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toWatch
A look at the top contenders in this year’s VSGA
Amateur Championships // by CHRIS LANG
THE VSGA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP has been contested
on a yearly basis—save for a four-year break during World War II—since 1911. In
1922, the VSGA held its first Women’s Amateur. In nearly 100 years of overlap, the
two events have never been held in Northern Virginia in the same year—until now.
The Club at Creighton Farms, a stellar Jack Nicklaus design in the Loudoun Coun-
ty village of Aldie, is the host of the 104th VSGA Amateur, from June 27–July 1. The
Commonwealth’s top women will take center stage July 10–13 at Laurel Hill Golf
Club in Lorton, located in Fairfax County about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C.
Creighton Farms will host a VSGA championship for the second time, having
previously hosted the VSGA Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship in 2011. In addi-
tion to the U.S. Public Links Championship in 2013, Laurel Hill hosted the VSGA
Junior Stroke Play Championship in 2012 and was a three-time host of the now-re-
tired VSGA Public Links Championship.
Here is a quick look at some of the storylines for this year’s Amateur championships:
DID YOU KNOW?
A Northern Virginian has at
least reached the final of the
VSGA Amateur the last four
times the event has been
held in the greater D.C. area.
FIVE TO WATCH AT
THE VSGA AMATEUR
1
MARK LAWRENCE JR.
(Hermitage CC): Will a Virginia Tech player
win the VSGA Amateur for the third-straight
year? Maclain Huge won in 2015 and Joey
Lane took the title in 2016. Through April 4,
Lawrence—who played high school golf at
Mills Godwin in Richmond and spent a year
at Auburn before transferring to Tech—led
the Hokies in stroke average. And he has
the pedigree in VSGA championships to
back up favorite status, including three
VSGA Junior Match Play titles, a VSGA
Junior Stroke Play win, a runner-up finish
at the 2016 Delta Dental State Open of
Virginia, and a semifinal and championship
appearance in the VSGA Amateur.
2
JOEY LANE
(Reston National GC):
When you talk about Hokies in
the field, you can’t forget about
the defending champion, who
in 2016 became the first player
since Billy Hurley III to win both
the championship and stroke-play qualifying
medalist honors in the same year. Lane, who is
from Great Falls, will be playing close to home,
and the Amateur will be one of his last hurrahs
before turning professional. Through April 4, he
ranked third on Tech’s roster in stroke average.
3
JI SOO PARK (1757 GC):
Mark Lawrence Jr. has reached the
semifinals of the last two VSGA
Amateurs and was a finalist in 2015.
18
It’s not 100 percent certain
that Park, a former University
of Virginia standout, will enter,
but if he does, it’s hard to bet
against a player who has made
three VSGA Amateur champion-
ship match appearances, including one
in 2016. The only other player in Amateur
history with three title-match losses was the
legendary Wynsol Spencer.
vsga.org