LAURINBURG — The final spring sports program to start its new season, the Richmond Raider golf team competed for the first time earlier in the week.
Richmond and head coach Keith Parsons participated in the opening Sandhills Athletic Conference match held at Scotch Meadows Country Club Monday.
Facing the six other teams in the conference, Richmond finished the day in sixth place. Taking the top four scores from each team, the Raiders shot a 199 in the nine-hole event.
Winning the first match of the season was Pinecrest High School (146). Also ahead of Richmond were Lee County (176), Union Pines (183) and Hoke and Southern Lee (both 185) high schools.
The Raiders stroke total was 10 better than last-place Scotland High School (209).
Leading the Raiders were sophomore Kevin Tabacolde and freshman CJ Turner, both of whom shot a 47. Tabacolde returned to start his second season with the team and Turner made his high school debut.
Richmond’s other two qualifying scores came from senior Damon Bryant and sophomore James Pack.
Playing golf for the first time in high school, Bryant shot a 50. Pack, another returning golfer for the Raiders, posted a final shot total of 55.
Also competing to finish in the top four standings of the team were senior first-year golfer Samuel Hawks (57) and sophomore returner DJ Gainey (60).
“For the first match, I’m happy with how we played,” Parsons said. “As always with golf, I’m sure our players would tell you they left strokes out on the course. That’s part of it.
“Great debut by CJ; I expect we will see a lot more of that from him,” he added.
The Raiders’ next match will be Tuesday at Sanford Golf Club. The nine-hole event will start at 3 p.m.
