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Lawrence
Weighs Options
After Second
Amateur Win
by CHRIS LANG
Almost certainly, Richmond’s Mark
Lawrence Jr. has hoisted the
Schwarzschild Brothers Trophy
for the final time. By this time next year,
he hopes to be playing professional golf
somewhere, though he’s not quite sure
where or how it’s going to happen. Blame
the pandemic for disrupting the normal
progression for a top-level college player—
graduation, Korn Ferry Tour qualifying
school, status somewhere, whether it be in
the U.S., Canada, China or South America.
With the cancellation of the Atlantic
Coast Conference fall sports season, Lawrence—who
defeated David Stanford 3 and
2 on Aug. 8 to win his second Virginia State
Golf Association Amateur Championship—is
pinning his hopes on college golf
returning next spring. When the pandemic
shut down college sports in March, the
NCAA awarded an additional season of
eligibility to those affected.
“There’s no Q School until 2021,” Lawrence
said. “As of right now, the Tech team
is planning on playing in the spring, so I
plan to play in the spring. Hopefully I can
play well enough in the spring that I can
earn status through the PGA Tour University.
If not that, it’s going to be Q School
next year, it’s just a matter of whether or
not they have China, Latinoamerica, Canada,
those tours, before Q School. So, it’s
sort of up in the air.”
LAST HURRAH?
Lawrence still plans on playing in some
VSGA events in the fall, most notably
Mark Lawrence Jr., right,
and David Stanford.
the Four-Ball Championship in October.
But as far as the Amateur goes, his
victory at River Bend was likely a swan
song. The win cemented him as one of
Virginia’s greatest amateurs. Consider
these facts:
• Lawrence became just the third player
to win a VSGA Amateur, a State Open of
Virginia and a VSGA Junior Stroke Play
championship. The others are Lanny
Wadkins and Steve Smith.
CHRIS LANG (2)
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V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER/O CTOBER 2020
vsga.org