Playing in an 18-hole match as a team for the first time since August, the Albemarle golf did two things Monday — it won the Commonwealth District tournament for the ninth consecutive season and it left room for improvement. By beating out Mountain View by nine strokes, the Patriots kept their impressive streak alive and with a score of 319, they will head into Northwest Region tournament next week at West Lake Golf and Country Club at Smith Mountain Lodge with a focus and determination to do better.
“I think we’re a little disappointed in the total score, but it was tough conditions and the kids don’t get to play as much golf now as they did back in the summer,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “We shot a 303 here in a (CD) mini-match, but this was good enough and those scores in the 70’s and low 80’s was able to pull us through.”
Technically speaking, the Patriots dominated the field, with seniors Tony Liu and Lauren Eklund taking seond and third place with respective scores of 78 and 79, Caleb Martin tying for fifth at 80 and Alex Simmons tying for seventh at 81.
“It was an interesting day because you had the rain and the green speeds were varied because they were wet in the morning and drier and speeder later,” Liu said.
Playing on their home course at Birdwood presented the obvious advantage of knowing what to expect, except the constant change in conditions.
“This was a lot tougher than usual because it was so wet and then you’re in the middle of rain or not,” Eklund said. “You’re putting on a jacket, taking it off. The ball’s not going as far and you’re getting more bad breaks, nothing would jump, it’d just stick right where it was.”
Mountain View’s Mason Stuttler paced the Wild Cats with his medalist round of 76 and Orange County’s Zach Yowell qualified individually for the Northwest Region tournament by tying with Martin for fifth at 80.
For Albemarle, not only did its four scoring golfers place in the top-7, but it’s other two members, Michael Schick and Wilson Desimini shot rounds of 83 and 86, which while they did not count for the team scores, put them 13th and 15th overall individually giving the Patriots incredible depth, something they’ll need in the next round. And so while the team didn’t out-shoot it’s 303 score back in August, it’s put itself in what many would deem a desirable position where it feels the need to work even harder for next week’s round instead of being in of trying to avoid complacency.
“The thing is you don’t want to peak to early and I think we did that last year, destroying it in the district last year with a 287 and then not making states,” Liu said. “We peaked to early there so we’re saving our best for regional’s which I think is great.”
Both Albemarle and Yowell will be allowed one practice round at West Lake before the tournament begins next Tuesday.
“We have that practice round to throw down a couple of balls and get to know the greens,” Eklund said.
