Around The Commonwealth
News & Notes
Compiled by CHRIS LANG
Summer Belongs to the Young
Liam Maclauchlan celebrates with his caddie, father Tim Maclauchlan, after winning the VSGA Amateur Championship in June.
CHRIS LANG
One of the things Liam Maclauchlan likes to do when he’ s not grinding away at the golf course is to go fishing. The 16-year-old will have a whopper of a tale to tell for years to come.
Maclauchlan emerged victorious at the 112th VSGA Amateur Championship at Birdwood Golf at Boar’ s Head Resort in June, becoming just the second 16-year-old( and first in nearly a century) to win Virginia’ s premier amateur championship.
“ Winning an amateur tournament— it’ s not just junior golf, there are grown men here, college students— the fact that I won against so many amazing players, it’ s a huge accomplishment,” Maclauchlan said after topping 47-year-old Justin Young 1 up in the 36-hole championship match.
As Maclauchlan astutely noted, he went through a variety of players to claim the biggest victory of his young career. He posted two rounds of 71 in stroke-play qualifying to tie for 10th and earn the No. 13 seed for match play. He opened with a pair of wins over mid-amateurs( Andrew Crowley and Ryan Rettberg), then defeated a current collegian( William & Mary’ s Preston Burton) before ousting a fellow junior( Josh Cummins) to set up the final showdown with Young.
Young, a past winner of the VSGA Mid-Amateur, played nothing but teenagers in match play, first beating West Virginia sophomore Ryan Leach, Davidson sophomore Nate Faulkner and incoming UVA freshman Michael Lee before eliminating Edison High School junior Owen Love in the semifinals.
“ It’ s enjoyable to watch them play,” Young said after the semifinals.“ I wish I had half their game when I was their age. To see these kids play the way they do, they’ re coming out to the highest stakes in Virginia, and it doesn’ t even faze them.”
vsga. org S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2025 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 7