Mark Lawrence Jr. wins State Amateur championship

Rising junior adds to impressive VSGA resume

July 1, 2017

Virginia Tech golfer Mark Lawrence Jr. won the 104^thVirginia State Golf Association Amateur Championship on Saturday afternoon. The tournament was played at the 7,061-yard, par 72 Club at Creighton Farms in Aldie, Virginia.

Lawrence, a rising junior from Richmond, defeated Jordan Utley of Richmond, 3 and 2 to claim his first State Amateur championship. Lawrence led by as many as two holes in the morning 18 holes of the 36-hole championship and ended the morning session up one on Utley.

In the afternoon round, Lawrence led the entire second round, going up by as many as four holes midway through the session. Up three holes, the golfers halved the 30^th – 34^th holes, giving Lawrence the 3 and 2 victory. In the 34 holes played on Saturday, Lawrence won 11 holes, Utley won eight holes and the competitors halved the remaining 15 holes.

Lawrence has had tremendous success in VSGA events. He won the VSGA State Junior Amateur three consecutive years, 2013, 2014 and 2015, joining former Hokie golfer Mikey Moyers as the only golfers to win the Virginia State Junior Match Play title in three consecutive years. He was the VSGA Junior Boys Golfer of the Year for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Lawrence lost in the finals of the State Amateur in 2015, falling to Tech’s Maclain Huge. He was a semifinalist last year, falling to eventual champion and Hokie teammate Joey Lane. Lawrence was low amateur at the 2016 Virginia State Open, falling on the second hole of a three-way playoff for the overall championship.

Lawrence also joins his father, Mark Lawrence Sr., as State Amateur champion. The elder Lawrence won the title in 1980 at Willow Oaks Country Club in Richmond.

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