Cave Spring High School rising senior Drew Lagan knew going into last Thursday’s final round of the VSGA Boys Junior Stroke Play Championship at Hidden Valley Country Club, he had a shot, albeit a long shot.
In the end, 15-year-old Logan Yates from William Monroe High School, held off all the challengers to win the 61st edition of the championship with a 3-round, 7-under 206 total, good for a three shot victory over runnersup Mark Lawrence of Richmond and Connor Messick of Oak Hill.
“This is my home course and I was 10 shots back,” Lagan pointed out outside the scorer’s table after his final-round 68. “I thought I could make, but it was going to have to be a big move. But, Logan is a young guy, so you never know how he’d handle things. He did what he needed to do.”
“I had the putter going early,” Lagan added of his front-nine 32 that was fueled by birdies at 4, 5, 7 and 9 to go along with a bogey at the par-3 third. “I just couldn’t keep it up and go silly on the back nine.”
For Yates, who has hopes of attending Viginia Tech, the Hidden Valley layout was to his liking all three rounds.
“The course was in great shape and it fit my game,” Yates noted. “Connor (Messick) made three birdies in the first four holes to get things close. It was able to get it back
and hold on. I just kept playing my game and knew I could make some birdies. I haven’t won anything like this before.”
Other local players of note included Radford-bound teammates Nick Brediger (Cave Spring) and Korey Watts (James River), both of whom carded three-round totals of 219, good for a seven-player tie for 11th place. Salem’s Andrew Butts finished the par-71 Hidden Valley tract with a three-day total of 224.
By Bill Turner
