Lewis hangs on to capture RWGA City Amateur qualifying medal

 

By VIC DORR JR.

Liza Lewis, arguably the biggest hitter in the Richmond Women’s Golf Association City Amateur field, says she often reminds herself that while power golf is nice, smoothness and rhythm are nicer still.

 

Lewis captured her first City Amateur qualifying medal by shooting a round of 3-over-par 75 during Monday’s 18-hole stroke-play round at Salisbury Country Club. She finished two shots ahead of three-time winner Lindsay Wortham and three ahead of five-time winner Boodie McGurn, three time-winner Peggy Freeman and Deb Kelo. Lewis will be seeded second in the 16-member Championship Flight when the tournament’s format shifts Tuesday to match play. Reigning champion Kristine Rohrbaugh, exempt from qualifying, will be seeded first.

 

For Lewis, a former Randolph-Macon standout, the qualifying round was something of a roller-coaster ride. She played the first 10 holes in a solid and efficient 1-over-par. But thereafter her rhythm became elusive. She battled grimly down the stretch to maintain her lead.

 

“I had to keep reminding myself to slow down – to focus on my routine and my shot process,” said Lewis, a Country Club of Virginia member. “Sometimes I tend to hurry, to get too quick, when I’m trying to hit the ball too hard.”

When she is comfortable and playing well, she said, “I can always feel it in my swing. I feel like I can get 100 percent of the length I want with maybe 80 percent of my swing.”

 

Lewis manufactured enough key shots on Monday’s back nine to keep Wortham, playing one threesome ahead, at arm’s length. She dropped her approach shot at No. 15 (the par-5 6th on Salisbury’s Monacan nine) four feet from the flag. Her 30-foot putt from the fringe at No. 16 reached the edge of the cup.

 

Lewis, a 2019 R-MC graduate, said she will focus on pace and poise when she faces Helen Im, a Stonehenge member, in Tuesday’s opening round of match play.

 

“I just need to take it one shot at a time and especially one shot at a time,” she said. “When I do that, things more often than not seem to turn out the way I’d like.”

 

On another turn of events, Rica Rohrbaugh, Kristine’s mother, earned the No. 12 seed in the Championship Flight. Last year's champion Kristine Rohrbaugh could conceivably meet her mom in Thursday’s semifinals.

 

The first day of competition on the 5,100 yard Salisbury layout ended in drama: a seven-for-two playoff to fill the final slots in the Championship. Im captured the first spot by making par on the first playoff hole, the par-4 first on Salisbury’s Huguenot nine. Margie Warfield, playing on her home course, earned the second slot by making par on the par-4 second hole.

 

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At Salisbury Country Club