DATE: Tuesday, October 21, 1997             TAG: 9710210411

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   38 lines

TAYLOR: I. RIVER GOLFER MISSES PROS, NOT SHOTS

A couple of weeks ago Chris Taylor's choice was this: spend a day watching the pros at Kingsmill or practice playing golf to prepare for the Eastern Region tournament.

The Indian River senior missed out on seeing the PGA's best, but thanks to some extra work, he won't miss out in competing in this week's state golf tournament in Lynchburg.

``I dreamt the night before regionals that I had already played my round,'' Taylor says, ``but the score didn't turn out so good in my dreams.''

Not so in real life, though. Taylor's 152 over two days placed him sixth in last week's regional. Indian River coach Gary Everton says he is the first Braves golfer to go to state since Scott Moore in 1980.

``All of the sudden Chris started blossoming this year,'' said Everton.

Taylor ended the regular season on a high note, medaling for the first time this season at Suffolk Golf Course. In firing a 71 there, he became the first golfer in Everton's 30 years at the school to shoot under par.

But during the two-week gap between that match and districts, Taylor picked up a bad habit: shanking the ball to the right. He finished 14th in districts, and qualifying for state seemed unlikely. Everton worked to correct his swing, and Taylor fired two rounds in the 70s at regional sites Bow Creek and Lake Wright the weekend before the tournament.

In the first day of regionals, he shot a 2-over-72, narrowly missing a hole-in-one on the ninth hole. The second day he battled nerves and miserable conditions to earn the state berth.

``He didn't see the pros when they were here, but he might be one of them someday,'' Everton says. ILLUSTRATION: Indian River's Chris Taylor qualified for

the state golf tournament, the first for the school since 1980.

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