FAYETTEVILLE – For the first time this season, freshman Jonathan Rich was not the top finisher for Richmond Senior High School at a Sandhills Athletic Conference golf match.
It was fellow ninth grader Jacob Puckett who led the Raiders on Monday at Gates Four Golf and Country Club in Fayetteville. Puckett’s 92 strokes matched his season best. He also finished with 92 in Raeford at the season opener just over a month ago.
It was the conference’s second trip to Gates Four this season. The SAC teams played the course back on March 19 in week two of conference play. Puckett, Rich, and senior Evin Mabe are the only three Raiders that competed in both of the Gates Four matches. Puckett reduced his stroke count from the previous visit by four strokes, while Rich and Mabe had a more difficult time adding 14 and 13 stokes respectively to their March scores.
Even though Rich’s 94 on Monday was his worst score of the season, he is still leading all of his teammates by at least 49 strokes and is the second-best freshman in the conference. Carter Richardson finished the day with a 107, freshman Jaxon Mabe shot a 110, and Evin Mabe followed with a 114.
Since only the top four scores for each school are used to calculate team scores, Evin Mabe’s 114 was dropped, giving the Raiders a total of 403 on the day. They finished in fifth place behind Pinecrest (304), Purnell Swett (321), Jack Britt (353), and Scotland (350) high schools.
The Raiders have finished in fifth place in each match this season except in week two, when they edged out the Scots for fourth place. With Richmond now 133 strokes behind the Scots in the overall standings, the Raiders will most likely have to settle for fifth place this season. Richmond will look to finish strong next Monday in the season finale at Pinehurst Resort.
