UVA Heads to Sedgefield Country Club for ACC Championships
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 22 Virginia women’s golf team competes at the ACC Championships starting Thursday at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. Virginia enters the tournament as the No. 3 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.
2023 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. Ryan Burr (play-by-play) and Suzy Whaley (analyst) will provide the call. A championship recap show will air May 1 at 7 p.m. on ACCN.
UVA Lineup
The Cavaliers’ lineup features Amanda Sambach, Jennifer Cleary, Celeste Valinho, Megan Propeck and Rebecca Skoler. Sambach leads the team with a 72.20 stroke average while Cleary is second at 72.95.
Sambach was third at last year’s league championship, shooting -1, 215. This will be Cleary’s third ACC Championship appearance. She was 11th as a freshman (+1, 217) and 24th last year (+2, 215). Valinho is also playing at the ACCs for the third time in her career. She was 15th in 2021 (+2, 18) and 13th last year (+3, 219). Skoler and Propeck are making their ACC Championships debuts.
Ranked Field
A total of seven ACC teams are ranked in the most recent Golfstat Top 50 rankings (April 11). No. 2 Wake Forest leads the way and is followed by No. 11 Florida State, No. 22 Virginia, No. 24 Clemson, No. 31 Duke, No. 47 NC State and No. 49 North Carolina.
Tournament History
The 2023 ACC Championships marks Virginia’s 19th 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.
Last Time
Last year UVA advanced to the match play portion of the ACC Championships before falling to Wake Forest by a 3-1-1 score in the semifinals. Virginia placed fourth in stroke play, shooting 16-over 880. UVA’s top finisher in stroke play was freshman Amanda Sambach. She tied for third at 1-under 215, including a score of 1-over 73 during the third round. Her finish was her best at UVA and her third top-10 performance of the season. The Cavaliers also advanced to match play in 2021, falling to Duke.
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 Clash is currently tied 8-8.