Photo by Suzanne Witcher
The Lord Botetourt golfers won the Blue Ridge District regular season last week and were getting ready to host the BRD tournament as the paper went to press Tuesday. The district tournament was scheduled to be played at the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club.
The six-round season “mini tour” wrapped up at Mariners’ Landing on September 16 and the Cavaliers came out on top as a team and had the individual champion in Alisa Davidova. Botetourt trailed Franklin County in team play for most of the season but came on strong down the stretch to win the championship by nine strokes, 1,404 to 1,413. William Byrd finished third at 1,430 followed by Northside at 1,487 and Staunton River at 1,795. William Fleming did not field a team but hosted a round at Ole Monterey.
“Really proud of the kids for how they have worked all year,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “Being down 15 after the first three rounds, it seemed that nobody really gave us a chance. But the kids kept working and gaining confidence with each match.”
Botetourt won the final round with a nine-hole total of 156, which was one stroke better than Byrd. Franklin County was just five strokes back going in but posted a 160 for third on the day and second on the season.
LB’s Garrett Honts was the medalist at Mariners’ Landing with a 34, four strokes better than three golfers who tied for second at 38. Davidova was one of the three, and also scoring for Botetourt were Cole Cecil with a 40 and Derek Bond at 44.
Davidova finished in first place in the individual competition while Honts was season runner-up. Cecil was sixth, Bond was 18th, Kennedy Carpenter finished 27th and Jackson Taylor was 30th among 42 golfers who competed in the season tour. Davidova and Honts were the only two Cavaliers who competed on last year’s team.
“With only two golfers with match experience coming into this year, we knew it was going to be a struggle,” said Smith. “But they wanted to win the regular season title and they put in the work.”
This week’s Blue Ridge District championship is for a trophy but has no bearing on post-season advancement. That begins on October 6 when all the Region 3D teams will be playing at the Draper Valley Golf Course. Only the top two teams and three individuals not on those teams advance to the state Class 3 tournament at the Heritage Oaks course in Harrisonburg on October 13.
