One thing was certain entering Sunday’s final round of the 38th annual Scott Robertson Memorial at Roanoke Country Club.
Barring a monumental collapse in the final 18 holes, a Roanoke golfer was going to win a divisional championship for the first time in the last 26 years.
Entering Sunday’s play in the Girls 14/Under division, Ashnoor Kaur had a one-shot lead over fellow-Roanoker Alisa Davidova and the two didn’t disappoint when the chips were down. In a day that was highlighted by comebacks in all four Robertson age classifications, Davidova played the final round at 4-over 75 to slip by Kaur by two shots with a 3-round total of 221 to Kaur’s 223. It was the first Roanoke winner at the Robertson since Lee Shirley pulled off the Boys 13-14 win in 1996.
Kaur held the slim one-shot lead heading to the final round after posting a near perfect one-over 72 in Saturday’s second round that included seventeen straight pars before a bogey at the par-3 18th. Davidova countered Sunday in hot conditions with a round that included 6 bogeys and two birdies, while Kaur finished with eight bogeys to go with a single birdie.
In the Girls 15-18 division, Canadian Katie Cranston came from 2-shots back to fire a 2-under 69 Sunday to win by a single shot over Ellen Yu of Greensboro, NC. Cranston flipped the lead after she birdied the par-4 17th while Yu recorded a bogey. Cranston was the first Canadian to win the Robertson since current LPGA standout Brooke M. Henderson captured the Girls 15-18 title in 2014.
In the Boys 14/Under, Brandon Sipe of Yorktown, VA came from one-shot back entering Sunday’s play to fire a 3-under 68 to win by 2 shots over John-John Santospago and John Markow. Sipe’s total was 73-71-68 (212).
The final day’s most dramatic moment came from the Boys 15-18 division where Byungho Lee, who led by a single shot heading into Sunday’s final 18,
found himself trailing by one shot to Matthew Foster heading to the 18th tee after bogeying the par-5 17th on the Boys layout. Lee overtook Foster with a birdie on the finishing hole while Foster carded a bogey. Lee’s 69-66-71 (206) edged Foster (69-68-70) and Kihei Akina (69-67-71) by one shot. Roanoke’s Ashton Harper finished at even-par 213 to tie for fourteenth place.
This year’s Scott Robertson Memorial included 165 young golfers from 28 states and 10 foreign countries. (Argentina, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, plus the territory of Puerto Rico.