The Country Club of Virginia with Club Championship trophy
(Virginia State Golf Association Photo)

In that regard, Brent Higgins did well. Higgins won CCV’s club championship last summer, and he picked two winning sides for Monday’s championship. Higgins teamed with Craig Callens, the professional at CCV’s Westhampton Course, to post a 6-under 66, and CCV members Andrew Crowley and Peyton Lawson posted a 5-under 67. The combined 11-under 133 gave CCV its first Club Championship title in 76 years.

CCV won the first two VSGA Club Championships in 1939 and 1940, but the Richmond club hasn’t won since. It finished one shot clear of Independence Golf Club and The Foundry’s ‘B’ team.

The VSGA Club Championship is a statewide competition of clubs, with each team featuring two, two-man sides competing in four-ball play. The club with the best two-side aggregate score wins.

CCV played in the morning shotgun and left the course three shots clear of the closest competitor, Salisbury Country Club’s A team. Callens played a big role in his side’s 66, carding five birdies and one bogey. Higgins made the other two birdies, at No. 1 and No. 16.

“We made a great par save on 15 that really kept us going,” Callens said. “We had bogeyed 14, so we were starting at another bogey at 15, and that would have hurt. But we made a nice up-and-down there to save the par and keep the round going.”

Crowley and Lawson survived three bogeys on the scorecard thanks to an eight-birdie binge, including four birdies in a five-hole stretch from Nos. 13-17.

“We bogeyed two par 3s on the front, so every time we got momentum, we took a step back,” Crowley said. “But then we finally broke through and started playing a little better. … I think birdieing all the par 5s was helpful.”

Callens and Higgins tied for the low round of the day with several other sides. Independence Golf Club’s Nick Austin and Jordan Utley shot 66, as did The Foundry’s Jay Woodson (who will try to Monday qualify for next week’s Web.com Tour event) and Lee Dezzutti. Salisbury Country Club’s Scott Bemberis and Scott Reisenweaver, and Cedar Point Country Club’s Blake Brookman and Bryan Giles also posted 66s.

Kinloch Golf Club’s A team of Matthew Tashenberg, Tommy Lesperance, Leon Roday and Kevin Miller tied for fourth at 8-under 136 with Salisbury’s team of Bemberis, Reisenweaver, Bill Shrader and Jim Hudson.

Chad Hess of The Piedmont Club aced the par-3 17th hole, part of a 4-under performance for Hess and playing partner Ken Wood.

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