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VIRGINIA GOLFER
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DELTA DENTAL STATE OPEN OF VIRGINIA LOW AMATEURS MICHAEL BRENNAN AND JI SOO PARK, PAGE 8
compiled by CHRIS LANG
» Virginia Golf & the people who make it great
CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDUP | 11 MEMBER CLUBS | 12 THE RULES | 14 IN MEMORIAM
104th VSGA Amateur Championship
The Club at Creighton Farms, Aldie | June 27 – July 1
AS THE SUN BEAT DOWN on a steamy Saturday at Creighton Farms, Mark Lawrence Jr.’ s victory in the 104th VSGA Amateur had yet to sink in. Just before the awards ceremony began, Lawrence picked up the Schwarszchild Brothers Trophy and looked for one name in particular— his father’ s.
Mark Lawrence Sr., who was the first to give his son a bear hug near the 16th green after his son clinched his 3-and-2 victory over Jordan Utley( Independence GC), won his championship 37 years prior at Willow Oaks Country Club in Richmond. In the heart of Loudoun County horse country, the younger Lawrence used a workhorse-like performance to add his name to the trophy.
A stunning 10 on the par-5 3rd hole in the second round of stroke-play qualifying didn’ t sink Lawrence, instead emboldening him. Still, he needed to survive a 5-for-1 playoff just to reach the round of 32 thanks to that tough hole. Once there, Lawrence ousted stroke-play medalist Michael Brennan, Lee Fisher, three-time finalist
Ji Soo Park and surprise semifinalist Steve Serrao in succession to get to the final.
Utley had defeated Lawrence in 2014 at Spring Creek in the quarterfinals, one of a series of near misses for Lawrence, a finalist in 2015 and a semifinalist in 2016. One of Lawrence’ s biggest keys was his ability to play deliberate, thoughtful golf, a lesson learned from his assistant coach at Virginia Tech, Brian Sharp.
“ He said it seemed like I was going a little quick,” Lawrence said.“ Quick hitting my range balls, stuff like that. He got me to realize that I needed to slow down everything. Not just slow down your swing. I had to slow down my routine and slow down everything. Not try to play too fast. Not try to get ahead of yourself.”
He never did. He handled some opponents with ease. He grinded through matches against others. And at the end, he joined his father as a VSGA Amateur champion.
“ I’ m so pumped to have my name on the trophy with my dad,” Mark Jr. said.“ I’ ve wanted to do that for a long time.”
QUICK FACTS:
Field and format: 132 players who were either exempt or advanced through qualifiers played 36 holes of stroke play, with the field cut to 32 players for five rounds of match play, culminating with a 36-hole championship match.
Stroke-play medalist: Michael Brennan( 138)
It was over when: After an hourlong rain delay in the title match, Lawrence made a birdie on No. 11 in the afternoon round to push his lead back to 3 up.
Quotable:“ I’ ve been here over and over again, whether it’ s been at this tournament, the Mid-Am, the Valentine [ Invitational ], whatever. At some point, you’ ve just got to push through the door. Mark could have said the exact same thing today. But he got to the door before me today.”— Utley
Mark Lawrence Jr.
CHRIS LANG
VSGA Summer Rewind
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