Two young and talented high-school golfers on teams in the Sun Gazette coverage areas made a significant impact this spring in private-school state tournaments.
* Oakcrest School sophomore golfer Amelia Cho won the recent 9-hole Championship Division of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Girls State Invitational Golf Tournament.
The tourney was played at Meadowbrook Country Club in Richmond.
Cho played the front nine and shot a 2-under 34, winning by numerous strokes.
“This season, I wasn’t playing as well as I had hoped, but this event made me a lot more confident about my game,” Cho said.
Added Oakcrest golf coach Rachel Collins: “She was able to post a fantastic score on a tough golf course, sight-unseen.”
Later, at the 18-hole co-ed VISAA state individual and team championships on the same Meadowbrook course, Cho shot an 8-over 79 to finish seventh in the Division II competition. The winning score was 70.
“Amelia is very steady during a round,” Collins said. “Overall, she is very good about balancing golf and academics.”
As a team in the Division II state competition, Oakcrest placed fifth out of six squads with a 364 total. The winning score was 329. Oakcrest was the only all-girls team in the state tournament in any of the three divisions.
Also for Oakcrest at states, Olivia Vigliante shot 84 to tie for 13th, Sofia DeChant was 22nd with an 87, Grace Colangelo shot 114 to place 37th, Brooke Crickenberger was 39th and S.V. Courtney 40th.
During regular-season play, the Oakcrest team finished undefeated with an 8-0 record.
Cho is a regular player on the American Junior Golf Association year-round tour, placing high in events in her age group. She also is the reigning overall women’s club champion at Landsdowne Golf Club in Leesburg.
In 2021, Cho finished fourth at the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals Tournament, a nationwide junior-golf competition for girls and boys aged 7-15, at the Augusta National Golf Club.
* Bishop O’Connell High School freshman Logan Reilly shot a 1-under 70, one shot off the lead, to finish in fourth at the boys VISAA Division I individual state tournament at Meadowbrook Country Club. The winning score was 69, with three players tying for first.
Playing in the first group of the tournament, Reilly shot a 1-over 37 on the front nine, then a 2-under 33 on the back. He made four birdies on the final nine, including on two of his final three holes. Only one other player in the Division I field carded a 33 on the back nine.
Like Cho for Oakcrest, Reilly also is a regular player on the American Junior Golf Association tour, finishing second in a tournament in July with a 66-70-67–203 total. He tied for sixth in and 10th in other events.
In addition, Reilly won a couple of tournaments in his 13-to-15 age group last summer on the Middle Atlantic Junior Golf tour, and was second in another this past November.