Logan Reilly (left) (Kate Brown/VSGA Photo)

He and four-time State Open champion Jay Woodson had each hit their approaches on the par-4 hole to about 30 feet. Woodson was about a foot closer, meaning the scenario Reilly envisioned had come to fruition.

Reilly was first to putt, and he delicately trickled his birdie putt toward the hole, where it made a subtle right turn at the last second and dropped in the cup. He celebrated wildly afterward, turning toward the gallery assembled, yelling, pumping his fists and flexing. Once the fervor settled, Woodson took his chance, hitting on roughly the same line. His attempt rolled toward the hole, dead center, before it stopped, two rolls short of going in.

Reilly, a 17-year-old from Lovettsville, became just the second player in the merged State Open era to win both the Virginia State Golf Association Amateur Championship and State Open of Virginia in the same year, joining Mark Lawrence Jr., who did it in 2020. Reilly posted rounds of 65-69-67 for a three-day aggregate total of 12-under 201.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet," said Reilly, a rising senior at Bishop O'Connell High School who is committed to play at Auburn University. "If you would have told me that earlier in the year, I would have definitely taken it. It's literally everything I could have asked for."

Woodson, who last won the State Open in 2016 at Ballyhack, forced himself into the conversation with an incredible round on Sunday. Starting in the fourth-to-last group, Woodson tied the Independence competitive course record with a 9-under 62 that included eight birdies, an eagle and a bogey. He got up and down for par on 18 to get to the clubhouse at 12-under (68-71-62) and waited.

A similar scenario unfolded during his last victory in 2016 at Ballyhack, when he went out early and posted a 65 then waited patiently as Lawrence and Lanto Griffin struggled down the stretch, allowing him to join a playoff, which he won on the second hole.

"Did I think I had it in me? Sure, I thought I had it in me," Woodson said. "Did I think it was going to happen? Definitely not. You just keep thinking and believing and you just kind of talk yourself into it, that it's a possibility. Then you have to do this. I've done this a couple of times before, where I get hot on Sunday and just try to put some pressure on the lead. Today, we got it going and rode the wave as long as we could."

Both Reilly and Woodson bogeyed the par-3 14th for their only blemishes of the day. Woodson recovered with a key birdie on 15. Reilly made his on 16 and nearly had another on 17 to get to 13-under. But he said he misread a 6-footer and it slid left, leaving him to incredulously say, "no way!"

Reilly's worst swing of the tournament came on 18 on Saturday, a wayward drive that ended deep in a penalty area, leaving him to scramble and eventually make double bogey. He said he'd wiped that swing from his memory by the time he stepped to 18 tee on Sunday, and he striped his drive right down the middle.

His approach wandered left of the hole, leaving him a long lag to ensure at worst par to force a playoff. He nearly sank the long birdie putt but tapped in for par. A key thing happened on that hole, though. One of his playing partners, Brandon Berry, had about a 30-foot putt from above the hole that he barely missed, which Reilly studied, not knowing he would have almost the exact same putt on the playoff hole.

When Reilly stepped up to his putt in the playoff, he remembered Berry's read and took a similar line to the hole.

Reilly also became the first junior golfer to win the State Open in the merged era (1985-present). Next up, Reilly has two more chances to showcase his game on the national stage, as he'll compete in next week's Junior PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club in Maryland, and then head to Hazeltine in Minnesota in August to compete in the U.S. Amateur.