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VSGA and MAPGA conduct the event cooperatively. MIDLOTHIAN –– The 2010 SunTrust State Open of Virginia will return to Independence Golf Club for a fourth straight year, the Virginia State Golf Association and the Middle Atlantic Section of the PGA of America have announced. The championship is scheduled for the week of July 12-18, 2010.
 Independence Golf Club is the Virginia State Golf Association Foundation’s statewide home for golf in Midlothian, Va., near Richmond.
Designer Tom Fazio's only daily-fee course in Virginia, Independence Golf Club was opened in the fall of 2001. Owned by the VSGA Foundation and operated by KemperSports Management, Independence features a 22,000-square-foot clubhouse, an 18-hole Tom Fazio-designed championship course and a nine-hole Sawyer Short Course, layed out by Fazio. In addition, the club includes a junior clubhouse with two existing dormitories for campers as a part of the Robins Junior Programs. The VSGA Foundation continues to champion junior golf initiatives, particularly those that benefit at-risk children.
“Independence is an outstanding course that will continue to showcase top-level golf,” says SunTrust State Open Committee chairman Frank Herrelko Jr., a PGA Life Member. “The layout will provide a quality test and continue to add to the State Open’s rich tradition. This championship has a storied history and has truly emerged as one of the premier State Opens in the country and we look forward to conducting the event at Independence again in 2010.”
The SunTrust State Open of Virginia is a 72-hole, stroke play event with the field limited to 168 golfers (80 eligible Virginia PGA members and apprentices, 80 eligible amateurs, the defending champion, Faber Jamerson, the PGA apprentice general manager at Falling River Country Club in Appomattox, and seven Open qualifiers). The field will be cut to the low 70 players and ties following the completion of 36 holes.
 At last year’s event, Jamerson rolled to a five-shot victory. With his ’09 victory at Independence, Jamerson became the second player to win the championship three times since the two Opens merged 25 years ago. Amateur Keith Decker (Martinsville), who won in 1996, 2001 and 2002, was the last player to pull off the trio of victories.
The State Open dates back to 1924 and the 2010 event at Independence will signal the 110th playing and 83rd year of the championship. Next year marks the 26th anniversary of the “merged” Opens – prior to the merge in 1985, two State Open championships were held per year from 1958-85 by the two governing organizations, the VSGA and MAPGA.
The late Chandler Harper, PGA, claimed the championship a record nine times (1932, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1952, 1960, 1967, 1968 and 1970), including posting wins in five different decades. In 1970, he won the title at age 56, becoming the oldest player to ever win the State Open.
Other notable past champions include six-time winner Bobby Cruickshank as well as five-time victors Jack Isaacs and Tom Strange, among others. In addition to Decker and Jamerson, other notable champions include lifelong amateur Vinny Giles as well as golfers who went on to the professional ranks such as Lanny Wadkins, Bobby Wadkins, Mark Carnevale and Robert Wrenn.
A VSGA member club, Independence Golf Club has welcomed a host of state championships as well as USGA qualifying rounds. In addition to hosting the SunTrust State Open of three previous occasions, Independence been the site for the VSGA Team Championship (2004 and 2006); the VSGA Youth Championship (2007-09); the VSGA Junior Match Play Championship (2003); the VSGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play Championship (2004) and the Mid-Atlantic Girls’ Challenge (2002, 2004 and 2006). Independence hosted the 2005 MAPGA Professional-Assistant Championship as well as the Women’s Eastern Golf Association Amateur Championship and the VSGA Foundation High School Invitational.
For more information, please contact the VSGA at (804) 378-2300 or the MAPGA at (540) 720-7420.
ABOUT THE VSGA FOUNDATION AND INDEPENDENCE GOLF CLUB
Independence Golf Club, owned by the VSGA Foundation and managed by KemperSports, features a 22,000-square-foot clubhouse, an 18-hole Tom Fazio-designed championship course and a nine-hole Sawyer Short Course. In addition, the club includes a separate junior clubhouse with dormitories and junior clubhouses for campers. The VSGA Foundation continues to champion junior golf initiatives, particularly those that benefit at-risk children. The Robins Junior Program camps and clinics not only teach fundamentals of the game, but also empowering life lessons. The programs are named in honor of Richmond-based philanthropist E. Claiborne Robins Jr. for his many efforts on behalf of junior golf. Thousands of youths have gone through the camps and clinics over the past eight years. A VSGA member club, Independence Golf Club has welcomed a host of VSGA and state championships as well as USGA qualifying rounds.
ABOUT THE VSGA: The VSGA has grown from four founding clubs since its inception to more than 300-plus today. In addition, the VSGA and VIP Card participants total over 80,000 individuals. The VSGA promotes and preserves the best interests of the game as embodied in its honorable traditions through its championships, handicap program, course rating system, rules education, communications, VIP Card and scholarship program of the Virginia Golf Foundation, as well as the VSGA Foundation and Independence Golf Club, which is open to all golfers.
ABOUT THE MAPGA: The Middle Atlantic PGA Section (MAPGA), headquartered in Stafford, VA., is one of 41 Sections of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The PGA of America, formed in 1916, has grown into the world’s largest working sports organization with more than 28,000 members and apprentices. Its mission is to promote enjoyment and involvement in the game of golf and to contribute to the game’s growth by providing services to PGA professionals and the industry. The MAPGA has been a part of The PGA since 1925, and consists of over 1,100 PGA members and apprentices in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The MAPGA provides a wide variety of programs and assistance to support its members, who in turn, provide valuable service not only to their golfing customers, but also to their communities in general. MAPGA professionals assist in raising more than $6 million annually for local charities. |
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