VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Many of the golfers and spectators at Red Wing Lake Golf Course would be hard-pressed to believe the temperature was in the high 90s before the holiday weekend. Monday morning, the conditions were perfect to tee off another week of Virginia State Golf Association events for the Junior ranks.
49 players registered to compete in the Stroke Play event put on by the VSGA, featuring #1 ranked Talon Dingledine from Richmond, Va. in the Junior Boys Division and Alexis Goboy of Chesapeake in the Junior Girls Division.
“It was really nice weather today,” says Goboy before her round. “Personally, I am hoping the wind dies down a bit, but I am always looking forward to playing the courses around (Hampton Roads).”
“It is a pretty tricky golf course,” says Dingledine of Red Wing. “The skillset is much different here for the variety of courses you play here compared to Richmond.”
Dingledine would finish second on the day (-2), one shot behind the round-winner Cohon Sellers (-3), who hails from Chesapeake. You can find the full leaderboard here.
It was a fun round for Dingledine, a rising Monacan High School Freshman, who got to enjoy playing with an old friend that he has gone putt for putt since he was eight years old, Ben Kablach.
Kablach, who finished tied for eighth place (+1), is part of a surging golf program at First Colonial High School that last year only had 33 players try out for the team, compared to 50 this year.
“During the pandemic, a lot of people got into golf,” says Kablach. “I think golf is going to go through a big uprising over the next 5-10 years, especially professionally. So many new people are getting into the sport, and embracing golf.”
Even Alexis Goboy is noticing a similar trend for her team at Catholic High School in Chesapeake.
“Last year, (Catholic HS) didn’t have a lot of kids and we almost didn’t play. This year we had a lot of kids, even having two teams,” says Goboy, who finished second (+2) behind fellow Chesapeake Native Macie Rasmussen (+1) in the Junior Girls Division on the day.
Considering the headlines across the world lately of the PGA Tour battling to stave off LIV Golf’s rise to the spotlight with marquee players swapping over for big paydays, these sentiments provide hope that competitive golf will still hold firm and nurture long-lasting relationships for the next generation of talent working through the ranks.
“It’s really great playing with your friends,” says Goboy. “If you hit a difficult shot, they’re usually the ones there to pick you back up.”
The next VSGA Junior Stroke Play event will take place Wednesday, June 22, at Kiln Creek Golf Club in Newport News.
All of Monday’s participants will look forward to keeping their scores low in that event and many more in the future.
