Sunday afternoon in the final round of the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame Women’s Championship, UVA redshirt freshman Lyndsey Hunnell was playing in the next-to-last group.
The position was absolutely perfect.
Firing a final-round 3-under-par 69 on the women’s par-72 Hidden Valley layout, Hunnell bolted from fifth place, four shots off the pace after her opening round 78 at Hunting Hills Country Club, to capture the 37th annual women’s title.
“It helped me a lot being in the group in front of the leaders,” Hunnell said after her strong finish that was good for a 3-shot win over Virginia Tech women’s golf coach Carol Robertson. “My dad and I talked about it last night. Saturday, I was paying too much attention to what the other players in my group were shooting. Today, I was paying attention to my game, and just taking care of that.”
No doubt the former Lord Botetourt High School standout had it figured out.
While all the gallery attention was on the last group that included first-round leader Katie Turk, along with Hidden Valley High School rising senior Kristin Hearp and Carson-Newman golfer Jessica Hart, Hunnell was carving out a splendid round that had her to minus-5 after sixteen holes.
Hunnell shot a two-under 34 on the women’s par-36 outward nine, before draining a long birdie putt at the par-4 tenth and holing out on a eagle-2 chip at the 14th that put her in the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, the final group couldn’t gather momentum.
Hunnell admitted the nerves showed at 17 and 18. On 17, a chunked second shot led to a bogey-5. On the par-4 18th she turned the hole into an adventure after hitting her tee ball into the right-rough and under a tree. She bunkered the second shot, blasted over the green on the third and sent her par chip 25-feet past the hole. With all that going on and the final group staring her down from the fairway, Hunnell settled matters when she sent the uphill 25-footer straight into the jar.
“This is my first big tournament since college,” Hunnell noted. “I’ve been working hard on my drives because my college coach says the longer you hit it off the tee, the better your scores will be when you’re hitting the second shots from closer range. I’ve seen a huge difference and today it showed.”
“It was tough getting beat by UVA,” Robertson chuckled afterward. “Lyndsey played so consistent today. I was playing good, but she gave me no opportunity to close the gap.”
Hart and Turk tied for third, while Hearp finished fifth.
Blacksburg Country Club won the women’s team title. Marilyn Bussey took home first place in the women’s senior division.
On the 42nd annual men’s side, Matt Chandler waltzed home with a final-round, 4-under-par 67, good for a whopping 10-shot win over runner-up Marshall Bailey. Chandler began the day with a 7-shot advantage over eventual third-place finisher Daryl Byrd.
The margin could have been larger if not for a bogey-6 at the par-5 16th by Chandler, while Bailey drained a trickily downhill slider for eagle.
“I hit a bad tee shot, a bad second, then three-putted,” Chandler noted shaking his head. “But, overall I played pretty good for three rounds. I would have taken those three scores if you had asked me before the tournament. Winning is great and I always want to win any tournament. I won’t say I was on cruise control today, but it was nice to have a seven shot lead to start the final round.”
Only 5 players bested the men’s par-71 Sunday. In addition to Chandler and Bailey’s 67s, Paul Powell, Mark Funderburk and Corey Gallagher each shot 70.
Hidden Valley won the men’s team championship.
Bill Turner
