Hokie ClubBANDON, Ore. – Virginia Tech women’s golf coach Carol Robertson will compete in the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship on May 9-12 at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Oregon.
Robertson and her playing partner, Corrie Myers of Palm Coast, Florida, will tee off at 11 a.m. PDT on Saturday. They will be paired with the team of California teenagers Alyaa Abdulghany and Ellen Takada. There will be two rounds of stroke play, as this group will tee off at 7:36 a.m. on Sunday morning. Robertson and Myers qualified for the championship by winning the sectional qualifier at the Spring Creek Golf Club in Gordonsville, Virginia.
Robertson is no stranger to top-level events. The 2006 Virginia State Amateur champion, she reached the finals of the 2010 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at the Wichita Country Club in Wichita, Kansas. Robertson recently gained national attention for making two holes-in-one in a three-hole stretch of one round at Celebration Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.
“Being able to play in the first Four-Ball is pretty exciting,” Robertson told the VSGA when the tandem won the sectional qualifier. “I knew it was something I wanted to try for because it may be the only chance I get to go. If they keep the same dates, it’s always going to conflict with our tournament schedule (at Virginia Tech). This could be the only one I play in.”
Each team or side is comprised of two players – although one player can constitute a side – and unlike foursomes (alternate shot), they each play their own ball and the lower score among the side is counted for each hole. So if Player A scores a 5 and Player B scores a 4, the side’s score is a 4. Teammates and their caddies can offer advice to each other, something not seen in a singles match. Four-Ball is a format that is used in the Curtis Cup Match and also has been utilized at the Solheim Cups.
Each side will play 36 holes of stroke play to reduce the field of 64 women down to the lowest 32 for match play. Like other USGA championships, the match-play draw will be seeded according to stroke-play scores. Match play is scheduled to be contested over the final three days to determine a national champion.
Bandon Dunes is hosting a USGA championship for a fifth time. The 16-year-old resort previously hosted the 2006 Curtis Cup Match, the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur and the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links championships. The resort’s Pacific Dunes Course will play 6,003 yards and at par-72.