BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Mark Lawrence Jr. hadn’t been born yet when his father and namesake won the 1980 Virginia State Golf Association men’s amateur championship. But that victory, the trophy in the family’s Richmond-area home and Mark Lawrence Sr.’s other golf accomplishments always served as motivation for his son.
When Mark Lawrence Jr., a rising junior at Virginia Tech, beat out fellow Richmonder Jordan Utley on Saturday at the Club at Creighton Farms in Aldie, he joined his father as a state amateur champion.
“It’s the biggest win of my golf career so far and will be one that I cherish forever,” the younger Lawrence said this week. “That’s one I’ve wanted to win since I was a little kid. I think it meant a lot to him, just like it did to me.”
As well it should. According to the VSGA, the Lawrences are the first father-son duo to claim state amateur titles in the event’s 104-year history. It’s a distinction to which Lawrence Jr. had come painfully close in the past three years: losing once in the championship, once in the semifinals, and once in the quarterfinals.
But this time around, Lawrence Jr. rolled in a 25-birdie putt in a playoff with five other golfers on qualifying day, then kept rolling all the way through match play to the title.
Both of his parents were there Saturday to watch him win.
“I gave him a big hug and told him how proud we are,” said Lawrence Sr. “It’s a long week and for him to keep his concentration the way that you have to win that, he stayed very focused the whole time.”
That steady mental approach has been the biggest development in Lawrence Jr.’s game, he said. And it’s something he credits in large part to his decision to transfer to Virginia Tech and his work with Hokies assistant coach Brian Sharp.
Lawrence Jr., who won three consecutive junior state match play championships, spent his freshman year at Auburn University and while he liked his coaches and teammates on the golf team, he said the school wasn’t the right institution for him.
He transferred to Virginia Tech for his sophomore year.
“It was going to make his attitude and his mind better,” his father said. “And it sure has. He’s just a much happier young man right now.”
Lawrence Jr., a Mills Godwin alumnus, led the Hokies with a 71.34 scoring average this year, finished 27th at the ACC championship and qualified for an NCAA regional.
Before the state amateur, he made a quick trip back to Blacksburg to have Sharp break down his swing.
After reviewing the video, Sharp told him not to change a thing, then predicted Lawrence Jr. would become the third straight Tech player to win the event, after Maclain Huge and Joey Lane.
“I remember telling him last year, ’I’m going to bet on you ’til you win this thing,’” said Sharp.
“I even told him the Friday before he left, ’You’re probably going to win.’”
Sharp knows just how much the state amateur title means to Lawrence Jr. He could tell last year, when the event came to Tech’s home course, how badly Lawrence Jr. wanted to add his name to the trophy his father’s name has been on for the past 37 years.
“I know that is one tournament in particular that he really wanted to win,” said Sharp. “Even last year, when we had it down at the River Course, you could just see how much that tournament meant to him. If there was one event he could win, or would always be kind of disappointed if he didn’t win it, the State Am would be the one.”
Now, he’s got that under his belt. His father said his 1980 trophy sits on a bookshelf downstairs in the family’s home. Lawrence Jr.’s trophy is on display on a coffee table in the living room.
“We’ll put them side by side until he moves out and takes his with him,” Lawrence Sr. said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.