2017 VSGA Amateur Championships Preview
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TREY WREN
(Cedar Point CC):
Wren emerged from no-
where to reach the semifi-
nals in 2016 before losing to
Park. In his first season on full scholarship
at Temple University, Wren leads the Owls
in stroke average.
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THE MID-AMS: Wins have been hard to
come by for the over-25 set in recent years,
as Scott Shingler’s win at The Virginian in
2011 was the last time someone from the
Mid-Amateur crowd took home the title.
Since then, only six such players have ad-
vanced as far as the quarterfinals: Shingler
(Dominion Valley CC, twice), Keith Decker
(Chatmoss CC, twice), Buck Brittain (The
Virginian GC), Vincent Nadeau (Spring
Creek GC), Jordan Utley (Independence
GC), and Justin Young (Ballyhack GC).
Brittain and Utley are the only players in that
group to reach a title match since 2011.
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FIVE TO WATCH AT THE
VSGA WOMEN’S AMA TEUR
ABBY PORTYRATA (The First Tee of
Greater Richmond): There have been two
back-to-back Women’s Amateur cham-
pions this decade (Lauren Coughlin and
Amanda Steinhagen), but the last woman
to win three in a row was Lee Shirley from
1996–98. Portyrata has to be considered
a favorite if she enters, considering she
spent the better part of a year away from
competitive golf before torching the field
at James River Country Club in 2016 for
her second-straight title. Portyrata joined
Old Dominion University’s golf team in the
spring, so her game should be in form.
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AMANDA
HOLLANDSWORTH
(Great Oaks CC):
The Virginia Tech
standout is still seeking
her breakthrough after
two runner-up finishes
apiece in the VSGA Women’s
Amateur and VSGA Women’s Stroke
Play Championship.
vsga.org
DID YOU KNOW?
Quite a few competitors
have won both the VSGA
Women’s Amateur and the
VSGA Women’s Stroke Play
Championship, but the feat
hasn’t been accomplished in
the same year since 1991.
In addition to her two
titles, Abby Portyrata was
a stroke-play qualifying
co-medalist in the 2013
VSGA Women’s Amateur.
This will be the 104th VSGA Ama-
teur. The Women’s Amateur will be
contested for the 92nd time.
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ALEXANDRA AUSTIN
(Springfield G&CC):
Austin has her sights
set on turning pro after
this summer, so this will
likely be her last chance
to win the Women’s Ama-
teur. Austin was the 2016 VSGA Women’s
Player of the Year and won the 2016 VSGA
Women’s Stroke Play Championship, but
an early exit from match play last year left
a sour taste.
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CAROLINE CURTIS
(Hermitage CC): It’s a
little hard to believe Cur-
tis is only 15, consid-
ering her success in the
VSGA Women’s Amateur. She’s reached
the semifinals in each of the last two years
and was a quarterfinalist in 2014 at age 12.
She has what it takes to compete with her
older counterparts.
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LAUREN GREENLIEF
(International CC):
Greenlief ha s a USGA
championship to her
credit and competed in an
LPGA Tour event in 2016,
but a title in the VSGA Wom-
en’s Amateur has eluded her. A three-time
finalist, Greenlief is now one of the field’s
older players, relatively speaking. And she’s
still hungry to add this missing piece to
her mantle.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 17 | V I R G I N I A G O L F E R
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