FOREST — Ross Funderburke picked a good day to have his career-best round.
The Hidden Valley junior scorched London Downs Golf Club for a tournament-record 63 on the Par 72 layout Monday, winning the Heritage Invitational golf tournament by seven strokes.
Blacksburg took the team title with a three-shot win over the Titans, scoring 293 with no score higher than a 74.
Funderburke’s 63 came with a new strategy.
“I was swinging slower today,” he said. “I like to swing hard, but we didn’t get to hit as many balls as I wanted, so I didn’t go out and start swinging hard and hooking the ball. I was swinging slower and it worked for the first few holes, so I kept doing it.”
Swing slow and don’t overthink.
“The key to it was not getting in my own head,” Funderburke said. “I’ve come in second a lot — two of the last three years at the Metro — so it definitely feels good to win something.”
Funderburke has been playing well. He finished the State Open of Virginia at even par after shooting a 67 in the final round, good for a tie for 22nd among the state’s elite golfers, including professionals.
Funderburke birdied six of his first eight holes. After making a par on his first hole, which because of a shotgun start was the short par-4 third hole, he then birdied the uphill par-5 fourth, parred the fifth and then reeled off five straight birdies, sinking a 25-foot putt for birdie on the ninth.
The Titans’ captain was 10-under with one hole to play. Funderburke missed his par putt by a fraction of an inch for his only bogey.
“I wanted to watch it go in and I looked too soon and yanked it to the left,” he said. “I took advantage of all the short holes, which got me six under, then I made some long putts.”
Titans No. 2 player Jayde Dudley was the low scorer among the girls in the field, shooting a 74.
“We got two on this team that make it look easy. They’re very good,” Hidden Valley coach Scott Anthony said of Funderburke and Dudley.
Anthony said it would have been nice to win the team title, but “Blacksburg is a juggernaut,” he said.
The competition be- tween the teams is intense but friendly.
“Our kids play together all time. They respect each other, they get along. It’s really fun,” Anthony said.
Bruins coach Rick Mattox agreed that stiff competition from Hidden Valley is healthy for both teams.
The Bruins were led by Ben Carroll with a 1-under par 71. They counted three 74s from Jonah Winistorfer, Jake Duncan and Michael Joyce. Attesting to the Bruins’ depth, last year’s state individual champion in 4A, Soren Winistorfer shot a 75 and did not have his score count. Plus, the Bruins were without Chris Zheng and Melissa Meng, two players who typically play in the starting five and shoot near par.
Jefferson Forest, the only team to match Blacksburg with all scores in the 70s, finished two strokes behind Hidden Valley in third place. Garnet Manley III led the Cavs with a 70.
The Bruins, Titans and Cavs were the only teams in the 20-team field to break 300.
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