Around The Commonwealth
W hen it came to women’ s golf in Virginia this summer, one family stood above the rest. In June, 17-year-old Kennedy MacCleery— a senior at Western Albemarle High School committed to Virginia Tech— became the first Virginian to win the Women’ s Open of Virginia. A month later, her 19-year-old sister Elsie— a sophomore at Virginia— added to her VSGA trophy haul, topping Kathryn Ha to win the VSGA Women’ s Amateur at Roanoke Country Club, Ha’ s home club. The MacCleerys were but one storyline in a jam-packed summer around the VSGA. Scan the QR code below to view event media hubs from all VSGA championships. Bookmark the link to keep it handy as we head toward the closing stretch this fall.
MARK LAWRENCE
STATE OPEN OF VIRGINIA Lawrence’ s dominance in State Opens cannot be overstated. Before winning by four strokes over Drew Brockwell at Independence GC in July, the twotime VSGA Amateur winner had won once( 2020), lost in a playoff twice, and finished as low professional two other times. He made himself hard to beat at Independence, carding just one bogey over 54 holes, making the back nine on Sunday a formality as he cruised to the finish.
KENNEDY MACCLEERY
WOMEN’ S OPEN OF VIRGINIA MacCleery showed plenty of guts in a playoff with Lauren Greenlief, a past USGA champion and three-time VSGA Women’ s Amateur champion. MacCleery sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to secure the victory and become the youngest winner in the event’ s four-year history.
RYLAN SHIM
VSGA AMATEUR Shim grew up in Centreville and played for the first time with fellow Amateur finalist Scott Shingler during a practice round for the 2020 Amateur at River Bend. Shim had plenty of respect for the 54-year-old Shingler’ s game— not surprising since Shingler is a past Amateur champion. Shim got up early and used strong iron play to secure a 5-and-4 win in the 36-hole final, with longtime friend and current North Carolina State teammate Xander Goboy on the bag caddying.
ELSIE MACCLEERY
VSGA WOMEN’ S AMATEUR A past VSGA Junior Girls’ winner, MacCleery followed a strong first season at UVA with an exceptional performance at Roanoke CC, knocking off Cavaliers’ teammate Kiera Bartholomew, Longwood junior Madison Lehr, and Vanderbilt’ s Kathryn Ha on her way to the title. She joins a strong list of players to have won both titles, including Becca DiNunzio, Amanda Steinhagen, Mandy Beamer, Lee Shirley, Donna Andrews, Kandi Comer, and Pamela Clark.
OTHER WINNERS
35th VSGA Junior Match Play Championship: Colton Rodgers
41st VSGA Super Senior Stroke Play Championship: Mikeal Johnston( 65 +), Jim Woodson( 70 +), Mike Brown( 75 +)
74th VSGA Junior Stroke Play Championship: Ethan Evans
69th Virginias-Carolinas Women’ s Team Matches: Carolinas
57th VSGA Junior Girls’ Championship: Macie Rasmussen
40th VSGA Senior Stroke Play Championship: Darrell Craft
28th Virginia-Maryland Junior Girls’ Matches: Virginia
vsga. org S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2026 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 9