The road to the high school state golf championships began in earnest this week with a pair of long-running tournaments that traditionally kick off the season on the links.
Monday, it was a rain-soaked Heritage Invitational at London Downs Golf Club in Forest where Richmond’s Mills Godwin High School edged out Lynchburg’s E.C. Glass by a single stroke.
Four ” Big-11 ” squads competed in the 23-team Heritage field, with two finishing in the top ten.
Hidden Valley, expected to make a strong run when the state titles are decided in October, took third place with a 4-player score of 304, three shots behind Mills Godwin. Salem, a state championship winner in 2012 and two-time Heritage winner, took eighth.
Rounding out the “Big-11” contingency were Lord Botetourt (340) and Cave Spring (357)
Individually, Hidden Valley’s Kristin Hearp and teammate Sam Comer each posted rounds of 73 which tied them for fourth, 4 shots behind medalist Branson Terrell’s (E.C. Glass) 3-under-par 69.
Salem was led by Garrison Conner’s 3-over-par 75, Matt Manos paced Botetourt with a 79, while Cave Spring’s Richard Fishwick led the Knights with a round of 86.
Wednesday, the “Big-11” golf scene heated up as the opening round of the two-day Bob McLelland Metro Invitational played out at Ole Monterey as 13 teams, including 9 from the “Big-11,” competed with the final round set to move to Blue Hills Thursday afternoon.
Hearp, a rising junior at Hidden Valley who has committed to play her college golf at Virginia Tech, was looking to repeat as the Metro winner after shooting an incredible opening round 9-under 62 at Ole Monterey in last year’s Metro shootout.
On Wednesday afternoon, as we went to press, Hearp had taken up where she left off last year. She stood at 3-under-par after nine holes, heading to to inward nine that offers numerous birdie opportunities.
As always full results of the tournament are available online at TheRoanokeStar.com.
Bill Turner
