Lord Botetourt senior Samir Davidov and junior Ashton Harper will play in the Virginia High School League Class 3 state golf tournament at the Glenrochie Country Club in Abingdon next week. The two Cavaliers qualified as individuals in last week’s Region 3D tournament at the Draper Valley Golf Club in Pulaski County.
Glenrochie will host both the Class 3 and Class 4 tournaments next week. The Class 3 will be Monday with the Class 4 on the same course Tuesday. The two Cavs will shoot a practice round on Sunday before Monday’s state championship tournament.
“Either one has a chance to win the tournament,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “Both could definitely put a good round together.”
Harper recently played in the PURE Insurance pro-am in Pebble Beach, Calif., tying for fifth place in the event. He played with Senior PGA pro Fred Funk, and Davidov has also played in some top events.
The LB duo took two of the three individual spots in the state out of Region 3D at Draper Valley last week. Harper shot a 73 and Davidov carded 74 on the par 72 course. Northside’s Nick Crawford took the other spot and was the region champion after shooting an even par 72 and winning a three-player playoff for medalist honors.
The other two players in the playoff, Slade Aliff of Hidden Valley and Grace Addison of Abingdon, were on teams that made the state so they were not included in the competition for individual spots. Abingdon won the tournament with a team score of 302 and Hidden Valley was second at 306, with the top two teams advancing to the state.
Magna Vista was third at 309 and Lord Botetourt finished fourth with a team score of 313. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, that was the worst score they recorded as a team all season.
“Up to that point 303 was our highest score of the season,” said Smith. “That’s what was frustrating. If we had just shot an average round we would have been fine.”
After Harper and Davidov the next two scores to count for LB were posted by Jake Koffman with an 82 and Dylan Salvi at 84. Also playing were Xavier Shelton, who shot 87, and Hunter Duncan at 94.
“The course played pretty tough,” said Smith. “The pin locations were challenging, but we still should have played better. We played well all year and were the best team at every match until the regional.”