Around The Commonwealth |
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CHRIS LANG ( 2 ) |
The top player in the PGA Tour University rankings ( currently Stanford ’ s Michael Thorbjornsen ) earns a PGA Tour card at the end of the college season . Players ranked 2-10 earn Korn Ferry Tour membership . Players 6-10 may earn status on either the KFT or PGA Tour Americas , and players 11-20 earn status on PGA Tour Americas . PGA Tour University is open only to college seniors .
Brennan enters the spring 10th in the rankings , just ahead of North Carolina ’ s Dylan Menante . Other VSGA members in the rankings include Georgia ’ s Connor Creasy ( 57 ), Virginia ’ s George Duangmanee ( 95 ), Radford ’ s Bryce Corbett ( 167 ), Furman ’ s Ross Funderburke ( 186 ), Northwestern ’ s Christopher Zhang ( 192 ), and Virginia Tech ’ s Charlie Hanson ( 208 ).
Brennan led Wake Forest with a 72.0 stroke average in the fall , including a victory at the Highlands Invitational .
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Price Buster After an outstanding four-year career at Division III Christopher Newport , Alex Price is concluding his career as a graduate student at LSU , where he made an immediate impact in the fall . Price shot 65-66-74 — 205 to win the Golfweek Collegiate Kickoff in September . Over 12 rounds , he posted a team-best 71.33
Alex Price
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scoring average with no round worse than 75 , showing his game translated well from the DIII to DI level .
Just Getting Started Radford University continues to be a strong landing spot for players with VSGA ties . Eight Highlanders are VSGA members , including Bryce Corbett and past State Open of Virginia champion Nick Taliaferro .
Radford kicked off the fall by winning the River Run Collegiate , paced by Corbett ’ s second-place finish and Taliaferro ’ s tie for third . The Highlanders finished no worse than tied for fifth in any event for the fall , giving RU serious momentum heading into the spring season .
Elsewhere in the Big South , VSGA members Justin LaRue and Nick Rakes had excellent fall seasons for Longwood University , with LaRue leading the Lancers with a 70.33 scoring average . Rakes posted a 72.00 stroke average . LaRue placed in the top 10 in all five events he entered in the fall , including a T4 finish at the Virtues Intercollegiate .
Kaylyn Noh
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In the Atlantic 10 , keep an eye on Virginia Commonwealth University ( VCU ), which had a strong fall season with topfive finishes in every event it entered , including a second-place showing at the Daniel Island Intercollegiate to close the fall . Defending VSGA Amateur champion Grayson Wood has made an immediate impact as a freshman for the Rams , posting a 71.08 stroke average in 12 rounds , second on the team to Mattias Varjun ’ s 71.0 . Wood posted three rounds of 68 in the fall .
Watching the Women On the women ’ s side , both Virginia ( 24 ) and Virginia Tech ( 37 ) enter the spring season inside the top 50 of the Spikemark Division I rankings .
UVA collected two top-five finishes in the fall season , including a second-place showing at the Glass City Invitational at Inverness in Toledo . Amanda Sambach won the individual title that week by four strokes over Michigan State ’ s Katie Lu , finishing at 8-under 208 . Sambach sits sixth nationally in the Spikemark rankings .
Tech ’ s top fall performance came in the Schooner Fall Classic at Oklahoma , where the Hokies finished second — well behind national power Wake Forest but ahead of schools like Purdue , Houston , Florida State and Oklahoma State . Hokie sophomore Morgan Ketchum led the way , winning the individual title at 9-under-par 201 , a stroke better than Tulsa ’ s Lilly Thomas .
Among VSGA members , James Madison ’ s Kendall Turner enters the spring at No . 152 in the Spikemark rankings . The winner of last summer ’ s inaugural Women ’ s Open of Virginia , California ’ s Kaylyn Noh , is ranked 220th .
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