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Member Clubs
The Donna’s Debut
The Donna Andrews Invitational brings big-time women’s amateur golf to Boonsboro
L
auren Greenlief continued
her dominance of the Vir-
ginia State Golf Association
women’s player rankings last
year with her second straight
player of the year honor and fourth overall.
There is one kicker to that: The Inter-
national Country Club member only
gained points in three events in Virginia.
She traveled outside the state to garner
valuable points in the other two tourna-
ments—three USGA Women’s Champi-
onships and the Women’s International
Four-Ball.
That has been the dilemma women’s
golfers in Virginia have faced for years.
There are very few tournaments in the
Commonwealth for them to accumulate
10
player-ranking points, showcase their
talents and help grow the game.
That is why Greenlief was one of the
first to sign up for The Donna Andrews
Invitational, which is making its debut
June 23-25 at Boonsboro Country Club
outside of Lynchburg, and she has actively
promoted the event since committing to
play in the fall of last year.
“I think it’s really exciting for golf in Vir-
ginia in particular. We have a lot of really
strong college players in the state, but not
many opportunities to actually showcase
their abilities in the state of Virginia,”
Greenlief said. “You have to fly all around
the country to really play a full schedule.
To be able to drive to a tournament to get
more people onto a great golf course in
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 9
the state of Virginia, I think is exciting for
Virginia golf in general to continue to grow
the game in our state.”
Boonsboro was selected as the site for
The Donna through the work of Steve
Washburn and Andrews, the tournament’s
namesake and first female selected to the
Virginia Golf Hall of Fame.
Washburn plays in the senior division
of the yearly Fox Puss Invitational and
spent a year pitching the idea to bring
a marquee women’s tournament to the
fabled course.
The formation of The Donna was
approved in early 2018 to allow Washburn
and members of The Donna committee
to shadow workers during last year’s Fox
Puss Invitational.
vsga.org
by DAMIEN SORDELETT