CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 8 Virginia women’s golf team competes at the ACC Championships starting Thursday at The Reserve Golf Club in Pawley’s Island, S.C. Virginia enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the 12-team field based on the most recent Golfstat rankings. The event runs through Sunday.
The format includes three rounds of stroke play on Thursday (two rounds) and Friday (one round) before match play begins on Saturday. The top four teams following stroke play will advance to match play semifinals on Saturday with the finals contested on Sunday. Thursday play gets underway at 8 a.m. and the third round is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Both days of match play start at 9 a.m.
Live scoring for ACC Championships will be available online at Golfstat.com.
2022 ACC Women’s Golf Championship Coverage
The semifinals and finals of the ACC Women’s Golf Championship match play will be televised live on ACC Network Extra. Jim Kelly (play-by-play) and Jane Crafter (analyst) will provide the call. A championship recap show will air April 25 at 7 p.m. on ACCN.
UVA Lineup
The Cavaliers’ lineup features graduate student Beth Lillie (Fullerton, Calif.), senior Riley Smyth (Cary, N.C.), sophomores Celeste Valinho (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Jennifer Cleary (Wilmington, Del.) and freshman Amanda Sambach (Pinehurst, N.C.). Freshman Megan Propeck (Leawood, Kans.) will be the team’s alternate player.
Cleary leads UVA with a 72.48 stroke average while Sambach is second at 72.96. In the team’s most recent tournament outing, Sambach placed 19th at the PING/ASU Invitational.
Ranked Field
Four ACC teams are ranked in the most recent Golfstat Top 25 rankings (April 12). No. 4 Wake Forest leads the way and is followed by No. 8 Virginia, No. 17 Florida State and No. 25 Duke.
Tournament History
The 2022 ACC Championships marks Virginia’s 18th appearance at the event. In addition to winning titles in 2015 and 2016, the Cavaliers were the runners up in 2014, 2010, 2008 and 2006. Brittany Altomare became the first UVA player to win the event in 2013. Lauren Coughlin took medalist honors in 2016. Briana Mao tied for first in 2015 but lost a playoff for the individual trophy.
Duke leads all schools with 22 ACC titles and has produced 20 individual medalists. Wake Forest is second with six titles, followed by North Carolina and Virginia with two each.
Last Time
The 2021 ACC title was won by Duke. The Blue Devils defeated Florida State 5-0 in the match play final. UVA advanced to match play after finishing fourth in stroke play. The Cavaliers fell to Duke 3-2 in the match play semifinals. The Cavaliers’ top finishers in stroke play were Cleary in 11th place (+1, 217) and Valinho in 15th position (+2, 218). Smyth (22nd, +6, 222) and Lillie (24th, +7, 223) also competed in the event.
The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash
The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash, originally called the Commonwealth Challenge (2005-2007), has been a part of the UVA-Virginia Tech rivalry since 2014. It is an all-sports points-based program with the Commonwealth Clash trophy presented to the winning school each year for its dominance in head-to-head competitions. The ACC Championship finish will determine the point at stake for women’s golf between the two programs. The Hokies currently lead 9.5-4.5