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past champions. PGA Tour winner Emilliano Grillo and LPGA Tour major champions Brooke Henderson and Ariya Jutanugarn have all won their age groups at the Optimist in the last eight years.
For Lane, simplifying his swing and working hard to improve his short game proved critical to his ability to close out tournaments. That short game was on dazzling display at the Amateur championship, no more so than on the fourth hole of the second 18 of the 36-hole championship match, when Park was making a move to cut into the 7-up lead Lane had built after the first 18 holes.
Lane rolled home a 60-foot putt for eagle from off the fringe, realistically ending Park’ s hope for a comeback.
“ That just kind of stopped me right there,” Park said, shaking his head.
That shot wasn’ t a fluke. All week long, Lane relied on his chipping and putting to get ahead of opponents and stay there. Earlier in his career, Hardwick said, Lane played well for 13 or 14 holes before one bad hole would send his round astray. But in the fall of 2015, the first semester of his junior year, Lane improved his stroke average from the previous spring by more than four strokes. In the spring, he shot the best score of his college career, a 67. Overall, he posted three top-10 finishes and two top fives as a junior.
“ He had a tough time finishing,” Hardwick said.“ But finally in the fall last year, he was able to finish two tournaments really well. He didn’ t win, but he didn’ t lose. Somebody else beat him. When he kind of got over that hurdle, that was it. I could kind of see the difference. And I told him at the end of fall,‘ You’ re kind of a different player now.’
Lane comes from a family of players active in VSGA events, including his mother Bev, and his younger brother Chris, who
will attend the University of Maryland. Bev Lane was more into tennis and didn’ t get into competitive golf until her children began to play seriously.“ And she’ s pretty good,” Joey says. Bev has something on her resume that Joey doesn’ t: A trip to a USGA championship. She qualified for the U. S. Senior Women’ s Amateur last year. Joey nearly matched her, though, in the spring, reaching sectional qualifying for the U. S. Open in Maryland. Though he didn’ t advance, the progress in his game was evident.
He had come off his junior year in which he reached NCAA regionals as an individual, and his strong play continued in the Amateur. Lane won stroke-play medalist honors, putting his name in rare company.
Joey Lane became the first stroke-play medalist since Billy Hurley III to win the VSGA Amateur title.
The last three to win both the stroke-play medal and the overall championship: Billy Hurley III, Lanny Wadkins and Vinny Giles.
“ That’ s pretty special,” Lane said.“ I think it’ s more coincidence than anything. It’ s just kind of a cherry on top.”
Lane carried a thin Tech roster last spring, but help is on the way for his senior year. Three-time VSGA Junior Match Play champion Mark Lawrence Jr.( Hermitage CC) transferred to Virginia Tech after a year at Auburn. Logan Yates( Greene Hills Club) is back on the roster after missing the spring semester. And Hardwick is expecting big things from Sarit Suwannarat, a freshman from Thailand. The infusion of talent brought memories of former Hokies Wagner and Brendon de Jonge for Hardwick.
“( Johnson) and Brendon pushed each other a lot,” Hardwick said of the two PGA Tour players.“ We didn’ t have anybody pushing Joey last year. Logan was pushing Joey early, but he wasn’ t there in the spring. But I think this year with the group we’ ve got coming in, these guys are really going to push each other. They’ re really close. They’ ll feed off each other.”
Can Lane become the next Hokie, and VSGA Amateur champion, to make it to the PGA Tour? That thought might have been a stretch three years ago. But after a dominating summer, it’ s certainly a viable question.
“ I think his expectations are stronger than he lets on,” Hardwick said.“ I think he’ s taken it to a level now to where he thought he could be. And he’ s worked hard to get there.”
Chris Lang is the editor of Virginia Golfer magazine.
CHRIS LANG
8 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2016 vsga. org