.C. kept the spirits high all weekend and rallied the group together.

The sun was out bright and early as the foursomes with two matches in each group took to the course, and it was a back and forth battle all day. 

Riley Grimm of Pinehurst, N.C. caught fire on the front nine by winning seven holes. She was the first match to finish in Team Carolinas’ favor with a 6 & 5 result over Julia Hua of Maryland. 

Joyce’s match lasted all 18 holes and ultimately ended in a tie after a late rally from Lani Park of Maryland, earning both teams half of a point.

Despite being 1 down with three holes to play, Ella June Hannant of Pikeville, N.C. flipped it around with back-to-back wins on 16 and 17. From the left rough on 17, Hannant threw a dart to just a few feet for birdie. She defeated Alisa Davidova of Virginia 1 up. 

Katie Vu, Kathryn Ha and Elsie MacCleery of Virginia earned their team points with a 2 & 1 win over Mia Carles of Clinton, S.C., a 6 & 5 win over Green, and a 4 & 3 win over Edwards respectively. 

The final group earned Team Carolinas its last two points with Miraya Lurie of Raleigh, N.C. defeating Addie Doroh of Virginia 3 & 2 and Emerson Dever of Durham, N.C. beating Julianna Ishii of Maryland 1 up. 

The Cup will remain in the hands of the Virginia-Maryland Team for another year — it’s the first back-to-back win for them since the challenge matches began in 2002. 

The Carolinas Golf Association would like to thank the VSGA and Roanoke Country Club for hosting this year’s event. A special thank you goes to Roanoke Country Club’s Director of Golf, Tim McAfee, Virginia’s captain, Kristin Shifflett, Maryland’s captains, Lee Roebuck and Bonnie Fry and Carolinas’ captain Vicki DiSantis for a fabulous weekend. 

 

About the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA)

The CGA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization founded in 1909 to promote and protect the game of golf in the Carolinas by providing competitions, education, support, and benefits to golf clubs and golfers. The CGA is one of the largest golf associations in the country, with over 700 member clubs represented by over 200,000 individuals.

The CGA annually conducts 48 championships and five team match competitions for men, women, juniors, and seniors. It also runs over 150 One-Day (net and gross) events and qualifying for USGA national championships. The CGA serves golf in the Carolinas with numerous programs such as: the USGA Handicap System; tournament management software and support; course measuring and course/slope ratings; agronomy consultation; answers about the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, and Handicapping; Carolinas Golf Magazine; Interclub series; Tarheel Youth Golf Association; Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame; expense assistance for USGA Junior and Girls' Junior qualifiers from the Carolinas; and the Carolinas Golf Foundation (CGF). The CGF has distributed over $3,000,000 since 1977 to benefit Carolinas' golf initiatives, including junior, women and adaptive programs.

For more information about the Carolinas Golf Association, follow @cgagolf1909 on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok or visit our website www.carolinasgolf.org/

 

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