FOXFIRE – Last season, Richmond’s boys’ golf team relied heavily on the strength of its ninth graders. Half of the team’s 10-member roster was made up of freshmen and four of the team’s five lowest scores each week came from that class.
Even though all five of the underclassman are returning in 2019 one year older, the team as a whole has gotten younger. Unlike Richmond’s varsity baseball team that has 12 seniors on the roster this spring, the 12-member golf team is the opposite. Not a single member of the class of 2019 can be found on the links for the Raider golfers.
“We do not have any seniors this year,” said first-year head coach Keith Parsons. “We have 12 on the team – four juniors, six sophomores and two freshmen. It’s good to have seniors, but it’s great that we will theoretically have everybody back next year.”
Each week, the Raiders will meet at Foxfire Golf and Country Club and compete for a chance to play in the following week’s Sandhills Athletic Conference match.
“We only take six players to a match,” explained Parsons. “Then we take the four best scores from that group of six to represent us in the match.”
Richmond’s four best scores will be added together and that team score will be compared to other teams in the conference. The Raiders will then earn points based on where they finish in the conference standings that week.
Sophomore Jonathan Rich outshot his teammates in all but one of the conference matches last season, and is expected to once again lead the team. He averaged 43 strokes for every nine holes played, was the second lowest scorer among freshmen in the conference, and was one of three Raider golfers to qualify for the Midwest Regionals in 2018.
Joining Rich in the regionals last season were fellow freshmen (now sophomores) Jacob Puckett and Carter Richardson – both returning in 2019. Puckett was the only Raider to best Rich in a conference match outshooting his teammate 92-94 at Gates Four Country Club in Fayetteville.
Richardson’s average nine-hole score was just under 50 and he finished in the top half of the standings in almost every conference match.
Others returning from last season are juniors Evan McFayden and Jordan Lambert, as well as sophomores Jaxon Mabe and Will Thompson. Each of them saw limited playing time last season, but all of them competed in conference matches at some point.
Joining the team this year are juniors Bryson Lampley and Noah Altman. Each of them have some playing experience and both are expected to battle for one of the six spots in each week’s conference match. According to Parsons, Lampley will be competing in the season opener in Raeford.
Freshmen Ethan Brown and Brayden Bailey join the green and gold from Rockingham Middle School and Hamlet Middle School respectively. “They are both showing me that they want to be on this team,” Parsons said of the ninth graders. “They work hard and want to get better.”
New to the game of golf entirely is sophomore Dhruvil Patel. While he learns the game, Patel is taking on more of a team manager role in 2019, but plans give his teammates a run for their money next season.
Each member of the team has been showing signs of improvement with each practice. The biggest area of concern is arguably the toughest part of the game for any golfer.
“Putting is probably going to be a challenge,” Parsons share. “Putting takes so much practice and these guys do not really have somewhere that they can go and practice putting every day. We do come (to Foxfire) two days a week, but additional practices can get expensive.”
Just as he did during the girls’ season in the fall, the Raider head coach complimented the Foxfire staff for their hospitality. “Foxfire takes really good care of us,” Parson shared. “They are really, really great. They are always asking if there is anything that they can do for us and they make sure that we have whatever we need.”
Richmond opens its season at Bayonet at Puppy Creek Golf Course in Raeford on Monday.
