Around The Commonwealth
Trey Smith captured
the 105th VSGA
Amateur Championship
at the Federal Club
in June.
VSGA
Summer
Rewind
Compiled by CHRIS LANG
MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS
105th VSGA Amateur
Championship
Soon after Trey Smith, a Virginia Beach
native who now lives and works in Rich-
mond, won the 105th VSGA Amateur
Championship, the conversation drift-
ed to when he might tee it up next in a
VSGA championship. The Delta Dental
State Open of Virginia? Negative. Though
he eventually registered to play in the
VSGA Mid-Amateur in September, he was
unsure if he'd play at the time. Vacation
time is hard to come by, and he wasn't
sure he wanted to use it all on competitive
golf, he said.
Therein lies the biggest difference
between the mid-amateur and college
golfer—time spent on the course playing,
practicing and competing. It’s also why
it’s been so difficult for someone from
the 25-and-over set to crack the code
at the Amateur. Before Smith’s victory
at The Federal Club in June, the last
mid-amateur to win was Scott Shingler
in 2011. Prior to that, it was Pat Tallent
in 2007.
Physically, Smith isn’t a whole lot dif-
ferent than the college and junior crowd
that had become accustomed to win-
ning the championship. He hits the ball
a mile, and his iron game was dialed in
all week, leading to plenty of short birdie
putts. Smith’s run to the championship
included a win against a strong junior
(Patrick Gareiss), two wins against fellow
mid-ams (Shingler and Daryl Chappell)
and a pair of wins against current Radford
“I didn’t think I’d be here, with all the health
issues I’ve gone through the last year or so.”
—Trey Smith
vsga.org
University players (Peter Gasperini and
Andrew Kennedy).
Twenty-one months prior to Smith’s
breakthrough victory, the former James
Madison University standout underwent
surgery to remove a cyst that was bump-
ing up against nerves in his wrist. Eight
months later, he still wasn’t able to swing
a club, and he wondered if he’d ever again
play high-level competitive golf.
“It took a while to get it back, to be honest
with you,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s
wrist surgery or not, this game is so hard.
You take any time off, it takes a while to get
it back. Especially when you have the expec-
tations to play the way you had before. … I
didn’t think I’d be here, with all