Bryan Gunter Memorial Golf Tournament

Posted: August 12, 2016
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

FRONT ROYAL — The first step toward reversing the result of last year’s Bryan Gunter Memorial Golf Tournament is complete.

Sherando senior Brett Loy fired a four-under par 67 on the Blue and White nines of Shenandoah Valley Golf Club to take a two-shot lead over defending champion Ryan Hammer of Loudoun Valley after the first round of the 29th annual event on Thursday.

A year ago, it was Hammer who fired an opening-round 67 on the same SVGC courses while Loy shot a 70. Loy rebounded with a 2-under 70 in the second round of the Gunter at Winchester Country Club for the best score of the day, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Hammer. Now a junior, Hammer shot a two-round score of 139 to beat Loy’s 140.

Loy’s still got work to do (the tournament concludes today with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start at WCC), but he couldn’t have asked for a much better beginning to the Gunter.

"I just played really smart today, and I made hardly any mistakes," said Loy, who shot six strokes better than he did on Tuesday while playing the Blue and Whites in a Northwestern District mini tournament. "I didn’t make a bogey, which is always good, and I got up and down when I needed to."

Loy led Sherando to fourth place overall in the 12-team tournament with a four-player score of 306, which is also six strokes better than the Warriors shot Tuesday.

Two-time defending champion Loudoun Valley is in first with a 289, while Washington (W.Va.) sits in second with a 298. James Wood is in ninth (365), Handley is in 10th (368) and Millbrook is in 11th (370).

Loy started on Blue No. 4 and birdied Blue No. 9, holes No. 2 and 7 on the White, and Blue No. 1. Loy said the biggest hole for him might have been his last — he flew his second shot 20 yards over the green, but chipped to within six feet and was able to save par.

Against a player like Hammer, every stroke counts. Hammer (tied for fourth, 154 over two rounds) finished one shot ahead of Loy (sixth, 155) at last year’s Group 4A state tournament.

"We get along really good," said Loy, who did not play in the same group as Hammer on Thursday. "He’s a good player, so it’s nice to play with him."

Loy and Hammer will be joined in their group today by Washington’s Christian Boyd (70) and Charlottesville’s Zach Russell (72).

Loy is coming off a strong summer playing against teenagers and club professionals.

It was capped by his participation in the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships held at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Florida last week. With more than 600 golfers in multiple age groups, the Optimist bills itself as "one of the largest and best-known junior golf tournaments in the world."

"I got invited in March, so I was really looking forward to it all summer," Loy said. "It was a lot of fun, and good competition.

"It was a good summer for me overall, because I was pretty consistent in every tournament I played in for the past month and a half."

Other players who recorded counting scores for Sherando on Thursday were senior Jonah Pearson (74, tied for seventh overall), Josh Bianco (76) and Ryan Judy (89).

Pearson — who started on No. 6 Blue — overcame bogeys on his first two holes en route to breaking 80 for the first time in four competitive rounds this season.

"I felt like I was striking the ball well, and I putted really well," said Pearson, who birdied the par-3 No. 8 Blue, No. 5 White and No. 1 Blue. "On my third hole, I hit my tee shot to within three feet of the hole and was able to tap in for birdie. That turned things around for me and I was able to keep it up."

Pearson hopes having a strong mental approach will help him end his high school golf career on a high note.

"This is my senior year, and I want to make sure I enjoy it by staying positive throughout every round," Pearson said. Sherando coach Rob Wright said Thursday was a good performance for his team, which finished three strokes better than Woodgrove (309).

The top four golfers for the Wolverines — who figure to be the Warriors’ top competition in Conference 21 West this season — combined to shoot 305 last week at SVGC, 33 better than Sherando, which did not have Loy.

"Last week Woodgrove killed us, so beating them today gives us confidence," Wright said. "[Our] top three guys, you can’t get a whole lot more out of them than what we did today. We just need to find a fourth score."

James Wood junior Tyler Mounts was the only local player outside of Sherando to shoot in the 70s, recording a 78.

Colonels coach David Oates said Mounts hit three balls out-of-bounds, so he was impressed that Mounts was able to battle through that to shoot the score that he did.

"I think the first couple of times he played this year, he was a little bit more concerned with what other people were doing instead of focusing on his own game," Oates said. "[Thursday] he focused on what he was supposed to do, and I’m looking for something good out of him [today]. He’s a member at [WCC], so we’re looking for a high finish for him."

Maddie Neff (83) led Handley and Andy Kim (84) topped Millbrook.

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