Courtney Ellenbogen won the Junior
Girls’ title in 2006 at Roanoke Country
Club, breaking up a potential four-year
run of titles for Jessica Hollandsworth,
champion in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
teur. She won the Junior Girls’ for the
first time in 1978 then won the Junior
Girls’ and Women’s Amateur in 1980. She
captured the Stroke Play in 1981.
“I would say one of the highlights of
my career was having all three VSGA
trophies in my house at the same time,”
said Kessler-Comer, a nationally rec-
ognized instructor who operates Kandi
Comer Golf at Old Trail Golf Course
in Crozet. Junior golfers are a primary
focus for her.
The others to win all three “majors” were
Donna Andrews, the first woman inductee
into the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame; Lee
Shirley Playford; and Amanda Steinhagen.
Andrews was Virginia’s dominant ama-
teur in the 1980s. She won two Junior
Girls’ (1983 and 1984), five consecutive
Women’s Am’s (1985-89) and three Stroke
Plays (1984-85, 1987).
Playford chalked up seven titles in the
1990s. She won the Junior Girls’ three
years in a row (1990-92) and finished run-
ner-up in 1993. She was the victor in the
1994 Stroke Play before winning three
consecutive Women’s Amateurs (1996-98).
Playford doesn’t play competitive golf
these days.
“Right now, I’m trying to teach my
8-year-old son to play. I play occasionally
with my husband and dad,” she said.
4
Winning the Junior Girls’ was a catalyst
for the victories in the Stroke Play and
Women’s Amateurs.
“It was just a natural progression,” she
said. “It was something that I worked
very hard for. Golf was a large part of my
growing up and college career…The game
of golf has opened many doors for me.”
Whereas the VSGA Junior Girls’ was once
the only tournament on the schedule, it now
is one of many players consider for their
schedules. Some good players will bypass
the VSGA Junior Girls’ for other events.
“I believe it is very important for this
tournament to be on everyone’s schedule.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS TO
HOIST A WINNER’S TROPHY
IN A VSGA JUNIOR GIRLS’,
WOMEN’S STROKE PLAY AND
WOMEN’S AMATEUR
Winning this tournament showed me
that I was capable of much more than
I ever believed, and it showed me that I
could be successful like the ones before
me,” says Amanda Hollandsworth, a
graduate student member of the Virgin-
ia Tech women’s golf team and winner
of the VSGA Junior Girls’ title in 2013
and 2014.
“I think that so many people take this
tournament for granted, but I will always
know that having my name on the trophy
with some of the best players in the state
is one thing that no one will ever be able
to take away from me.”
12 NUMBER OF GIRLS TO
WIN VSGA JUNIOR GIRLS’
MULTIPLE TIMES
27 NUMBER OF VSGA
JUNIOR GIRLS’ TITLES
WON BY THOSE
MULTIPLE WINNERS
Kandi Comer, Donna Andrews, Lee Shirley
Playford, Amanda Steinhagen.
6
NUMBER OF PLAYERS TO
WIN A VSGA JUNIOR GIRLS’
AND A WOMEN’S AMATEUR
Comer, Andrews, Playford, Steinhagen, Liz Waynick
and Pamela Alexander.
vsga.org
Tip-Aucha (2), A. Hollandsworth (2), Zimmerman
(3), Jenny Suh (2), Kansas Gooden (2), Anne
Cardea (2), Playford (3), Slaughter-Rardin (3),
Andrews (2), Comer (2), Waynick (2), Clark (2).
VICTORIA TIP-AUCHA
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