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Korey Watts is just a freshman at James River High School but on Tuesday October 20, he finished second place in the State 1A Golf tournament in Richmond. Not often do you find a freshman Golf medalist on the state level.  When Watts joined the team in the summer, school hadn't even begun so he had yet to spend a full day of instruction time.  He had already embraced the golf team, though. Said Coach John Shotwell, "Korey is an awesome player and played well all season. He really had a good tournament." Earlier this season he won the Heritage Invitational in Forest where shot a 71 under par and James River was the only single A team to finish in the top five and came in second."

"Region C is a tough golf district and that showed on the state level. The state champions and runners up came from this region Giles County beat Galax," said Shotwell.  "72 golfers competed at the State 1A championship. Korey really competed to come in second. Zeke Sheffer won."

Korey finished 2nd. Here are the scores for first and second
Zeke Shaffer 73 70 total 143
Korey Watts 73 75 total 148

The Knights won the Pioneer District for the 10th year in a row, but Watts was the only one to qualify for state.

Watts said, "I play golf regularly at Botetourt Country Club." He laughed when asked about a trophy, "I got a small plaque for coming in second in the state." He hopes to have a prosperous four years of golfing as a member of the James River Knights Golf team.

State photos by the Edward Watts, Shotwell/Watts photo Cathy Benson