THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 25, 1994 TAG: 9410260679
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Sophomore Matt Paulson, fresh off an Eastern Region championship, fired even-par 71 Monday at The Hamptons to thrust himself and his Cox High team into title contention at the Group AAA state championships.
But Paulson and the Falcons find themselves one shot out of the lead in both the individual and team races.
Oakton High senior G.W. Cable was the lone golfer to break par, firing a 1-under 70 for a one-shot lead over Paulson. Salem High freshman Kevin Miller shot 73 and is alone in third.
Cox, on the strength of Paulson's score, shot 305. Joining Paulson on the Cox scoreboard were Darren Alexander (77), Ryan Marks (78) and Troy Cummings (79).
``A couple of our guys can lower those scores and I figure Troy can shoot a lot better than 79 tomorrow and we'll have a shot at it,'' Paulson said.
The two-day tournament concludes today, with the leaders teeing off at 10 a.m.
Central Region representatives Clover Hill and Mills Godwin both shot 304 to share the lead. Tied with Cox at 305 is Cave Spring.
All four team leaders posted four scores in the 70s. In team golf, six play with the best four scores counting. A 19-shot gap separated fifth-place G.C. Marshall from the four lead teams.
Clover Hill was paced by Joey Privitera's 74. Its second-best score came from Ann Cardea. Nationally ranked on the girls circuit, Cardea carded a 76.
Godwin displayed the most depth with five scores in the 70s - Mark Balch's 79 had to be thrown out.
Victor's Garcia's 74 paced Northwest Region representative Cave Spring.
Cable, the reigning state junior amateur champion, was two shots out of the lead heading to the par-3 16th hole, where he drained a 20-foot putt for birdie to get back to even par for the day. At the par-5 17th, Cable reached the green with a 4-iron second shot, then two-putted for birdie from 50 feet.
``I scraped it around and was happy to shoot 70,'' Cable said.
Meanwhile, Paulson was playing ahead of Cable in the next-to-last group of the day and bogeyed the 18th hole to fall from the lead after pulling his second shot under a bush.
``After I saw that lie under the bush I was happy to make bogey there,'' said Paulson, who escaped the bush only to hit his ball into a greenside bunker. He saved bogey from the bunker when he made a 10-footer. by CNB