VSGA ARCHIVES ; COURTESY OF BOONSBORO |
I would say from age 8 on I probably spent 10 to 12 hours a day at Boonsboro in the summertime playing , practicing , caddying . From a pure golf perspective , developmental wise , Boonsboro probably had more to do with my growing into the game than any single location .”
-Vinny Giles
an interest , you got people showing an interest in you .”
Giles won the U . S . Amateur in 1972 , the British Amateur in 1975 and the U . S . Senior Amateur in 2009 , 37 years after winning his first USGA title .
Fox Puss Invitational
The Fox Puss Invitational is the signature annual men ’ s tournament at Boonsboro . The name honors the two founders , Bunny Blankinship ( Fox ) and Charles Hancock ( Puss ). It began in 1971 , and the list of champions includes Hall of Famers Giles , Keith Decker and David Partridge .
VSGA media and communications manager Chris Lang was a sports writer at the Lynchburg News & Advance for 10 years prior to joining the VSGA staff in September 2015 . An annual assignment was to cover the Fox Puss .
“ After Steve Liebler , who grew up in Virginia but lives in South Carolina , won the Fox Puss for the second time in 2014 , he told me , ‘ I come up here because I love the people and the golf course . The club does such an unbelievable job . And
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the city of Lynchburg supports the golf tournament . It ’ s like a second home to me .’ I heard the same thing from Mark Boedicker and Dave Prokop in 2022 when they won their age division at the VSGA Super Senior Four-Ball at Boonsboro . The words ‘ second home ’ come up a lot in conversations about Boonsboro ,” Lang says .
The Donna
The women now have their own signature stroke-play event at Boonsboro . The Donna Andrews Invitational , fondly known as “ The Donna ,” began in 2019 . The tournament has three divisions : Open , Donna and Senior . The overall winner comes from the Open division . Golfers can be as young as 13 to compete in the Donna division . Seniors are 50 and over .
Andrews was the first woman to be inducted into the VGHOF in 2017 .
“ I was fortunate enough to be there when Donna Andrews was coming up through high school , and I was able to share some time with her , which was awesome ,” says Phil Owenby , who became Boonsboro ’ s head professional in 1981 .
“ She is very , very competitive … She was such an athlete … at that point in time she was very powerful , a very aggressive player . She hit shots hitting through the golf ball and down into her iron shots so much differently than most girls who were sweepers . It was a different way of teaching her . You could really test her and challenge her with things . And she would take those challenges and be so competitive with it .”
Andrews currently is the lead instructor in the golf schools at Pine Needles Resort and Lodge in Southern Pines , N . C .
Among her accomplishments are 10 VSGA titles , including five consecutive VSGA Women ’ s Amateur crowns ; threetime All-American at UNC ; six LPGA victories and the 1994 Dinah Shore major .
Owenby , a professional ’ s professional , entered the VGHOF last year . He joined two of his students : Andrews and Kandi Kessler Comer ( when he was at Farmington CC ).
The first 8-10 months at Boonsboro Owenby worked out of the cart storage area . The golf shop was in a detached building by the first tee . The building was leveled and a golf shop and club storage space was built on the same spot .
“ I vividly remember that . What I remember most is the members there were terrific . They were so accommodating . Two of three children were born in Lynchburg . The community there was great , relationships were awesome ,” Owenby said .
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110th VSGA Amateur Championship
Boonsboro Country Club , Lynchburg // June 26-30
Schedule : 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying ( Monday and Tuesday ); top 32 players advance to match play ; rounds of 32 and 16 on Wednesday ; quarterfinals and semifinals on Thursday ; 36-hole championship match on Friday .
Par : 70 or 71 Yardage : 6,787
Defending Champion : Ross Funderburke ( Roanoke )
2022 final : Funderburke def . Grayson Wood , 7 and 6 , at Cedar Point Club
Previous Amateurs held at Boonsboro : 1999 ( Steve Marino def . Keith Decker , 5 and 4 ); 1947 ( Jack Hamilton def . Wynsol Spencer , 4 and 3 )
Note : Boonsboro becomes just the seventh club to host at least three VSGA Amateurs , joining The Homestead ’ s Cascades Course ( 44 ), The Country Club of Virginia ( 7 ), Princess Anne Country Club ( 4 ), Cedar Point Club ( 4 ), Farmington Country Club ( 3 ) and Roanoke Country Club ( 3 ).
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