By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
It was extremely hot on Aug. 4 when the Fluvanna County High School golf team hosted eight other high school golf teams at the Lake Monticello golf course. Despite the heat, all the high school golfers are required to walk the course, and the Lake Monticello course has a fair amount of ups and downs. Electric carts are for the coaches and the spectators. The format for these matches is straightforward. Each team entered six golfers and the best four gross scores count, no handicaps figured in. The young men play from the regular men’s white tees. The distance for the young men is 6,296 yards, and it is a serious test. The young women play from the regular women’s red tees, their distance is 5,051 yards and that is also a test. The Lake Monticello course is in excellent shape this year.
The tournament is named for the late George Bockman who was a scratch golfer and a huge supporter of Fluco athletics. He drove school buses for Fluco teams, coached JV softball and was an assistant golf coach. He also built the dugouts and the press boxes at the baseball and softball fields.
In this year’s George Bockman tournament, the Fluco team finished only four strokes out of third place, or one stroke per player out of third. The low score for the Fluco squad was posted by Will Bishop, with an 81, the seventh best score in the tournament. Killian Donnelly was right behind Bishop with an 82, the ninth best score. Cohen Purviance was next with 86, and the Flucos’ young women golfer Kessler Potter came in at 96. The other two starters for the Flucos were Noah Jones and Conner Holman. Many high school golf teams do not have four players who can break the 100 barrier. Western Albemarle had the winning score of 319 on scores of 75, 78, 81 and 85. William Monroe High was second with, had two 81s and two 83s, for an impressive score of 328.
The golf team, under Coach Bryan Searcy, played in the Jefferson District tournament on Aug. 8. On Aug. 15, they will host a scrimmage match against Chancellor High and on Aug. 16 they will host Louisa County and Nelson County. On Aug. 18 they will travel to Goochland County and on Aug. 23 to Monticello High. Due to the shortening period of daylight and the end of daylight savings time, the golf team’s schedule must be compressed into the late summer and early fall. The regular golf season ends on Sept.19. At that date, the Fluco football team will have played only four of its ten regular season games.
