The Hidden Valley Country Club in Salem was the site of a River Ridge District golf tournament Monday and Salem, playing without two regulars, finished fifth with a respectable 311.
Hidden Valley High won the day with a 293, followed by Blacksburg at 297. Cave Spring was an even 300 and Patrick Henry finished two strokes better than the Spartans, who were playing without Ashnoor Kaur and Mike Bateman. Kaur was at a four-ball event in Maryland and Bateman was at the historic Pebble Beach to take on the PURE Insurance Championship with the pros this week. Among the Spartans in town, freshman Chloe Collins led the team with a three over 74.
“Chloe is playing some unbelievable golf the past few weeks,” said coach Blaine Hancock. “She’s playing with confidence and competing at an extremely high level.”
Salem had four players finish in the top 20 individually. Joining Chloe as counting scores were sophomores JD Williamson and McKenzie Eversole and junior Will Creger who all shot 79. Rounding out the lineup for the Spartans were Eli Wells at 82 and Croix Bowen at 84.
“We put in a solid effort,” said Hancock. “We only have two weeks left until we begin the postseason and we have to make sure we are in the top two at our sub-region tournament to advance. We’ve been putting in a lot of work and have the capability of going low. It will take a full team effort to advance and I’m confident we have the talent to do it.”
Last week Collins and Eversole were in Gainesville, Va. for the Mustangs Girls Invitational hosted by Meridian High School. It included 72 ladies on the challenging Stonewall Golf Club.
“Our ladies brought it,” said Hancock. “Neither McKenzie nor Chloe had ever played this course and we had to jump in the car and drive to northern Virginia as soon as we got back from Blacksburg. It’s not easy playing back to back days with a long trip in between.”
Chloe finished with a share of the lowest round posted on the day with a 74. Three ladies tied for the top spot and they went to a scorecard playoff to determine the winner with Collins taking the third place medal. Eversole finished in the top 25.
Next up for the Spartans was a non-district match at Olde Mill on Wednesday before finishing out the regular season next Monday at Hunting Hills.
