Record breaking start

Published 7:26 pm Monday, August 9, 2010

In his first golf match as a Bulldog, Adam Peebles set a new King’s Fork record for the 7-year-old golf program by catching fire over his last six holes and shooting a 6-under-par 66 at Nansemond River Golf Club Monday.

King’s Fork defeated Lakeland, 384-428, in the opening match of the season for both sides. Ryan Sigler led the Cavaliers with an 89. Andrew Womack shot 98 for KF’s next-best round.

Peebles, a sophomore who’s transferred into KF from Portsmouth Christian, where he was a 2-time conference MVP in the Metro Conference, was playing excellent through his first 11 holes.

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Peebles was 2-under par on his front nine and the same through 11. Even with a low score going, one small, forgivable mistake spurred Peebles on to his red-hot finish. He missed a 4-foot par putt on No. 12.

After finishing on No. 18, Peebles brought up the short miss, but said it served more as motivation rather than something to dwell on. “I was thinking I just had to get that shot back,” he said.

From there, “it was just a lot of fun to watch,” said KF head coach Calvin Mitchell.

He got a lot of shots back, playing the last six holes, a very challenging set of holes at the end of a hot day around Nansemond River, with an eagle, three birdies and two pars.

On the 524-yard, par-5 No. 13, Peebles hit a drive in the neighborhood of 320 yards down the left side of the fairway.

He followed with a 5-iron from “about 200-205 yards” that landed softly on the front of the green and settled 12 feet from the pin. Peebles rolled the eagle putt in. The eagle was the second one in KF golf history.

Peebles kept rolling, and rolling putts in from 10-20 feet away, with birdies on Nos. 15, 17 and 18. On No. 17, Peebles struck a short iron directly over the pin, set on the narrow right side of the par four’s island green, to 10 feet from the hole.

“I was just putting well today. I hit the ball pretty decent all the way around. I missed a four-footer on 12, but other than that I putted well,” Peebles said. It was the second 66 he’s shot at Nansemond River.

“Everyone played much, much better today than from day one,” Mitchell said.

Griffin Saylor shot 103 and Jordan Gist shot 117 to complete KF’s team score.

The Bulldogs and Cavaliers face usual district heavyweights in their next matches. Lakeland plays Great Bridge at Sleepy Hole Golf Course Wednesday. KF meets Western Branch Thursday at Sleepy Hole.