Leisure, Warriors win at Meadowcreek

By Scott Ratcliffe
Published: September 30, 2008

For the seventh year in a row, Western Albemarle walked away with the Jefferson District tournament title on Tuesday afternoon at Meadowcreek Golf Course. The Warriors’ top player, Patrick Leisure, fought off Monticello’s Kevin Archer in a playoff to win the individual crown.

Coming in, all eyes were on defending Group AA champion Mikey Moyers from William Monroe, who ultimately finished one stroke off the lead with a 72. Leisure and Archer each notched a 1-over 71.

After the tournament, Western coach Darren Maynard earned district coach of the year honors, and talked about how much it meant to bring another trophy back to Crozet.

“We’re pretty excited about it, we’ve had a really good year,” said Maynard, whose team had already won the regular season title. “It’s kind of not as special if you win [the regular season] without winning the [district] tournament too.”

The Warriors won the team title convincingly with a total of 298. The battle for second place and a berth in the Region II tournament came down to a single stroke, as Monticello edged out William Monroe, 313 to 314.

“It was a little nerve-wracking,” Monticello coach Pam Bradley said. “These kids have really hung together through the season. This is the time of year when you want to start peaking, and our district is so strong, so we feel very fortunate to move on.”

Monticello’s Archer got out to an impressive start; posting birdies on three of his first seven holes, and remained at three under through nine. Leisure and Moyers, who each birdied the par-4 ninth, were breathing down his neck at two strokes back.

Leisure gave two back as he bogeyed the 10th and 11th to put him at 1-over, Moyers birdied No. 10 to put him at 2-under, and Archer notched pars on both holes to stay at 3-under.

“It felt pretty good. I hit the ball pretty well and was putting good,” Archer said.

That’s when things started getting interesting.

On the par-5 12th, Leisure came away with a par, while Archer double-bogeyed and Moyers triple-bogeyed. Archer bogeyed again at 14, and all three golfers were within a stroke.

“I three-putted 10 and missed short putts on 11 and 12 and was a little frustrated,” Leisure said. “[Moyers and Archer]’s struggles kind of kept me in it a little bit.”

Moyers’ chances worsened when he gave another stroke back on the following hole, however, and Archer followed suit as he shot a five on the par-4 15th.

“It was a three putt, I was trying to play too aggressive,” revealed Moyers. “I was trying to hang in there for my team because I knew it was going to be close.”

Leisure got up and down for par on the remaining holes to force a playoff with Archer to decide the championship.

Orange County senior Hunter Weaver was at 3-under through 17 and decided he wanted to go out strong in his final JD tournament.

“On 18, I had one shot left and I said to myself ‘Let’s go for it,’ and it turned out well,” said Weaver, who had a birdie attempt to close out his round at 2-over. “I just happened to get lucky and made the putt.”

That was enough to tie Moyers and force a separate playoff to determine third place. Ultimately, Weaver finished fourth as Moyers barely missed an eagle putt, but sank his birdie to finish his last district tournament in third.

“Any time you get a chance to play somebody that good, that’s where you want to be,” Weaver said. “It was fun, Mikey and I are friends. I lost, but I lost to one of the best.”

Both Moyers and Weaver will be participating in next week’s Region II tournament with an opportunity to advance to the state competition, which Weaver missed by a stroke last year.

“Regionals is kind of a qualifier for states, that’s the way I look at it,” said Moyers. “I’d like to win it, but states is the big thing.”

In the sudden-death playoff, Leisure’s tee shot bounced on the cart path, leaving him in good shape for his second shot, which ended up in the bunker off the right side of the green. Archer was about 100 yards out after two shots, and left his approach 40 feet from the cup.

Leisure knew he needed a clutch sand save to keep him in contention, and that’s exactly what he delivered. His shot landed about seven feet away from the cup.

Archer missed a birdie attempt that came up a few feet short, leaving the door open for Leisure, who stepped up and sunk the putt to wrap it up.

Western and Monticello earned a spot in Monday’s region tournament at Old Trail, where the Warriors play their home matches and are quite comfortable.

“We think we have a pretty good chance,” Maynard admitted. “We’re confident that we can play well there and we know there will be a lot of good teams there with us.”