In recording a repeat performance for the first time in decades, Owen Love won his second state championship.
The Edison Eagles sophomore golfer shot a 2-under-par round of 70, then won the individual title outright with a birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Robinson Rams’ junior Raquel Walker (also with a 70) to defend his Virginia High School League Class 6 state golf tournament crown.
On a chilly and windy day, the 18-hole event was held Oct. 15 on the par-72 Norman course at the Lansdowne Resort in Loudoun County.
Love is the first repeat state golf champion at the VHSL’s highest enrollment classification since J.P. Leigh of Churchland High School in Portsmouth won the 1963 and 1964 titles. Love won last year’s crown outright in Harrisonburg with a 2-under 68 on the Heritage Oaks Golf Course.
At Lansdowne, Love was grouped in the first foursome of the day, teeing off at 9 a.m. After his round was finished about 2 p.m., he waited some three hours for the playoff to begin.
Love won the playoff by hitting his approach shot out of a fairway sand trap to about 15 feet of the cup on the par-5 18th hole. Love made that putt, then Walker missed a bit shorter of a birdie putt to end the competition.
Love’s round included three birdies and six pars on the front nine and two birdies and three bogeys on the back. He did birdie the 18th hole for a 33-37-70. Walker shot 34-36-70, making five birdies in all, including three in a row on holes three, four and five.
A year ago, Walker tied for 15th with a 76 in the state tournament in Harrisonburg.
Earlier this season, Walker won the 6C North Region tourney with a 71. Love finished third in the 6C region with a 73.
