Five of the six members of the Pinecrest boys’ golf team responded to the difficult conditions with rounds in the 70s. Russell Burke earned medalist honors with an even-par 70. He was backed by Jack Fields with a 71, Eric Sheerin with a 74 and Patrick Barrett and Tommy Lineber-ger, each with a 78.
The winning Patriot team score of 293 put Pinecrest in sole possession of first place in the Mid-Southeastern Conference. The other team scores were Richmond County 316, Jack Britt 332, Scotland 341 and Douglas Byrd 436.
Burke, an all-conference performer last year as a freshman, had not cracked 80 in any of the previous three conference matches.
“At the beginning of the year, I shot an 82 or an 83 and kind of lost my confidence,” Burke said afterward. “Lately, all of my shots had been hooks and I’ve been trying to straighten that out. Kelly Mitchum (Pinehurst teaching pro) has given me some swing thoughts and that has helped.
“On Friday I played well for the first 13 holes at Anderson Creek and that helped me get my confidence back.”
Burke finished with a 78 at the Anderson Creek Invitational. Monday’s round included three birdies, a bogey and a double bogey. He chipped in for a birdie on the par-3 seventh hole.
“It pretty much rained the whole time,” he said. “It went from cold to really cold.”
The scores by Fields and Sheerin were also their best in conference matches this season.
Winners of four consecutive conference titles, coach Sandy Sackmann’s squad was knocked out of first place two weeks ago at Gates Four when they finished third in a match behind Richmond and Jack Britt. They have won the last two weeks by 18 and 23 strokes.
Russell was asked if the loss served as a wake-up call.
“Mrs. Sackmann’s speech on the bus was the wake-up call,” he said. “She was pretty upset and we were pretty upset, too. Everybody played well today, especially Eric (Sheerin). We’re starting to get some confidence as a team.”
The Patriots’ sixth player, Kevin MacDonald, shot an 83 at No. 1. Other rounds in the 70s were Brandon Jobe (Jack Britt) 73, David Watkins (Richmond) 75, Brian Fournier (Richmond) 78 and Scott Bennett (Scotland) 79. The Patriots are just one point ahead of the Raiders (30-29) in the battle for first place.
“I was really proud of them,” Sackmann said. “They kept fighting that weather.”
Pinecrest finished fifth out of 16 teams with a score of 305 in the elite field at Anderson Creek on Friday. The Patriots were led by Fields with a 71 and Barrett with a 72. Green Hope won the event with a 4-under-par total of 284.
Next Monday’s conference match is scheduled to be played at Gates Four.
