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The high school golf season is officially underway as the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club played host to 18 teams last week for the Botetourt Metro Tournament in Daleville. James River finished 10th and Lord Botetourt was 15th as Floyd County upset favored Blacksburg with a team score of 296 to win the tournament.
The Buffaloes had four scores of 76 or lower at Botetourt G&SC, led by Peyton Mason with a 71. Blacksburg, the defending champion, shot 307 for third place behind Floyd and Auburn, who came in at 304 each.
Salem’s Ashnoor Kaur was medalist with a five-under-par 66, three strokes better than Landon Bolling of James River and Preston Laughton of E.C. Glass, who both shot 69. Andrew McAfee of Cave Spring was one-under at 70 and four golfers among the 91 who played shot even-par 71.
Lord Botetourt was led by Garrett Honts, who carded a 76. Also scoring for LB were Cole Cecil with 87, Kennedy Carpenter at 89 and Derek Bond with a 95.
“It was good to get the first match out of the way,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “Of the five golfers that played it was the first high school tournament for four of them. We definitely have some things to work on, but there were also some good moments as well. They will definitely learn some things from it and I expect them all to play better as the season progresses.”
The Cavaliers were scheduled host a Blue Ridge District match at the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club on Tuesday but results were too late for publication. On Thursday LB is at the Waterfront course to take on Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy, Salem and Patrick Henry in a non-district match at 2 p.m.
River has had a busy start to the season with four matches in eight days. At the Metro, Bolling, the current club champion at the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club, led the Knights with a 69, his first high school sub-par round. Mason Gilliland shot an impressive 76, Braden Persinger followed close behind with an 83 and sophomore Elizabeth Johnson rounded out the top four with a 101.
Last Thursday in Martinsville, Bolling and Gilliland both shot 72 as the Forest Park course hosted a Three Rivers match. Persinger had a 93 and Johnson shot 96 as River had a team score of 333. Floyd County won the round with a 295, Radford shot 321 and the Knights were third. Floyd’s Peyton Mason was medalist with a 68.
On Monday, Floyd hosted a district match at Great Oaks and the Buffaloes continued to dominate the Three Rivers, posting a team score of 304. That was 25 strokes better than second place Radford while Carroll County was third at 338 and River was one stroke back in fourth with a 339.
Gilliland shot an impressive two-over-par 74 to lead the Knights and Bolling was right on his heels with a 75. The same four scored as Persinger shot 90 and Johnson came in at an even 100. Mason was medalist again with an even-par 72.
The Knights will take on Glenvar on Thursday in a match at the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club, teeing off at 1 p.m.
