Brandon Cigna and Matt Sughrue (VSGA/Facebook photo)
Brandon Cigna and Matt Sughrue entered the final round of the Virginia Four-Ball with two shots to make up on a crowd of five teams with the 18-hole lead. That forces your hand to go low, which turned out not to be a problem for the two men from Arlington, Va.
“It’s kind of funny,” Cigna told the Virginia Golf Association. “We put 10 under in our heads, because that was probably what we were going to have to shoot to be in the mix. We got off to a good start. We birdied 1, and after that, every hole, we were like, ‘We’ve got nine more.’”
Cigna and Sughrue did exactly what they needed to do by posting a 10-under 62 that resulted in a two-shot lead. Both players brought experience on the national level. Cigna is three years removed from playing in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship title match. Sughrue, 59, was a finalist in the 2016 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.
Both players were exempt into the VSGA Four-Ball Championship, provided they found a partner who was also exempt.
“We’ve known each other for several years now,” Cigna said. “We looked at this as an opportunity to do something fun together. I shot him a text earlier in the year, and I was like, ‘hey, this could be a fun one to do.’
“He accepted, and here we are.”
Cigna and Sughrue finished with a two-day aggregate 16-under 128, the lowest winning score in the event since Brandon LaCroix and Matt Chandler won by shooting 127 at The Virginian in 2014.
Jeff Long and John Rosenstock fared the best among the five teams who opened with 64 for a share of the first-round lead. They followed with 66, and at 14 under, finished second. Harold Dill and Kyle Bailey were also on that number after back-to-back rounds of 65.
Information from the Virginia State Golf Association used in this reportView results for VSGA Four-Ball
ABOUT THE
VSGA Four-Ball
36-hole four-ball stroke play competition (18 holes
per
day). Open to golfers of all ages. Participants must
hold
an active GHIN number issued by a licensed VSGA
Member Club in good standing.
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