Wood's Rockwell tie for 19th at state golf tourney

The Handley golf team didn’t have the performance it wanted — and No. 1 golfer Sam Thome didn’t have the vision he envisioned — at Tuesday’s Class 4 state tournament, but the Judges won’t be forgetting the journey it took to get to Williamsburg.

Handley placed seventh out of eight teams and the senior Thome and James Wood junior Brayden Rockwell each shot 4-over-par scores of 76 to tie for 19th place individually out of 60 golfers on Tuesday at the Williamsburg National Golf Club.

Handley was competing in a golf state tournament as a team for the first time since 1984, and the Judges recorded a four-player score of 331 eight days after they had a season-best 292 at the Region 4D tournament at Meadowcreek Golf Course in Charlottesville.

Thome’s fellow seniors Jackson Bouder (80), Jag Fitzsimmons (87) and Dash Fitzsimmons (88) also recorded counting scores. Also for the Judges, junior Nash Sharma recorded a 91 and senior Henry Felix had a 109.

Blacksburg won its third consecutive Class 4 state title with a 6-under team total of 282, nine strokes better than Monacan (291). The Chiefs were followed by Jamestown and Loudoun County (tied for third with 292), Woodgrove (311) and Atlee (329). Smithfield finished behind the Judges with a 345.

The Judges faced some bad breaks even before Tuesday’s round began, as Thome played with just one contact lens and had no glasses as a backup, and Dash Fitzsimmons saw his 5 iron break on the driving range just before teeing off and had to purchase a rental club from Williamsburg National.

In a phone interview, Judges coach Troy Mezzatesta felt Handley was capable of playing better than it did based on Monday’s practice round and could have been around Woodgrove, but the team wasn’t clicking for various reasons.

“We just weren’t good enough today,” Mezzatesta said. “That’s OK, and that’s golf. I felt like maybe we played a little too aggressive here and there. But at no point did our kids back down or stand over a shot that they feared. They all were committed to what they were doing, and that’s what I was super proud of.

“The experience with these guys this year was fantastic. I don’t think this takes away any of the specialness that I have felt towards what we were able to accomplish this season. [From the state tournament], the stories that will carry forward are dinner [Monday] night, the ride here, the conversations that we had hanging out together. I think it will feel like we won when they’re 30 years old looking back.”

Heritage (Leesburg) senior Joe Johnson won the individual title with a 6-under 66, defeating three players by one stroke. That group included 2022 state champion Kathryn Ha of Salem, 2021 fall state champion Jake Albert of Blacksburg, and Albert’s teammate Major Ewing.

In Class 2, Clarke County senior Hunter Breece tied for 34th out of 60 golfers with a 16-over 88 at the Great Oaks Country Club. Breece was competing in a state tournament for the first time since he was a sophomore, when he shot a 107 at the Olde Mill Golf Resort in Laurel Fork.

Out of the seven local golfers in the Class 4 tournament, Thome was the only one with previous state tournament experience. Thome shot an 81 last year to tie for 39th at the Stonehenge Golf and Country Club in Richmond.

Thome was 2-over on the front nine and stayed at 2-over through 17 holes before recording a double bogey on the 408-yard, par-4 18th hole. All of the local golfers shot bogey or worse on the 18th.

Mezzatesta said the 18th green challenged golfers because of the pin placement. It was up against a sand trap and the green had a significant break and went uphill near the hole, which was difficult to see. Mezzatesta said a lot of putts were left short, and a lot of people had three-putts.

Thome had a three-putt on 18, though every green was an adventure because of his left eye. His contact lens went behind his eye late Monday night. He got it out, but he realized he didn’t have his toiletry kit with his contact case, contact solution or glasses. He got the contact materials he needed from his hotel, but on Tuesday morning before his round he realized his new contact had split in two and he couldn’t wear it.

“Reading greens was tough,” Thome said. “You don’t know whether to keep both eyes open. It was kind of half blurry, half clear with two open, and you can only see half of everything with one eye open. I did not read the greens well today.”

Mezzatesta said at one point, he asked Thome what club he planned on using for an approach shot as both stood behind his ball, but Thome didn’t know where the ball was until Mezzatesta told him.

“I thought at least even-par was out there for Sam easily,” Mezzatesta said. “But he was reading putts one-eyed all day. It was a tall order all day long and he stood up to the test.”

Outside of the greens, Thome said it was important to be accurate because of the number of hazards on the course.

Thome did not have any birdies, but he did have an eagle on the par-5, 472-yard 14th hole after having a bogey on the 13th hole. Thome left himself 193 yards after his drive, then hit a 5 iron that kicked right toward the pin, and he knocked his eagle in from three feet.

“That was good to see since I hadn’t had any birdies,” Thome said. “That put me back on track.”

Mezzatesta was also impressed with what Thome did on the 526-yard, par-5 17th hole. His tee shot went into the woods after it hooked left and hit a golf cart. He had to chip out from behind a tree and still had 235 yards to the hole. He then chipped over a bunker onto the green before making a 22-footer for par.

Thome said he wishes his final high school tournament didn’t end with a double bogey, but he was pleased to shoot five strokes better than he did at last year’s state tournament. And while the team didn’t have its best performance, he was proud of the group.

“This team’s been great,” Thome said. “The top four have been on the team all four years and we’ve all gotten really close. To see our season end this way wasn’t great, but everything before this was phenomenal.”

Rockwell was 1-under through 16 holes before recording a double bogey on the 17th hole and a triple bogey on the 18th hole. Rockwell was 2-under on the front nine and had four birdies total — the 302-yard, par-4 second hole, the 388-yard, par-4 sixth hole, the 478-yard, par 5 seventh hole and the 14th hole.

“It was really nice,” said Rockwell in a phone interview when asked about the course. “The back nine was definitely tougher than the front, but it was a cool course to play. Early on, my wedges were working well. I was hitting a lot of wedge shots really close. I was also putting well and making some putts I needed to make.”

Rockwell said a hole that stood out to him in particular was the sixth hole.

“I hit my driver down the middle of the fairway, and then hit my wedge shot from about 100 yards away,” Rockwell said. “It landed past the hole, spun back and everyone said it almost went in.”

Rockwell tapped in from about three inches from there, then moved to 2-under after the seventh hole. He was still at 2-under through 11 holes, but navigating the rest of the course proved to be challenging.

“The back nine was a lot tighter,” he said. “There were a lot of tee shots that had to be more precise. If you weren’t hitting the ball great, it was tough to get around. [The last two holes], I just kind of lost my rhythm and started spraying the ball a little bit and struggling a little bit.”

It was a tough finish, but it didn’t put a damper on Rockwell’s overall round by any means.

“I’m pretty happy with how I played,” Rockwell said.

James Wood coach David Oates enjoyed the show. This was the first time all year he had been able to watch Rockwell exclusively.

“He played fantastic,” Oates said. “He was extremely focused. He had a game plan in his mind, and his short game of getting up and down, he did extremely well. He made some very clutch putts all the way through the round.”

Rockwell was also pleased with his season after struggling at the beginning. For example, he had rounds of 87 at Fauquier Springs and 82 at the Shenandoah Valley Golf Club in the two Class 4 Northwestern District mini tournaments within the first two weeks of August.

But in September, every 18-hole competition Rockwell played in saw him shoot rounds in the 70s, and on Oct. 2 he became the first James Wood golfer in nine years to qualify for the Class 4 state tournament with a 1-under 70 at the Region 4D tournament in Charlottesville.

“[Monday] night when we had the dinner for all the golfers and coaches one of the representatives made a great comment,” Oates said. “He said there’s probably a thousand kids [in Virginia] sitting at home right now that wish they were here. Making it as an individual or as a team is very hard to do. There’s Division I players here. [Rockwell] had a very good season, and I’m really excited for him going forward.”

There were 13 golfers under par at the Class 4 tournament, but just one at the Class 2 tournament. Bruton’s Dylan Olinger shot a 1-under 71 to beat Madison County’s Cai Clark (73) by two strokes.

“Some of those holes were just narrow with the tree lines,” Breece said. “It really just made you think through every shot and execute. My driver was good, my putting was the best it’s been in a while, but things just didn’t quite come 100 percent together.”

After missing last year’s state tournament, Breece was determined to get back there this year.

“I knew where I wanted to get, and I made it,” Breece said. “Getting to states was a big goal of mine.”

Breece said his teammates made the journey to get there a great one. Breece wasn’t sure how things would play out this season with the Eagles given that nine of the 12 golfers were sophomores or freshmen, but Clarke County won the Bull Run District tournament and came within three shots of qualifying as a team for the Class 2 tournament.

“A lot of my buddies were seniors last year, and I had to step into that senior role,” Breece said. “I enjoyed it. I felt I helped my teammates get better, and they helped me loosen up, because I sometimes get so caught up in doing well that I don’t have fun. They really helped me have fun this year.”

Lee won the Class 2 team title by six strokes over Floyd County (318 to 324). Region 2B qualifiers Fort Defiance (361) and Madison County (381) placed seventh and eighth, respectively.

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