McGurn makes an impression with soft touch in first round of City Amateur match play

First round of match play story for posting on Tuesday, June 7

By VIC DORR JR.

Experience has taught five-time Richmond Women’s Golf Association champion Boodie McGurn that a  delicate touch is sometimes preferable to a stranglehold – particularly when holding a putter.

 

An overnight assessment of her putting mechanics helped McGurn post a solid 4-and-2 victory over former champion Nevia Cashwell in Tuesday’s first round of RWGA City Amateur match play at Salisbury Country Club. McGurn, the No. 4 seed, blamed a too-vigorous grip – she referred to it as a “death grip” – for her iffy putting performance during Monday’s qualifying round.

 

“I thought about it (Monday) night,” McGurn said. “I thought about it a lot. It was like: ‘OK – what  exactly is going on here?’ Finally I figured out that I was gripping my putter way too hard. I was squeezing the life out of it, almost.”

The adjustment was immediately apparent. McGurn, a Country Club of Virginia member, never trailed against Cashwell, the No. 13 seed. She led 4-up after 10 holes. Cashwell, a Highlands member cut the deficit in half with consecutive victories at the par-4 11th and the par-4 12th. McGurn seemed unfazed. She closed out the match by winning the par 3 14th and the par-4 16th. Her putter was indispensable. Time after time, she rolled 20- and 25-footers to the edge of the cup.

 

“That happened a lot,” she said. “I didn’t do anything really special, but I didn’t do anything silly, either. It’s a great help when you putt like that – especially in match play. You save a lot of holes that you might otherwise have lost.”

Both players struck the ball solidly and were notably accurate with their irons.

 

“It came down to putting, and today my putter was better than Nevia’s,” McGurn said. A cooperative putter, she said, “helps 100 percent in match play. “It makes such a difference if you have confidence in your putter.”

 

Also advancing to Wednesday’s quarterfinals were reigning champion Kristine Rohrbaugh (7-6 over Margie Warfield), Joanne Kitusky (6-5 over Marilyn Cole), Deb Kelo (5-3 over Rica Rohrbaugh), qualifying medalist Liza Lewis (4-3 over Helen Im, Brenda Baril (3-2 over Anne Greever), Lindsay Wortham (1-up over Heather Choe) and Peggy Freeman (6-5 over Pam Luse).

 

Tuesday’s round was something of a keepsake for Kelo, a seven-time Highlands club champion who won for the first time in Championship Flight competition. She won four consecutive holes – No. 9 on the frontside Huguenot nine and Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the backside Monacan nine – before closing out the match with a victory at No.15 (the Monacan nine’s par-5 sixth hole).

 

During her hot streak, Kelo said, “I was hitting fairways and hitting greens and giving myself a chance to make birdie putts.”

 

Surviving and advancing against Championship Flight competition was nice, Kelo said. Nicer still, she said, is the sensation of “simply being out here.” Kelo, the director of programs at Swim RVA, said golf “is my stress-reliever. It’s my breakaway. Just to be here – enjoying the game, enjoying nature, enjoying people, enjoying relationships – is special.” If you permit it to do so, Kelo said, “golf will carry you through a lot of tough times.” 

 

 

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At Salisbury Country Club