JF golfers finish eighth at Group AA state meet

CROZET — Jefferson Forest’s golf team had a rough day out on the Old Trail Golf Club course in Tuesday’s final round of the Group AA state tournament.

The Cavaliers experienced trouble keeping their drives on the fairways and digging themselves out of the rough, starting and ending the second day in last place out of eight teams with aggregate scores of 322-328-350.

“We didn’t play as well as we wanted to play,” JF coach Ray Davidson said. “We didn’t play as well as we did (in winning Region III with a 308). That was a pretty tough golf course, especially with the rough they had.”

Davidson said the relatively new Old Trail course is very nice, but more difficult than it looks.

“The course is open (but) it has narrow fairways and if you’re off the fairway very much, there are two cuts of rough and the longer rough is very tall,” he said.

The greens posed another challenge.

“They were fairly good sized greens and there were few flat putts,” Davidson said. “And I’m not sure we’ve played anywhere that the greens were that fast. To score well, you had to keep it on the fairway and you had to putt very well.”

One player who did just that was William Monroe senior Mikey Moyers, a Virginia Tech recruit making his fourth Group AA state showing. After winning last year’s tournament, shortened to 27 holes, by two strokes, he shattered the 40-year-old tournament record by seven strokes with a 15-under 65-62-127.

“That kid is lights out,” Davidson said.

His score bettered the state mark of 134 set by Blacksburg’s Mark Long in 1968 and was 18 lower than Western Albemarle’s Patrick Leisure, who won a second-place playoff with Blacksburg’s George Perkovich after both totaled 145.

Moyers finished with one eagle, landed Tuesday on the Par-5 No. 14 hole, and 13 birdies over 36 holes on the Par-71 course.

“I had no bogeys for the whole tournament,” Moyers said. “Sixty-two is a little unexpected. Sixty-five, I knew I was capable of doing that. If you putt good, you can score low on this course.

“I played consistent and accurate, not missing a lot of greens,” he added. “I played smart and definitely putted well.”

His best shot may have been on No. 8, his 17th hole of the day after starting on the back nine.

“I hit a shot from 240 yards on a Par 5 to within about 15 feet, which was huge at the time because (the birdie) got me to nine-under,” Moyers said.

His 62 matched the best competitive round of his career, after shooting the same score on the third and final round of the VSGA Junior State Amateur in late July at Par-72 Blacksburg Country Club. That was the lowest round in recent state Junior Am history and left him at 10-under, two shots behind Duke-bound Brinson Paolini of Virginia Beach, whose 12-under 204 was the lowest 54-hole score since the VSGA went to all-stroke play in 1964. Paolini also was the youngest VSGA State Amateur champion in 70 years last summer.

Blacksburg captured its third consecutive Group AA state crown with a 290-295-585 total, 13 strokes in front of runner-up Western Albemarle (296-302-598), which hosted the event.

“That is shooting,” Davidson said. “When we went up there, we had realistic expectations. We’re not a Blacksburg or a Western Albemarle. Blacksburg, from Day One, has been probably the class in this part of Virginia and Western Albemarle is unbelievable playing there, on its home course.”

Forest was paced by Brian Ross who matched his first-day score with a 78 for a 156 total. After carding a 39 on the front nine Tuesday, fellow JF senior Sam Dailey was hampered by back pain on the back stretch and came in with a 47 for a 83-86-169 total. George McDaniel shaved one shot off Monday’s total with his 80-79-159 and Matt Aadland was the Cavs’ fourth scorer at 81-85-166.

“It was a fantastic experience,” Davidson said. “The neat thing about it is, with the exception of my two seniors, I’m going to have everyone back.”

Amherst’s two state qualifiers, Tyler Hunt and Colton King, had mixed results with Hunt firing rounds of 80 and 84 for 164 and King carding scores of 85 and 82 to finish at 167.