Comeback wins for Peter Jacobi and Harry Cain in the 18th playing of the championship
HOT SPRINGS, Va. (July 12, 2012) -- Northern Virginian Peter Jacobi, 69, of Arlington and Harry Cain, 74, of Williamsburg posted deciding wins in their respective age divisions as the 18th Virginia State Golf Association Super Senior Amateur Championship concluded today at The Homestead’s Cascades Course.
Both players scored 2-and-1 comeback victories and ousted the stroke play medalists en route to recording age category triumphs. In the 65-69 age division, Jacobi bested George Owens, 68, of Virginia Beach. Meanwhile, among the 70-74 year-olds, Cain defeated local and Homestead member Jack Vardaman, 72, of Hot Springs. Cain notched a repeat victory in the 70-74 age bracket.
Jacobi (pictured right) trailed three holes down through 10 holes against Owens, but shining short game played helped fuel his rally. Wielding a hot putter, he ran off three straight wins from Nos. 11-13, rolling in a 30-footer for birdie at the par-3 11th hole, making a 25-footer for a par-win at the ensuing hole and taking No. 13 to return the match to all square.
A VSGA member at Army Navy Country Club, Jacobi then played a terrific 100-yard pitching wedge third shot from the right bunker that cleared a pond guarding the front hole location to 6 feet at the par-5 16th to set up a birdie-win. He closed the match one hole later with a conceded par. Jacobi won in his last start in the 65-69 age division at the event. He’ll turn 70 next February.
“It’s very unexpected,” said Jacobi, who won the super senior division of the VSGA Senior Stroke Play Championship last year. “It feels good. I couldn’t seem to do anything right on the front nine and then things turned around on the second nine. It was a tale of two matches.”
Cain was two holes down through the first five holes against Vardaman, but was the stroke play equivalent of three under par the rest of the way in posting a comeback victory. He claimed Nos. 6 and 8 with birdies to square the match. On the second nine, Cain scored a par-win at No. 11 after his opponent three-putted to take his first lead of the match and holed a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 16 before closing the match one hole later.
“It was a close match all the way,” Cain said. “I would say the main difference was that I made a few more putts than Jack.”
His comeback likely appeared tame when compared with the turn of events in his Wednesday afternoon semifinal round encounter. In the round of four against Donald Robertson (Earlysville), Cain was four holes down through 11 and his opponent was the stroke play equivalent of four under par in that span. But Cain relied on a late surge, making birdie at the par-5 16th to square the match before knocking in a slippery 10-footer at the par-3 18th to reach the final.
Counting the concessions that are typically a part of match play, he shot 68 in the round of four, bettering his age by six strokes for the first time. He claimed the 70-74 age division title one final time before turning 75 in September.
“I played in this age bracket five times and won four of them, so that feels pretty good,” said Cain, a VSGA member at Two Rivers Country Club. “An old guy can still swing the club sometimes.”
Bob Moyers, 76 of New Market (Harrisonburg area) claimed the 75 and over age category title on Wednesday, winning in 20 holes over William Stallings (McLean), the division’s low qualifier for match play.
About the Virginia Mid-Senior & Super Senior
36 holes of stroke play qualifying (18 holes per day); the low 8 players advance to match play. The Mid-Senior field is for players aged 60-64, and the Super Senior field is divided into three age groups (65+, 70+ and 75+). Players will only compete ...
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