The Hidden Valley golf team has picked up right where they left off.
The defending Group 3A state champions won their second major high school golf tournament of the week, following up Monday’s win at the Heritage Invitational, with a 18-shot cakewalk in Thursday’s final round of the 36-hole Bob McLelland Metro Invitational played at Blue Hills.
The Titans, who led runner-up Blacksburg by 15 shots heading into Thursday’s play, held serve with an impressive 4-player, two-round composite score of 595. William Byrd finished third in the12-team field, with Salem fourth and Patrick Henry fifth.
Among other ‘Big-11’ teams, Lord Botetourt finished seventh, Northside ninth, Cave Spring 11th and Glenvar 12th.
“It’s been a great week for Hidden Valley,” Titan coach Brian Harris said. “I felt like we struggled at first today, but it turned out great. It was a total team effort. Ross (freshman Ross Funderburke) was playing great.”
“I’d just like to thank Hunting Hills and Blue Hills for donating two days of golf for youth,” Harris added.
Funderburke was the surprise of the day, shooting par-71 to join a 3-way playoff for the individual title with Blacksburg’s Hunter Duncan and Salem’s Elliott Gardner. Duncan, the Heritage winner on Monday, and Gardner, both fired final round 69s after surviving Hunting Hills on Wednesday where both shot 76.
Funderburke birdied the 18th hole to get into the playoff and was swamped by his Titan teammates as he left the green.
“My birdie at 18 was huge, but the support from my teammates was unbelievable,” the smiling freshman noted. “This is by far the best I’ve ever played in a tournament.”
In the playoff, Gardner hit his tee shot on the par-4 first hole in the fairway, while Funderburke and Duncan found the left rough. Gardner chunked his second shot well short of the green and Funderburke followed by hitting to the back fringe. That opened the door for Duncan.
“The door was open and I said to myself ‘just stick it,’ ” Duncan said of his second shot that landed 5-feet below the hole. But, there were still some tense moments to follow.
Funderburke lofted a near-perfect 50-foot chip that stopped a couple inches left of the hole. Gardner played next and likewise missed by inches. Duncan them slammed his putt firmly into the center of the jar for the win.
“Both of their shots scared the crap out of me,” Duncan admitted. “I thought they were in. If either had gone in, I’d have probably missed my putt.”
“Two majors in a week,” the winner noted with a smile. “It’s great. Up to now I’ve had a lot of seconds (place finishes).”
The playoff was helped by an unfortunate mishap by first-round leader Brad Williams.
Williams, playing in the last group and holding a one-shot lead on the par-5 14th, took a disastrous eight after his third shot sailed far right, struck a golf cart and bounded behind a tree. He lobbed his fourth shot over the green, then chipped back before three-putting.for the infamous snowman.
Williams showed tremendous composure and handled the situation with grace after finishing three shots out of the playoff.
“Just a mis-shot with a wedge,” the Hidden Valley junior explained. “I hit it thin with a full swing and it took off right. It hurts, but we won the team and that’s what counts most. We have a great team and we expected nothing less that a win today.”
Finishing fourth was Patrick Henry’s Vince Wheeler, who fashioned a steady one-under 70 on Thursday. Two-time defending Metro champion Kristin Hearp fought off a balky putter for the second straight day before making birdie on all three inward nine par-5s to finish with a 74, good for 6th. Byrd’s Derrick Chocklett took 7th after a final-round 72, with PH’s Bryce Tackett ending 10th on his way to rounding out top-10 finishers among “Big-11′ players.
Bill Turner
