Three Wolfpack golfers finished in the top-25 of the 55-player field, and State finished seventh as a team at the 2010 ACC Men’s Golf Championship in New London.
“We are not pleased with our finish,” junior Brandon Detweiler said. “We are a very good team and seventh place is not acceptable. We are a much better team than that. Every tournament we go to, we want to win and I feel like we are good enough to win every tournament.”
Junior Matt Hill, the defending national champion, led the way with a third place finish after entering Sunday’s third and final day of action in a tie for first place. But a year after taking home a share of the individual ACC title with a 10-under (206), Hill struggled Sunday, finishing the weekend with a seven-under (209) after windy weather hampered him on day three, when he shot a two-over (74).
“Matt played well as usual,” Detweiler said. “But he did not play well today, which hurt.”
Hill’s effort helped the Pack to a two-over (866) finish, good enough for seventh place in the 11-team tournament, which Georgia Tech ran away with by shooting 23-under (841), 10 strokes better than the second place Virginia Cavaliers. The Pack shot one-under (287) on both the first and final days of the tournament, but its four-over (292) performance Saturday caused the team to finish three places lower than it did a year ago, when Hill’s victory spearheaded State’s fourth place finish.
After Hill, the best Wolfpack performer was senior Adam Hogue. Hogue shot a two-under (70) Sunday and posted a one-under (215) tournament total to take 15th place. He was closely followed by freshman Mitchell Sutton, who placed 21st with a one-over (217).
“Sutton played a great round today when we needed him,” Detweiler said. “And Hogue has been playing well the past couple tournaments. He finished second at our home tournament and he has played solid ball.”
Sutton finished his first ever conference tournament strong, leading the Pack on Sunday with a four-under (68) on the strength of six final-round birdies.
“Mitch is a good player and he is definitely a great addition to the team,” Detweiler said. “And he will be great in the future, especially if he matures. His performance Sunday is going to help out his confidence as well as our coach’s in him, especially that he can perform like that when we need him. It is definitely good to know that I have a teammate that is a freshman that is capable of doing that.”
Rounding out the Wolfpack’s weekend were senior Brad Revell and sophomore Mark McMillen. Revell finished in 43rd place with a nine-over (225) and McMillen shot a 12-over (228) to finish four spots behind Revell.
