Wood’s Holmes, Sherando’s Loy Share Lead At Gunter

Posted: August 16, 2013
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

James Wood’s Will Holmes shot a 2-over 74 at Rock Harbor Thursday, tying him for first with four other golfers after the first round of the Bryan Gunter Memorial.

Sherando’s Brett Loy watches his tee shot on the fifth hole at Rock Harbor Thursday. Loy finished the first day with a 2-over 74, tying him for first with four other golfers.
WINCHESTER — As James Wood coach David Oates walked into Sherando coach Rob Wright’s line of vision Thursday at Rock Harbor Golf Course, he couldn’t help but make a remark to him on the round the Colonels had just put together.

“It must be good to be back home,” Wright said.

Indeed it was.

After finishing behind Sherando at each of its first two tournaments on the Warriors’ home course (Shenandoah Valley Golf Club), James Wood debuted on its home course in impressive fashion, recording a four-player score of 315 that put the Colonels in second place after the first round of the 26th annual Bryan Gunter Memorial Golf Tournament, just five strokes behind first-place Charlottesville (310).

Sherando (329) is in fourth in the 10-team tournament, Millbrook (338) is in seventh and Handley (370) is in ninth.

Led by senior Will Holmes — whose 2-over 74 has him tied for first with four other golfers, including Sherando freshman Brett Loy — Oates said the Colonels put together what was clearly their best performance of the young season.

Adding to the impressiveness of James Wood’s score was the fact that one posted by Roger Repasky — the Northwestern District’s only state qualifier last year — didn’t factor into it. Hunter Hall and Noah Keller each shot 80s to tie for 11th overall, and Jake Akeley shot an 81 for 13th place. Repasky shot an 82.

“I think the ability we showed today is a lot closer to our talent level than what we’ve shown in the first two matches that we’ve had,” Oates said. “We still feel like we can play a lot better.

“But this is what the kids have been shooting in practice. They hung in there, and they performed very well on the back nine. It’s good to be home.”

Today’s second-round action shifts to the Winchester Country Club at 8:30 a.m.

When it’s over, there will be two new champions to crown.

Defending team champion Loudoun Valley actually shot the third-best score Thursday, but the Vikings are officially in eighth place with a 343 because they had to throw out defending individual champion Ian Hildebrand’s score of 3-under 69.

The reason why the score for Hildebrand — who placed second in the Group AA tournament last year — won’t count is because he won’t be competing in today’s second round. Hildebrand will instead play in the Virginias-Carolinas Junior Team Matches that will take place at Boonsboro Country Club in Lynchburg.

A senior, Hildebrand was chosen for the Virginias team — an eight-player squad picked by the Virginia State Golf Association to go against players from North Carolina and South Carolina — based on his performance in Junior PGA events this summer.

“It’s a good opportunity for me,” he said.

And while Hildebrand was by no means a lock to win the tournament, his absence means the hunt for the individual title definitely got more interesting.

Four of the five golfers who shot a 74 will be in the same group today — Loy and Holmes will be grouped with Centreville’s Yoojim Kim and Charlottesville’s Ben Perkins. Loudoun Valley’s Brandon Weaver also shot a 74, and Charlotteville’s Ryan Cox sits one stroke back with a 75.

“What’s the most exciting thing for me personally is we’ve got Will, who’s been one of the top performers for years, and Brett Loy, who is the future of area golf, playing head-to-head,” Oates said. “I look for a low round out of both of those kids. I don’t see one of them beating the other by more than a stroke or two, and it could come down to a playoff.”

Both Holmes and Loy spoke before they knew about Hildebrand’s situation, but even if they had they still would have probably lamented the fact that their scores weren’t a few strokes better.

Following his first two performances of the year, Holmes couldn’t have been happier with how he struck the ball.

But he was disappointed with some missed birdie opportunities, and he said he probably could have dropped “three or four strokes” had he not missed a few putts within five to 10 feet.

“I was hitting my irons really well,” said Holmes, who had three birdies and five bogeys. “I was placing it well off the tee, I was hitting good approach shots. But there were a few putts that could have dropped, and I just couldn’t get them to fall in.”

Holmes said hitting a strong tee shot on the 160-yard second hole and sinking a birdie putt from outside 10 feet got him going. That was something he needed after his two performances at SVGC.

“By far, this was an improvement,” said Holmes, who added that it helped playing at the Colonels’ home course. “Even though I could have been better today, I’m making more putts.”

Loy didn’t play poorly by any means — he made a couple of 20-foot putts on 6 and 7 — but he wasn’t as sharp as he wanted to be.

“I hit the ball great today,” Loy said. “There were just a few slight errors, and they cost me a lot.”

Loy recorded five birdies but also had three bogeys and two double bogeys Thursday.

A double bogey on 13 and a bogey on 14 were a particularly rough way to finish, because Loy was 1-under heading into those holes.

“He hit it in the water on 13, and then on 14 he was six feet for a birdie and put it two feet by,” Wright said. “He went up to tap in, but he missed and a got a bogey. He said it was just one of those dumb things, but that’s golf.

“He’ll be back there tomorrow. He’s excited about playing with Will, because they’ve played a lot of golf together over the years, and both of them love the competition.”

Sherando also got a strong round from sophomore Mason Scott (a 79 that tied him for ninth), but Wright said the team’s youth and inexperience with Rock Harbor showed.

Millbrook was led by Mitch Ulich (82), Brian McGuire (84) and Ryan McCarty (84) and Handley was paced by Colleen Connolly (90).

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