Heading into last week’s tournament in Anandaw S.C., the golf team was sorely in need of a good showing. Coming off of a ninth place finish at the Puerto Rico Golf Classic and a 16th place finish at the Chris Schenkel/Ez-Go Invitational, the team felt it was underperforming during the spring season.
But freshman Matt Hill turned things around, leading the team to a win in the Hooties at Bulls Bay tournament (hosted by Hootie and the Blowfish) in Anandaw. Hill shot a nine-under (204) to win the individual title. As a team, State shot 14-under par to also win the tournament, which was huge for the team, according to sophomore Kent Copeland.
“We pretty much blistered the field the last day.” Copeland said.
In the Invitational, the Wolfpack beat 11 ranked teams, seven of which were in the top-20. The team also placed three golfers in the top 10 individually and four in the top 15, leading the Pack to its first spring win since 1997. In order to qualify for regionals, the Pack must finish with a record better than .500. Currently, the team stands below that mark, but junior Darren Blair and Copeland both said the team is optimistic about their chances.
“We are on the way up, which is great,” Blair said. “We’re just below .500 with 4 tournaments left, including ACCs. We have to play really well to get into regionals, but we are playing very well right now.”
“Our outlook is very positive,” Copeland said. “We have a lot of confidence right now and a lot of momentum, and we just need to keep it rolling into the next couple tournaments and make it to regionals.”
Copeland also praised the leadership of Hill.
“Matt Hill has been lighting it up,” Copeland said. “He’s a freshman and he has really stepped it up. He has given our team a boost and we’re feeding off him.”
The team will compete in the Administaff Invitational in Augusta, Ga., starting this Friday. The team hopes to continue their recent momentum with a strong showing and climb closer to the .500 record that will earn it a trip to the regional tournament.
“We expect to do pretty well,” Copeland said. “We have a lot of confidence coming off this win last week.”
As for the rest of the season, the team has a very positive outlook and a good deal of confidence.
“We all believe we are good enough as a team to win the ACC championship,” Blair said. “We believe we can make it to regionals and then to nationals and do well in nationals.”