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101st VSGA Women’ s Amateur
Roanoke in the spotlight
by CHRIS LANG
Roanoke Country Club member Ashnoor Kaur looks to contend in the VSGA Women’ s Amateur at her home club.
USGA
IN THE CLOSING STRETCH OF THE 20TH CENTURY, players from the Roanoke Valley had a major say in the VSGA Women’ s Amateur Championship. Roanoke’ s Donna Martz won the title in 1990, followed by Salem’ s Lee Shirley winning three straight from 1996-98. Salem’ s Dot Bolling entered the picture with a victory in 2000.
Bolling’ s victory was the last for a Roanoke-area player. A talented group of players from the area hopes to change those fortunes when the 101st VSGA Women’ s Amateur visits the venerable Roanoke Country Club in late July.
Roanoke last hosted the event in 2020, a month after widespread restrictions from the COVID pandemic began to ease. The format of the event also changed that year. After going with a two-round stroke-play qualifying model from 2011 – 19, qualifying was reduced
to 18 holes. A year later, non-championship flights were added to give those who didn’ t qualify for the championship flight a chance at gaining match-play experience.
Could this be the year a Roanoke Valley player breaks through and wins on home turf? There are three excellent candidates.
Kathryn Ha, two-time VSGA Junior Girls’ Golfer of the Year and rising Vanderbilt sophomore, will look to earn her first Women’ s Amateur title at her home course. Ha finished in a tie for 26th at the NCAA Stanford Regional in May as the Commodores just missed qualifying for the national championship. She finished her rookie campaign with a 72.1 scoring average.
Another local to watch is 17-year-old Ashnoor Kaur, a Roanoke member who paired with Carter Bransford to qualify for the U. S. Women’ s Amateur Four-Ball. Bransford is also in the field.
vsga. org J ULY / A UGUST 2026 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 5