VIRGINIA TECH Golf Guide | 2018 Edition

44 Hokies extend NCAA streak to 11 years The team showed great promise as two newcomers, sophomore transfer Mark Lawrence Jr. from Richmond and freshman Sarit Suwannarut from Thailand, both received individual bids to the NCAA Regional, marking the 11th straight year that Virginia Tech Golf has advanced to post-season play. Lawrence narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA Championship as an individual by two shots, as the low player not on one of the top five teams also advances through each regional site. He captured the Virginia State Amateur Championship weeks later, making it three years in a row that a Virginia Tech player has won the Virginia State Amateur. Maclain Huge captured the title in 2015 and Joey Lane won in 2016. Lawrence kept the momentum going throughout the summer, culminating in a semi final appearance in the US Amateur at famed Riviera Country Club, the furthest a Tech golfer has ever advanced in the event. Seniors Drew Johnson and Joey Lane were once again named All-American Scholars at the end of the season, joining Drew Weaver, Bryce Chalkley and Maclain Huge as two-time recipients of this honor. On the course, Lane played well again to end a solid career at Virginia Tech. He won his first collegiate title at the VCU/Janney Shootout with a 10-under par performance and finished his four years 16th on the all-time scoring list with a 74.09 average. Lane earned the team’s Strength and Conditioning award and was selected by his teammates as the Most Improved Player. Johnson competed in eight events, including the ACC Championship, and was ranked third in the nation in Fairway Hit Percentage at 80.5%. While juniors Dan Woodbury and Ian Hildebrand played sparingly during the season, they provided excellent leadership to the underclassmen and were voted co-captains for next year’s squad. The sophomores made quite an impact on the team. Lawrence was named the team’s Co-Player of the Year following an outstanding first season in Blacksburg. He led the team in several categories, including scoring average at 71.53, “Crunch Time” scoring with a final round average of 71.64, and posted 21 of 32 rounds at par-or-better. Lawrence had a career-best fourth place finish at the General Hackler Championship, three additional Top 10 finishes and ranked in the Top 15 nationally in Putts per Round, Putts on Greens in Regulation and Short Game Percentage. As a testament to Lawrence’s fine play throughout the year, he was named to the Division I All-East Region Team and the Virginia Collegiate All-State first team. Sophomore Logan Yates 2016-2017 REVIEW Joey Lane won the 2016 Janney VCU Shootout in Richmond, Va.