Stunner in Greensboro: Clemson tops Virginia to take ACC Women's golf crown

With top-ranked Wake Forest, No. 10 Florida State and No. 22 Virginia residing in the same conference, the Clemson Tigers were flying way beneath the radar at the start of the ACC Championships at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

After all, the Tigers had never advanced to the match-play portion of the event since the conference adopted the new format five years ago.

Landing the third seed extended the Tigers' stay in Greensboro and gave reason for optimism.

After defeating Duke, 3-1-1 in semifinal action on Saturday, the Tigers found themselves in the championship match against Virginia, who had toppled No. 1 Wake Forest to earn a date in the final.

Proving anything can happen in match play, it was Clemson that walked away with its first-ever ACC Championship on Sunday, defeating Virginia, 3-1-1.

.@ChloeHolder3 is all of us

ACC CHAMPS 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jtAK8cYhiP

— Clemson Women's Golf (@ClemsonWGolf) April 16, 2023

Melena Barrientos, Chloe Holder and Isabella Rawl were victorious for the Tigers, with Rawl proving the championship point with a 1-up victory over Megan Propeck when the Virginia sophomore missed a putt that would have extended the match.

ACC individual champion Amanda Sambach gave Virginia its only point of the day with a 2 and 1 victory over Annabelle Pancake while the match between Savannah Grewal of Clemson and Jennifer Cleary ended in a tie after Rawl closed out her match against Propeck.

It was a stunning victory for Clemson, as the Tigers best finish of the year was a second-place showing in their first tournament of the season at the Cougar Classic in Charleston. Their only other top-five finish was in their own Clemson Invitational, where they finished third in a 16 team field.