CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 12 Virginia men’s golf team will host the third annual Lewis Chitengwa Memorial on April 8-9 at Birdwood Golf Course (par 71, 7,116 yards) in Charlottesville to wrap-up its regular season. The event honors the former Cavalier standout who lettered at UVA from 1995 to 1998. The tournament is free to the public.
The 54-hole tournament features an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Monday with 36 holes scheduled for the 14-team field. A single round will take place Tuesday starting at 8:30 a.m. from the first and 10th tees.
The field for the event includes (NCAA ranking): Arkansas (11), Clemson, Florida State (6), Liberty, Loyola (Md), Maryland, North Florida (31), Northwestern (40), Tennessee (7), Texas State, Toledo, and Virginia Tech. Virginia will also field a B team for the tournament.
Playing for the Cavalier A team will be Bryan Lee, Ben James, Josh Duangmanee, Deven Patel and Paul Chang. James (32), Lee (38) and Patel (96) are all currently ranked in the top-100 of the NCAA rankings. James tops UVA with a 70.14 scoring average while Lee is at 70.50 and Patel at 70.96.
The Virginia B team includes George Duangmanee, Chris Fosdick, Grayson Wotnosky, Liam Powderly and Henry Daly. Benny Haggin will compete as an individual for UVA.
Virginia will be paired with Tennessee and Florida State during the opening round. Those teams will tee off from the first, second, third and fourth holes with the shotgun start. The UVA B team will play with Maryland and individual competitors and start on holes 15 through 18.
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.
UVA won the inaugural playing of the tournament and Florida State captured the team title last year….
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