No. 11 Virginia Hosts Lewis Chitengwa Memorial Tournament at Birdwood

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 11th-ranked Virginia men’s golf team will host the fourth annual Lewis Chitengwa Memorial on April 13-14 at Birdwood Golf Course. Admission to the tournament is free and open to the public. The home tournament will the final competition for the Cavaliers before ACC Championships.

Live Coverage: https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/233137/scoring/team

Format – 54-hole stroke play with the low four scores counted each round for the team total. All teams will play 36 holes with a shotgun start a 8:30 a.m. on Monday. The tournament concludes on Tuesday with the final 18 holes with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m.

UVA in the Rankings
Golf Coaches Association of America (April 11) – No. 11
Scoreboard National Collegiate Golf Rankings (April 11) – No. 13

Cavalier Lineup
Ben James
Bryan Lee
Paul Chang
Deven Patel
Josh Duangmanee
Maxi Puregger (Ind)
Benny Haggin (Ind)
Sam O’Hara (Ind)
Matthew Monastero (Ind)

The Field (Scoreboard Powered by Clippd top-25 rankings)
No. 11 Florida State
No. 13 Virginia
Arkansas
FGCU
Clemson
Liberty
Loyola
Maryland
Northwestern
North Florida
Texas State
Toledo

The Course
Birdwood Golf Club – Par 71, 7116 yards

The tournament’s namesake, Lewis Chitengwa, was a two-time All-American at Virginia (1995, 1996) and earned All-ACC honors in 1995 when he was named the league’s rookie of the year. He finished seventh at the 1996 NCAA Championships, at the time the best finish by a UVA performer in 50 years. During his four-year career he won two tournaments and recorded 17 top-10 finishes.

Chitengwa turned professional in 1998 and played on the Tear Drop, Buy.com and Canadian Tours in addition to competing at the PGA’s St. Jude Memphis Classic. At the age of 26, he passed away as a result of meningitis. At the time, he was competing in the Canadian Tour’s Edmonton Open. In 2015, he was recognized posthumously for his immense contribution to golf by being inducted into Mercedes-Benz Southern African Golf Hall of Fame.

Past Tournament Team Champions
2022: Virginia (-18, 837)
2023: Florida State (-41, 811)
2024: Tennessee (-27, 825)

Past Individual Medalists
2022: Spencer Cross, Tennessee (-12, 201)
2023: Ben James, Virginia & Cole Anderson, Florida State (-11, 202)
2024: Luke Clanton, Florida State (-15, 198)