Graduate student Paul Chang was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golfer of the Month, according to an April 29 announcement from the league office. This is Chang’s first time receiving this honor, and he is the second University of Virginia golfer to win it during this season.
Chang achieved a notable milestone by becoming the first UVA golfer to earn medalist honors in back-to-back tournaments. He won individual titles at both the Calusa Cup, held from April 5-7, and shared medalist honors at the Lewis Chitengwa Tournament on April 13-14. During his final home event, Chang set a new tournament record with a score of 16-under-par over three rounds.
In addition to his regular season performance, Chang recorded his ninth top-20 finish in ten starts during stroke play at the ACC Championship and went undefeated in match play. Serving as UVA’s anchor player in the match play final against Stanford, he clinched UVA’s second consecutive ACC Championship by halving the 16th hole with a par and defeating Stanford’s Dean Greyserman by a margin of three holes up with two holes remaining. The deciding match was tied after ten holes before Chang won four straight holes starting at number eleven, including an eagle on the par-five thirteenth hole.
Virginia secured two out of six men’s golfer of the month awards given out this season; Ben James previously received September honors. With their victory over Stanford (3-1) in Monday’s ACC match play final, Virginia earned an automatic spot in the upcoming NCAA Championship field. The full tournament lineup will be announced May 6 on Golf Channel.
