When play finished on Sunday afternoon and Old North State Golf Club began to empty out, echoes of an all too familiar refrain could once again be clearly heard from the Wolfpack.
As has been the case for most of the Spring season, State entered the tournament with high expectations only to see them get battered in the opening round. Following in suit, freshman Albin Choi and sophomore Mitch Sutton yet again both made individual appearances in the top-15 while watching the rest of their team leave with more disappointment than was hoped for.
“I didn’t play so hot,” Senior Brandon Detweiler said. “I had a good round yesterday and that’s about it. They [Choi and Sutton] have played well and have held up our team a lot, especially this spring where we haven’t played well as a team.”
Detweiler was a part of the sixth place finish that No. 25 N.C. State registered this weekend. Despite playing in a talented conference that features eight teams ranked in the top-50, Detweiler said the middle of the road finish could easily be classified as underachieving no matter the circumstance.
“That was a very poor performance,” Detweiler said. “We had bad conditions in the first round that we started in and that was kind of a bad draw to start out with. Right after we teed off, it started raining. Either way, it was a poor performance. It definitely wasn’t up to our standards.”
The inclement weather that accompanied the first day proved to be a major stumbling block for the Pack. Detweiler was forced to scramble back from an opening 79 (+7), while a team total of 295 (+7) put State in catch-up mode. It was the fourth consecutive tournament in which the team’s opening round ended up being the worst total of the event.
For Choi and Sutton, the ACC Championship was another performance marked by consistency. Choi, participating the annual London, N.C. tournament for the first time, said he enjoyed the experience despite the Pack’s difficulties.
“It was my first time there and all in all, it was a great week,” Choi said. “I would have liked to have finished better, but it was still a great week.”
With his fellow countryman Sutton matching his 13th place finish, Choi had a chance to reflect on his freshman season. The team will have to wait around two weeks until their destination for NCAA Regionals is determined.
“We have definitely played well all year,” Choi said. “We both left a lot of shots out there today, but it’s been a solid year.”
As the regular season has come to a close, State has now turned its focused on individual improvements that have to be made if the team wishes to advance past the regional stage.
“Definitely our next focus is just to keep working on our games and just managing our games better,” Choi said. “We can’t make stupid mistakes and keep giving away shots. We’re trying to get to the NCAAs and we just need to keep everything sharp.”
Although several Pack members admitted their frustrations, the silver lining appears to be how each player will have ample time to work on their respective games before being put to the test. For many of them, they also know what specific areas that need fine tuning.
“My putting really let me down this week,” Choi said. “I think I hit the ball great all week, but whenever I needed to make a putt it just wouldn’t drop. That’s something I am going to continue working on.”
