The NC State men’s golf team won the Wolfpack Intercollegiate Tournament at Lonnie Poole Golf Course Monday and Tuesday, beating 13 other schools with a score of 16 strokes under par.
Junior Stephen Franken shot a 66 and then a 65 on Monday, good for the best individual score of the day with an amazing -13 on the day. Tuesday, Franken shot a 70 which dropped him to 15 under par overall; he also beat the second-best individual score (Campbell’s Pontus Nyholm) by eight strokes. Franken had a total of 21 birdies and had just five holes where he shot bogey or worse.
Junior Nolan Mills Jr. shot a 71 in the first two rounds and a 73 in the third, finishing with the 13th-best individual score at the tournament with a 215 stroke count (-1).
Sophomore Benjamin Shipp shot a 72 in the first round, 71 in the second round and a 75 in the third for a score of 218 which tied for the 25th-best score.
Freshman Easton Paxton struggled in the second round with a score of 79, but he recovered in the third round with a stroke count of 70, pinning him at 220 strokes in a tie for 31st overall.
Sophomore Christian Salzer shot a three-over-par 75 in the first and last rounds and a 73 in the second round for a 223 total, finishing in a tie for 40th place.
No player on NC State’s competition team scored over par on the back nine on their way to the comeback win.
Junior Justin Hood shot a 218 and junior Harrison Rhoades shot a 219. Neither Hood nor Rhoades was on the NC State team competing in the tournament but went and played as individuals.
NC State as a team shot 280 in both of the first two rounds on Monday, led by Franken who got off to a hot start with birdies on six of the first seven holes. In the first two rounds, Franken birdied 17 of 36 holes and built up a seven-shot lead over second-place golfer William Register of UNC-Chapel Hill. NC State players had 17 holes combined where they had birdies on the second day, and they finished the day with an even par.
On the second day NC State was down late to the Tar Heels, but caught them in the final three holes as NC State shot just one stroke over par and UNC had five strokes over par which allowed NC State to pass them and win by two strokes in the overall competition.
NC State won with 16 strokes under par, UNC placed second by going 14 strokes under par, Campbell shot just one under par and got third place, Loyola placed fourth and East Carolina University and Maryland tied for fifth place.
The men’s golf team will be back in action Oct. 27 and 28 when they play in the UNC-Greensboro Grandover Intercollegiate competition.
