By Chris Lang
MIDLOTHIAN — Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2026, the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame will go back to where everything started to introduce its four-member 2026 Induction Class.
On Tuesday, October 27 at The Omni Homestead Resort, the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame will introduce a star-studded class that includes Ned Baber, Lauren Coughlin, Dr. Bob Rotella, and Jay Woodson. NBC/Golf Channel’s Steve Sands will emcee the ceremony. The Homestead hosted the induction ceremony for the Inaugural Class of the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame in 2016.
Coughlin, a three-time winner on the LPGA Tour and standout on the 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup team, turns 34 in September and will be the Hall of Fame’s youngest member. Rotella is a world-renowned sports psychologist who works with some of golf’s biggest names, Rory McIlroy included. Woodson is a four-time State Open of Virginia winner and two-time VSGA Amateur champion. Baber, who died in 2024, was a past VSGA Amateur winner who helped establish the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame.
Sands is best known as the lead interviewer for NBC’s golf coverage. He also works as a studio host and play-by-play announcer for Golf Channel’s tournament coverage. He was the emcee for the 2017 Virginia Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Ned Baber
Edgar Miller “Ned” Baber (1937-2024) grew up in Lynchburg but established longtime roots in Roanoke, where he lived for 50 years. A member of Roanoke Country Club, Baber was an excellent player who won the 1960 VSGA Amateur Championship before adding titles in the 1968 and 1969 VSGA Four-Ball championships, the 2010 and 2017 VSGA Super Senior Amateurs, and the 2007 VSGA Grand Masters. He won 10 club championships at RCC, along with club championships at Boonsboro Country Club and Hermitage Country Club.
Baber qualified for one U.S. Amateur and two U.S. Senior Amateurs.
Baber was equally known for his philanthropy in the Roanoke Valley. He helped found the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame and served as that organization’s executive director for more than 40 years. Baber was a staunch supporter of junior golf in the area, including the prestigious Scott Robertson Memorial at Roanoke CC. In 2026, the VSGA-VIP Scholarship Foundation began offering a yearly grant in Baber’s name, awarding a scholarship to a deserving student from Southwest Virginia with an interest in golf.
Lauren Coughlin
Coughlin becomes the second LPGA champion to be inducted into the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame, joining Donna Andrews (Class of 2017). Coughlin, who grew up in Chesapeake, won twice on the LPGA Tour in 2024, with her victories in the Canadian and Scottish Opens helping her secure a spot on the United States Solheim Cup team. Playing a home game at Gainesville’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Coughlin went 3-0-1 in her Solheim Cup debut and was instrumental in the Americans’ victory in the event. Coughlin added a third LPGA title to her trophy case in 2026, winning the Aramco Championship against a strong field that included world No. 1 Nelly Korda.
Coughlin’s golf story began in Virginia. She was the first female to play four years of varsity golf for Hickory High School. At the University of Virginia, she blossomed into a strong player, culminating in an Atlantic Coast Conference individual title in 2016. During the summers, she surged in VSGA events, twice winning the VSGA Women’s Amateur (2012-13) and adding a VSGA Women’s Stroke Play title in 2014. She peaked at No. 31 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning professional.
Along with her three LPGA victories, Coughlin won the 2018 PHC Championship on the Symetra Tour and teamed with the PGA Tour’s Andrew Novak to win the 2025 Grant Thornton Invitational, a non-official event featuring sides of PGA and LPGA players contested each December in Florida. Coughlin is a brand ambassador for Keswick Club.
Dr. Bob Rotella
Dr. Bob Rotella is a world-renowned sports psychologist who works with an extensive list of PGA Tour players, along with the University of Virginia’s golf teams. Rotella’s client list includes Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, and more.
Rotella is a best-selling author of a dozen books, including Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect, The Unstoppable Golfer, and How Champions Think. He serves as a keynote speaker and industry expert. Based in Charlottesville, Rotella has held memberships at Farmington Country Club, The Club at Glenmore, and Keswick Club.
Rotella’s playing resume includes three wins in the VSGA Super Senior Four-Ball Championship, twice playing with Charles Green III and once with Don Robertson.
Jay Woodson
No one in the era of merged State Opens (1985-present) has won more titles than Woodson, who won three times from 2012-14 before adding a fourth title in a playoff in 2016 at Roanoke’s Ballyhack Golf Club. Woodson, who grew up in Powhatan and was the 2004 Colonial Athletic Association player of the year at James Madison University, also won back-to-back VSGA Amateur titles in 2002-03.
Woodson is one of eight players to have won both a State Open and a VSGA Amateur title. Woodson found success on the national stage in 2014 when he won the individual title on the Golf Channel reality show “The Big Break.” That win helped him earn starts on the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Canada, and Web.com Tour.
Woodson, who was inducted into the JMU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022, was a three-time all-CAA honoree while playing for the Dukes, and he was twice named to the Virginia All-State team. Though mostly retired from regular competition, Woodson still competes in the State Open of Virginia and was runner-up as recently as 2024, when he posted a final-round 62 to get into a playoff against eventual winner Logan Reilly.
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The four new members bring the total Hall of Fame roster to 49 inductees. Previous Virginia Golf Hall of Fame classes, with the site of the Induction Ceremony, were: