Right At Home

BY SPENCER CAMPBELL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

BRISTOL, Va. – The 17th hole at Clear Creek Golf Club is short and terribly tempting. The green is hidden but golfers know it’s there, only a driver’s length from the tee. All that separates them from a sure birdie is a water hazard.

Virginia High’s Wes Fletcher pulled his seven-iron out and sent his ball straight down the middle of the fairway.

It was safe. And it was boring.

He then stood back and watched his playing partners go the exciting route – gripping it and ripping it with woods.

And while it may have been dull, when Fletcher and his companions reached the fairway his was the only ball not out-of-play or stymied behind trees.

You know to do these things on your home course.

Virginia High put its home-field advantage to good use on Monday, winning the Region D Tournament at Clear Creek with a combined team score of 323.

“Our kids, this is their home course,” Virginia High head coach Carlos Lee said. “Anytime you’re playing on your home course it is a little bit in your favor because you know the things out there, the ins-and-outs.”

Clear Creek, with its blind tee-shots and linoleum-slick greens, played havoc with many of the competitors’ scores Monday – those players who were unfamiliar with the course’s hidden treacheries.

But Lee had his players, many of whom grew up on the course, making the short drive to Clear Creek every day last week.

And knowledge is power.

Bearcats junior Wes Fletcher shot an even-par round of 72 to take home medalist honors, and Virginia High bested the second-place finisher, Castlewood, by 13 strokes.

“[Course knowledge] played a lot into it,” Fletcher said after his round. “If I wouldn’t have known the course I could have shot at least five strokes higher.

“Knowing the greens and knowing the speeds – that helped out a lot.”

Fletcher couldn’t have begun his Monday round any better. He birdied the first hole when a 15-foot putt found the bottom of the cup, and got to two-under on No. 2 when his approach shot clanked off the flag stick.

As the round wore on, and the Bearcat made his way up-and-down Clear Creek’s rolling terrain, Fletcher couldn’t help but picture himself holding up the winner’s silver trophy.

“I’ve never really won a big golf tournament like [this],” he said. “Of course that goes through your head, but I was trying to keep it out.”

Virginia High’s David Talley also fired a round in the 70s, finishing fourth with a 78. But Talley wasn’t nearly as excited with his round as Fletcher was with his own.

Talley’s dead-solid-perfect ball-striking was undone by a crooked putter, leaving the Tusculum College-commitment wondering what could’ve been.

“This is where I learned to play golf,” Talley said. “I’m really, really frustrated today. Honestly. This is hard to believe, even for somebody who doesn’t know much about golf, but I had 42 putts. That means I had six more putts than swings.”

But the Bearcats were not the only ones going low Monday.

Grant Marshall of Castlewood shot a 1-over 73 and finished second, even though the speed of Clear Creek’s greens kept him on edge all day.

“After I got on the greens, putting was pretty hard,” Marshall said. “I wasn’t used to greens this fast. I just always hit my second shot real close so I could try to do away with putting.”

Marshall’s round helped ensure second place and a spot in the state tournament for the Blue Devils.

“I didn’t think we’d get in there, second, with a 97,” Castlewood head coach Tom Allen said. “But they played hard. Some of them didn’t play as good on the front, but played better on the back. They stayed in there and didn’t lose composure and showed a little maturity.”

The good news for both Virginia High and Castlewood is that they’ve made the Class A State Tournament. The better news is that the state tournament will be a held at a venue both teams are familiar with: Clear Creek.

“Anytime you go for a state championship, to win a championship, you’ve got to have a lot of luck on your side,” Lee said. “It’s almost like the stars have to be lined up right for you and everything.”

The search for Virginia High’s constellation begins next Monday and runs through Tuesday.

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