Bryan Gunter Memorial Golf Tournament; Wood Takes 2nd

Posted: August 17, 2013
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — As Sherando freshman Brett Loy sank a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th hole of the Winchester Country Club, he pumped his fist and a huge smile crept across his face.

For about a one-hour period, it looked as if that would be Loy’s last smile of the day. But fortunately for him, the awards ceremony did entail Loy getting to put his hands on the championship trophy and showing off his proverbial pearly whites after all.

After walking off the 18th green thinking he had won the title outright, then shortly after being told he would finish second, Loy’s emotional hour ended with him earning co-champion status with Centreville’s Yoojim Kim at the 26th annual Bryan Gunter Memorial Golf Tournament after each golfer shot a two-round 5-over total of 149.

Loy’s two-day score changed from 147 (73 Friday) as he walked off the 18th green to a 151 (77 Friday) after he was assessed two two-stroke penalties, then a 149 (75 Friday) after one penalty was rescinded.

Sherando coach Rob Wright said he definitely had a lot of respect for Loy. Because not only did he own up to doing the two acts that were questioned, but he also kept his composure even though Loy’s actions were not brought to his or Sherando’s attention until the end of the round. Wright said the correct thing to do is to point out potential infractions as soon as they occur.

“He showed a lot of character today,” Wright said. “For someone 14 years old, that’s pretty good.”

Charlottesville won the team title with a two-round, four-player score of 633 (310 Rock Harbor Golf Course, 323 WCC). James Wood was second (315-327 — 642), Sherando was fifth (330-327 — 657), Millbrook was eighth (338-355 — 693) and Handley was ninth (370-377 — 747) in the 10-team tournament.

Loy will undoubtedly have many more tournament wins in his future, but it’s probably safe to say that he hopes he never gets another one in the fashion he did Friday.

“[Today] was pretty frustrating,” Loy said. “But I know I played well.”

On a day on which the majority of the golfers failed to improve on the scores they had during the tournament’s first round at Rock Harbor Golf Course on Thursday, Loy — whose 74 on Thursday had him tied for first with four other golfers — fired a stroke total of 1-over-par 73 that was second to none (and two strokes better than Kim) and gave him good reason to be smiling after sinking that putt on 18.

However, while walking to the scoring area Loy was told that a discussion needed to be held about scoring issues.

During the course of his round, a spectator had taken notice of Loy grounding his club on a practice stroke while in a hazard area on the second hole, and Loy wasl also seen using a rake in the sand trap before he had taken his shot on the 11th hole.

Loy admitted afterward he had done both these things, though Wright said Loy told him that the practice swing he took was basically done out of a lack of concentration. Loy had grown impatient while waiting for another golfer to clear out so he could hit his shot.

The two-stroke rake penalty was later rescinded though because in 2012, a rule change was made that allowed golfers to clean up the area in the sand where their feet have touched as long as it does not change the lie of the ball or aid their shot. It was determined that Loy only used his rake on the area where his feet had touched the sand, and activities coordinators Rick Lilly (Handley) and Craig Woshner (James Wood) contacted the Virginia State Golf Association to confirm the ruling in such a situation.

Still, Loy had to wait an hour for that ruling, and what gnawed at him during that time was that he wasn’t notified of his actions when they happened. Wright said they should have been, and he added that what he does when he sees a rules violation is to let that player’s coach know immediately if he sees something.

“You do that because what he did, he could have done two or three more times, and you just don’t go out and count everything up, then all the sudden at the end say, ‘What about this, this and this?” Wright said.

Wright said the bottom line is that the experience is something Loy can learn from. Wright said Loy has already told him he’ll be a lot more careful with rakes in the future.

As far as actual golf play, Loy has figured out high school golf pretty quickly in winning two of his three tournaments and posting the best score in the Northwestern District in the one he didn’t win.

Loy said he was definitely glad to at least get a share of the first-place trophy (Kim got to leave with it, but Loy will get his own eventually).

“I played great,” said Loy, who had four birdies. “I had a lot of good putts, and I was very happy with 18.”

James Wood senior Will Holmes was one of the golfers who entered Friday tied for the lead. He shot a 78 to finish the tournament in third overall with a 152.

Holmes said he’s still missing more short putts than he’d like, but he’s improving.

“I definitely had to grind a lot harder today,” said Holmes, who had two birdies. “I wasn’t hitting my irons as well, I wasn’t hitting my drives really well. I made a few key putts, even though I missed a lot of putts. I just held it together and didn’t really leave a lot of shots out there.”

Among the five Northwestern District schools, James Wood also had the third- and fourth-best individual scores of the tournament.

Junior Roger Repasky tied for Friday’s fourth-best score with Holmes by shooting a 78 to finish at 160 (tied for eighth) and Hunter Hall shot an 81 Friday to finish at 161 (10th).

“I definitely hit my irons well compared to yesterday,” Repasky said. “I kept the ball in the fairway, which was a big key, and my putting was good.”

Overall, James Wood coach David Oates said he was pleased with how his team performed.

“They performed pretty close to what I wanted them to do,” Oates said. “The scores are going to be a little bit higher here because we don’t play here very often, but Will and Roger played fantastic here today. We would have liked to have won, but finishing second and beating some quality teams is always good.”

As for the team that finished first, Charlottesville coach Dick Engel said he was just glad that his team held it together even though the Black Knights were 13 strokes off the score they shot Thursday.

“We played well enough to win, and that’s why we came over here,” he said. “We thought we had a chance to win this. We had never done this tournament before, but we wanted to give the guys a chance to experience a two-day tournament. This should help us for the postseason.”

For Charlottesville, Ben Perkins placed fourth overall (74-80 — 154), and the Knights also got strong efforts from Phillip Hoffman (78-79 — 157) and Ryan Cox (157), who is listed as the team’s No. 5 golfer but whose first-round 75 was crucial in the team’s win.

Other top local scores came from Sherando’s Mason Scott (79-85 — 164, tied for 11th) and Millbrook’s Brian McGuire (84-85 — 169, 20th). Handley was led by Scott Mikulec (91-87 — 178).

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