MINERAL WELLS, WV --In his first outing of 2002, David Bradshaw (Harpers Ferry, WV/Jefferson) took down a legendary mark. Jason Pierson, who finished a brilliant four-year career at Shepherd College last spring, had one of his records shattered yesterday. The old two-day match set of 72-76 (four over par) now belongs to David Bradshaw with a super performance of 70-71 (par 71). Both David and Jason are graduates of Jefferson HS, and both are Bakerton WV products. David's record-setting day helped elevate the young Rams to a 10th place finish (20 team field) in the tough two-day rainy event. The Rams were in 15th place after the first day.
Medal honors went to players from West Liberty and Ohio Valley who tied at three under par for the two-day event contested at Woodridge Plantation GC in Mineral Wells WV. Those two players ironically are seniors from Canada.
The remainder of team scoring was: Billy Clusman (Ijamsville, MD/ Urbana) (76-77) , Justin Hockman (Martinsburg, WV/Martinsburg) (81-80), Jason Ferguson (Bel Air, MD/C. Milton Wright) (84-81), and Geoff Howard who played his
first EVER competition and did not figure into the team score. The Rams
next action will be Monday and Tuesday September 30 and October 1 at the
WVIAC Central Regional staged at Canaan State Park. Last year, Jason
Pierson was the medalist at that event.
Coach's Notes - "David played some of the best golf I have ever seen at
Shepherd. To place third in a 100 man field is a major accomplishment. In
both rounds he would stumble and then go under par. It was conceivable
that he would have won the event had it not been for one errant shot the
second day. David is a great player and conducts himself like a
gentleman on the course. I am also very happy with the rest of the
team. All five players played the kind of golf I was proud of. Our
freshmen showed some signs of nerves at times, but all in all I know we
will see much better scores from this team at our next outing. Billy
Clusman will be a major player as will Justin Hockman. Jason Ferguson
only needs to maintain focus down the stretch. Geoff Howard was in his
first ever tournament. I think that this will be a most interesting
year this season. With our qualifying play this week, I look for Chris
Butcher (Musselman) and Seamus Meteer to really get after it. Both
David and Billy by virtue of their scores are exempt from the
qualifiers. I am looking forward to the regional and I think we will be
showing the rest of the conference a contender this year."