THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 16, 1996 TAG: 9610160579
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 47 lines
The opening-round winner of the Eastern Region golf tournament Tuesday wasn't a player.
It was the course.
The wooded, hilly, par-72 Williamsburg Country Club gave all but one player - even members of the Lafayette team that calls the course home - fits.
So tough was the course that it produced a region tournament first when one player shot a 150, getting busted by the par-5 No. 3 for 22 strokes - 10 of them in the water. Another first came in the fact that none of the non-team individual qualifiers broke 80.
Despite it all, Salem's Kevin Miller still managed to break even with a 3-over 39 on the more difficult front nine and a 3-under 33 on the back.
``We played here yesterday to get used to it and the course in Charlottesville where the state juniors were held this summer was hilly like this,'' said Miller, who tied for second place in last year's event. ``So I'm pretty used to this kind of course. Maybe more than some of the other guys.''
Miller suffered through bogeys on holes 5 and 6, but bounced back with birdies on 13, 14 and 15.
Only Lafayette's Jason Noah (76) and Gloucester's Mike Little (78) joined Miller with sub-80 scores.
Salem held first place in the team competition with a 327, two ahead of Lafayette. Josh Viohl shot an 82, Jeff Dranda an 86 and Keith Barry an 87 for the Sun Devils.
Cox - the five-time defending region champion - was eight strokes behind Salem.
``We're going to have to charge tomorrow,'' Falcons coach Stuart Holland said. ``But, hey, we're all right - eight out of first and six out of second. If we can't make that up tomorrow, we don't deserve to go to state.''
Cox has finished with the individual state champion the last two years and has finished second as a team four of the last five years.
``I was surprised, though, that we didn't have anybody at all in the 70s,'' Holland said. ``I thought we'd have a couple of guys in at least the upper 70s. We played here yesterday, too, and the guys shot pretty good.''
Another first for the region tournament, one that had nothing to do with the course, took place when Holly Corbin of Great Bridge and Brandy Hussey of Granby became the first females to play in the same foursome.
The tournament shifts today to Sleepy Hole in Suffolk with starting tee offs at 7:30 a.m. and the final start at 9:06. by CNB