By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
On Monday, Sept. 19 the Fluvanna County High School golf team hosted seven other schools from the Jefferson District at the Lake Monticello course. The weather was fine and the course was in excellent shape. In high school golf, each team enters six players and the best four final scores are added together to determine the team score. This is golf, so the low score wins.
Leading the Fluco team, which is coached by Bryan Searcy, was senior Killian Donnelly. He finished with an impressive birdie on the par five eighteenth hole, posting an excellent score of 74, or two over par. Donnelly came on strong with a 34 on the back nine. Following Donnelly, with scores that are more common in high school golf, were junior Mason Chiovaro with an 88 and freshman Will Bishop and senior Cohen Purviance with 89s. Kessler Potter, the Fluco’s lone female player was close behind at 91. Donnelly’s 74 tied for second place in the individual scores, only two strokes off the best score. Of the 48 competitors, only six shot in the 70s.
The Fluco team score of 340 was one stroke away from a third-place finish. Western Albemarle was the easy winner with two scores in the 70s and two 80s Albemarle High was second and Goochland High topped the Flucos for third place.
At the high school level the sport is co-ed. The Flucos and several other schools had a girl player in their top six. The winning team, Western Albemarle, had three young women in its top six. The boys play from the regular men’s tees, the distance is a serious 6,296 yards. The girls play from the regular women’s tees, and their distance is 5,051 yards, also a legitimate test. The Lake Monticello course is not easy. The fairways are tight and tree-lined and the greens can be quite tricky. There is enough water and sand to intimidate the average golfer. There is not a single hole where and errant tee shot can land on an adjoining fairway.
