A native of Crozet, VA, Elsie MacCleery had a great first season with the University of Virginia Women’s Golf team. As a freshman, she shot a career-low round of 67 on the first 18 holes of the Chapel Hill Regional tournament.
Before wearing the orange and blue, MacCleery earned many accolades as a junior golfer, winning the PKBGT National Tournament and the 53rd VSGA Junior Girls Championship. MacCleery tied for 25th at the PGA Junior Girls Championships in 2023 and tied for 8th at the Women’s Open of Virginia in 2024
During her high school season at Western Albemarle High School, she led the team to an undefeated 40-0 record in the 2023-2024 season, earning the 2024 Central Virginia Player of the Year, 2023 Individual State Champion and 2022 Virginia State Golfer of the Year.
MacCleery has been a great addition for the Cavaliers: she finished 21st in her collegiate debut, placed 45th at the ACC Championships and placed 14th at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regionals with that career-low round of 67.
“I would say it’s definitely been a long year, it’s definitely been a growing year. I would say I’m a much different player and person since I came into this team. We have a very young team, a lot of new players and I’m really proud of this team, how they’ve been able to grow throughout the whole year. And just making it here in general and doing well at regionals, and we won a tournament also, so those were things at the beginning of the year that were kinda like bucket lists for us and it’s really cool to look back and see that we’ve done that,” MacCleery said.
The Cavaliers traveled to Carlsbad, CA, to compete in the 2026 NCAA Women’s Division 1 Golf Championships at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
MacCleery was able to contribute to her team on the national stage as a freshman, which is a huge accomplishment both individually and for the program. After the first round of the National Championship, she was 1-over par, in a tie for 60th individually. While the second day was tough for all the afternoon players and Virginia ultimately missed the cut as a team after 54 holes, MacCleery finished on a high note during her third round, repeating her 1-over performance but closing out her round with a birdie on the 17th.
“I had all pars, it wasn’t very exciting golf, I just hit a lot of greens,” she said. “I was a little annoyed that some of my birdie putts weren’t going in, but you can’t complain about pars, especially out here. So I was kind of just in the groove. And then the back nine, I made a couple more pars, and then unfortunately doubled a hole that I’m not too happy about. But I was able to kind of move past that. I think two holes later, I finally made a putt and went in for birdie, so I was happy about that, then finished with a par. So all in all, I’m not complaining about today. I wish it could’ve been a little better, but I’m very happy.”
In addition to golf, the Cavaliers were able to tighten their bond by exploring San Diego.
“We went to Disneyland on our first day here, so that was fun, thank you coaches, for that. So it was good team bonding and then we’ve just kind of been around the resort. This place is amazing and we went to the pool. I think we’re going to play some pickleball later in the week, so that’ll be fun,” MacCleery said.
As the season has wrapped up, MacCleery is looking forward to seeing what next season has in store for this team and herself.
“I am most looking forward to how this team will grow in the next couple seasons. I think this team has a lot of potential to keep getting better. My goal for myself is to keep improving my individual ranking and be a steady part of the team. Next year, hopefully we can make it to Nationals again and make the first cut or even match play.”
