Golf: Churchland wins Eastern District title

By Chic Riebel

The Virginian-Pilot

NORFOLK

When Ryan Phelps forced himself out of bed at 5 a.m. Wednesday, he didn’t know it was going to be the greatest day of his golf life.

All he could think about was how the day’s schedule might affect his play.

“It’s really hard getting up that early,” said the Churchland junior, who had a 7 a.m. tee time in the Eastern District tournament at Ocean View. “You feel tired and you don’t have a chance to go on the driving range before you play. When you go to the first tee, it’s your first swing of the day.”

Once Phelps got on the course, there was nothing tired about his performance off the tee, or anyplace else.

Phelps shot a 2-under 68, giving him a two-day total of 141, to win his second straight district medalist honor by 19 strokes over Jay Einhorn of Maury.

Phelps also led the Truckers to their third consecutive district tournament championship.

“My best score ever, anywhere,” Phelps said. “I just did the shots I could and went for pins.

“My putting helped. I worked on it yesterday and the day before, and it came to me today. I drained everything.”

Phelps, who had a 7-stroke lead after compiling a 1-over 73 in Tuesday’s first round at Bide-A-Wee, was never pushed by the others in the leader group. Einhorn’s 81 was the next-best effort in the foursome.

The lack of competition didn’t affect Phelps, who had three of his four birdies on a 3-under back nine.

“It’s better when the other guys you are playing with are playing well, but with a 7-shot lead, I knew I just had to play my game,” he said.

“Ryan was amazing,” Churchland coach Billy Kline said. “He gave himself chances at makeable putts, then he made them. He also avoided the bogeys that sometimes hit him.”

Churchland (645) easily out-pointed Maury (684) and Granby (687) in the team competition. All three qualified for the Eastern Region tournament Oct. 5-6 at Sleepy Hole.

The Truckers breezed because Phelps wasn’t the only one who elevated his game. Asia McDonald (172) cut 12 strokes off her Tuesday score and Kevin Gahagan (173) pared seven while Stephen Butts was a consistent 81-82 – 163.

“We definitely made a good comeback after shooting 332 yesterday,” Kline said. “A lot of these holes at Ocean View are short, and you just have to put your driver up, take out a hybrid and put it in the short grass and control the golf ball. We did a good job of that. We played a lot smarter.”

The Truckers don’t expect to be contenders for the region title. An Eastern District team hasn’t finished in the top two since Granby did it in 1995.

“Sixth or seventh would be our goal,” Kline said. “We could be real proud of that.”

Phelps, though, has a legitimate shot to become the first district golfer since 2002 to earn an individual state tournament berth.

“Ryan’s goal should be to put together two good rounds at region,” Kline said. “If he makes his putts, you may see him in the state tournament. He strikes the ball as well as anyone in the region.”

Chic Riebel, (757) 446-2367, chic.riebel@pilotonline.com

Eastern District tournament

Final round

At Ocean View, par 72

Team scores (top three teams advance to Eastern Region tournament): Churchland 332-313--645; Maury 353-331--684; Granby 39-348--687; Norview 376-380--756; Norcom 409-425--834

Churchland individuals: Ryan Phelps 73-68—141; Stephen Butts 81-82—163; Asia McDonald 92-80—172; Kevin Gahagan 90-83—173; Justin Bayless 88-86—174; Ben Hayes 95-86—181.

Maury individuals: Jay Einhorn 79-81—166; Kevin Radford 90-76—166; Kevin Cartoski 89-79—168; Ryan Hess 97-95—192; Sam Triplett 95-97—192.

Granby individuals: Christian Rivera 80-83—163; Sam Robinson 79-87—166; Ryan Gillooly 85-80—165; Brittany Nichol 45-98—213; Kenny Clarke 110-109—219.

Other region qualifiers: Rusty Cullen (Norview) 90-81—171; Shane Stewart (Norview) 87-95—182.