Let’ s take a quick look at each event:

CHRIS LANG

112th VSGA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP Site: Birdwood Golf at Boar’ s Head Resort Dates: June 23-27 Format: 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying, with the top 32 competitors advancing to match play. The rounds of 32 and 16 are played on Wednesday, the quarterfinals and semifinals on Thursday, and the 36-hole championship match on Friday. Defending champion: Logan Reilly Notable: Plenty has changed since this property last hosted the VSGA Amateur in 1990, when Hank Klein bested Mike Grant 1 up for the title. Most notably, the property itself is unrecognizable from that time, as Davis Love III’ s design team completely redesigned the original Birdwood layout. Home of the University of Virginia’ s golf teams, Birdwood was designed to test the nation’ s top college golfers and plays up to 7,116 yards from the“ Cavalier” back tees. Birdwood provided an entertaining match-play test in 2021 when Buck Brittain topped Steve Serrao 1 up to win the VSGA Senior Amateur Championship. No. 16, in particular, is a fun match-play hole.

Depending on a player’ s standing in the match, a key decision can arise: attack the green or lay up on the short-ish par-4. The VSGA Amateur winner has skewed younger and younger in recent years, with Logan Reilly winning as a 17-yearold in 2024 and Grayson Wood winning shortly after his 18th birthday the year prior. There’ s been only one Mid-Amateur

champion in the last 14 years, with Trey Smith winning in 2018 shortly after turning 25. Qualifying for the championship will take place May 19-June 17, so the field is still taking shape. Exempt players who registered early include the last two runners-up, Nikita Gubenko and Jake Albert, along with 2023 VSGA Golfer of the Year Sam Beach, past champion