Varjun keeps NC State men’s golf afloat for 8th place at the Mason Rudolph Championship

Brennan Weiss, Assistant Sports Editor • Apr 7, 2026

Freshman Joey Lenane tees off during the Wolfpack Intercollegiate tournament on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Lenane had a score of 6-over. NC State tied for second place.

After stringing together strong performances in the spring season, NC State men’s golf struggled against a competitive field in the Mason Rudolph Championship.

Hosted by No. 11 Vanderbilt, the tournament featured five top-20 teams including No.1 Auburn, and NC State took eighth place out of 15 teams. The Wolfpack’s usual strong performers found themselves in the middle of the leaderboard, and redshirt senior Markus Varjun led the Pack instead.

Varjun — a transfer student and Estonian national — put together one of his better performances with NC State, finishing at 1-over-par for a tie at 18th. Varjun marked three bogeys in a row to bring his score in the final 18 holes to a 3-over-par score, but his strong opening rounds kept him toward the top. Varjun’s former school, Middle Tennessee, finished one spot ahead of the Wolfpack in seventh.

Senior Joey Lenane was next up in a tie for 25th. Lenane is often a steady hand for the Pack, and he finished 1-over-par in each of the tournament’s three rounds. The Mason Rudolph Championship was Lenane’s best performance by placement in the spring, as he hasn’t finished above 25th place since October.

Redshirt sophomore spring transfer Rylan Shim finished two strokes behind Lenane in a tie for 32nd place. Shim started the tournament with a strong round one, ending at 2-under-par with four birdies, but fell off the rest of the way. Shim’s scorecard was blighted by nine bogeys and one double bogey in the last two rounds, leading to a five-over-par finish.

Sophomores Xander Goboy and Pearce Lewin brought up the rear. Goboy finished in a tie for 48th place at 9-over par, while Lewin tied for 57th place at 11-over-par. By stroke, those are Goboy and Lewin’s worst performances for NC State, and a far cry from the consistency they’ve brought to the team in the spring.

At the top of the leaderboard, No. 1 Auburn, No.11 Vanderbilt, No. 12 Tennessee and No. 13 Ole Miss finished first through fourth in order of best to worst national ranking. Head coach Bo Andrews has some work to do if he wants his team competing with the top of the country, but the Pack did finish ahead of Vanderbilt’s B-team and No. 48 Kentucky.

Next up, the Pack will take on its final regular season tournament, the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial in Charlottesville, Virginia, on April 13 and 14.