The Lord Botetourt golfers picked a bad day to have a bad day last week as Franklin County passed the Cavaliers in the Blue Ridge District season standings.
Lord Botetourt had a six-stroke lead over the Eagles heading into last week’s match, and the Cavaliers figured to increase that lead playing on their home course, the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club. However, individual district leader Ashton Harper, who was medalist and under par in the first two rounds, did not play at the BG&SC. Ashton was out of town at a tournament trying to qualify for some bigger tournaments, like the US Amateur. Without Harper, LB shot a 339 to Franklin’s 306 and dropped 27 strokes behind the Eagles after three rounds of the BRD tour.
“We definitely didn’t have one of our normal rounds, but hopefully we can see a few things that we need to work on in practice,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “We are still in second place in the district race, so we are not out of it. Our goal is still to be playing our best at the end of the year.”
Without Harper, LB’s best score was a 10 over par 81 by Xavier Shelton. Also scoring were Hunter Duncan with 85, Cadyn Bowles with an 86 and Tyler Meade at 87. Nick Crawford of Northside shot a 73 to earn medalist honors.
This week Northside was scheduled to host the BRD with a Tuesday match at the Hanging Rock golf course. Next Tuesday, September 6, William Byrd will host the district at Blue Hills.