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Opening Drive
A Hall of Fame Milestone
THE VIRGINIA GOLF HALL OF FAME will introduce its 10th class at Salisbury Country Club in October, a fun milestone for the virtual hall that is the brainchild of past VSGA president Gib Palmer, who remains involved in every intricate detail of the selection process and ceremony planning.
The ceremony will again feature a prominent golf media voice as emcee. Terry Gannon, Steve Sands, Gary Koch, Tim Rosaforte, Dottie Pepper, Brad Faxon and Todd Lewis have all led the ceremony, and in October, Johnson Wagner will join the list.
Wagner’ s Virginia ties run deep. Though he grew up in New York, he was a twotime all-Big East player at Virginia Tech, and while in Blacksburg, he met his wife Katie, who played for the Hokies’ women’ s soccer team. Wagner won three times on the PGA Tour, the last time in Hawaii in 2012. He hung around for another 10 years before hanging it up after the 2022 Bermuda Championship.
When he stopped playing and joined the broadcast world, Wagner’ s star began to rise. With his signature bushy mustache and droll delivery, he quickly made a name for himself on Golf Channel’ s Live From shows. He started incorporating shot recreations into broadcasts, which only increased his popularity. A segment with Bryson DeChambeau after the 2024 U. S. Open at Pinehurst cemented Wagner’ s stardom, as Wagner managed— under the lights— to recreate DeChambeau’ s clutch bunker shot on the 18th hole of the final round.
Jim McConnell caught up with Wagner for this issue’ s cover story to talk about his background and his quick rise as a broadcaster. At the end, Arthur Utley fills you in on the this year’ s four Hall of Fame inductees.
Also in this issue:
• Plenty of VSGA members have made a name for themselves in professional sports— think Bruce Smith, David Wright and Justin Verlander, among others. Add to that mix Spencer Carbery, who led the Washington Capitals to the top of the Eastern Conference in 2024-25 and earned the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’ s coach of the year. Carbery is also an avid golfer and a VSGA member, and we chatted about golf’ s impact on his life. Catch his comments in a Q & A in this issue.
• VSGA communications intern Kaiden Bridges caught up with three VSGA members who will compete on home turf at the U. S. Senior Women’ s Amateur at The Homestead in September. Read more about them in her preview of the event.
Thanks for reading, and as always, my inbox is open for story suggestions.
Chris Lang, Editor clang @ vsga. org by CHRIS LANG
Last Hurrah for DECC Cont’ d... With his bushy mustache and droll delivery, Johnson Wagner made a quick name for himself on Golf Channel ' s Live From shows. He ' ll bring that same energy to the 2025 Virginia Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
tion with Dominion Energy as title sponsor, we are still working on what the future might look like for a professional golf event in the Richmond region,” DECC executive director Steve Schoenfeld said.
Virginia has hosted professional golf since 1980, starting with the PGA Tour at Kingsmill Resort and the Senior PGA Tour at Hermitage Country Club. The PGA Tour abandoned Kingsmill in 2002, but the LPGA stepped in to fill the void for 18 years before that tour left Kingsmill in 2021, citing a lack of title sponsors.
The DECC has been wildly popular with players, having earned the PGA Tour Champions Players Award four times, most recently in 2023. It has been the opening event of the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs in each of its years of existence. The event has also produced a variety of champions, with only one player— Bernhard Langer— winning more than one title.
Expect another strong field for the closing salvo at CCV, which will take place from October 17-19. As of early August, Miguel Angel Jimenez( who won the DECC in 2019 with a record-setting score of 198) held a commanding lead atop the Schwab Cup standings. Others expected to qualify include past winners Steven Alker, Langer, Tim O’ Neal( the defending champion), Harrison Frazar and Scott McCarron.
One player trying to make a late surge up the Schwab Cup standings is two-time VSGA Amateur champion John Rollins, a Richmond native who turned 50 in June and made his PGA Tour Champions debut in July. Rollins ranked 106th on the Schwab Cup money list after two events. He had eight more regular-season opportunities to crack the top 72 in the Schwab Cup standings and earn a spot in his hometown tournament.
6 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2025 vsga. org