Don’t look now, but Jerry Haas’ Wake Forest team looks like it means business.
The Demon Deacons, a legitimate No. 2 in the latest Golfstat rankings, claimed a nine-shot victory over Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina, ranked 13th, in the Wake Forest Invitational, which wrapped up Tuesday at the Pinehurst Resort’s iconic Donald Ross masterpiece, the No. 2 Course, in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C.
Sure, it was Wake Forest’s own tournament, but Pinehurst No. 2, site of the 2019 U.S. Amateur, is a great equalizer. Every team in the 12-team field, which included a Wake Forest B team, is a better team for having battled the 7,125-yard, par-70 layout in difficult conditions. Not sure how tough the conditions were for Monday’s double round, but it didn’t look like temperatures got out of the 40s in the Village of Pinehurst for Tuesday’s final round.
Wake Forest had won its last outing, the Kiawah Invitational at the Oak Point Golf Club on Kiawah Island, S.C., but did so without the services of two of its best players, Alex Fitzpatrick, a junior from England and No. 25 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Mark Power, a sophomore from Ireland and No. 27 in the WAGR, both of whom had teed it up in the Jones Cup Invitational at the Ocean Forest Golf Club on Sea Island, Ga.
Michael Brennan, a freshman from Leesburg, Va., took advantage of the absence of his more celebrated teammates to capture the individual crown at Oak Point. Well, Fitzpatrick and Power were in the lineup at Pinehurst and Brennan still captured the individual title with a 5-under-par 205 total.
After registering a 1-over 71 in Monday morning’s opening round, Brennan ripped off a 4-under 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round. The scores would seem to indicate that the setup for Monday afternoon’s second round was a little more gettable than in the other two rounds.
After an early bogey at the second hole in Tuesday’s final round, Brennan made back-to-back birdies at nine and 10 and added one more birdie at the 13th for a 2-under 68 that left him a shot ahead of North Carolina State’s Max Steinlechner, a sophomore from Austria, and North Carolina’s Peter Fountain, a freshman from Raleigh, N.C.
Wake Forest opened with a 1-over 281 Monday morning, took command with a 4-under 276 behind Brennan’s sizzling 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round and closed with a solid 3-under 277 for a 6-under 834 total.
North Carolina was coming off a pretty strong showing itself as the Tar Heels shared the team crown with Arizona in The Prestige, an event that featured some of the top teams in the West at the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif.
North Carolina struggled in Monday morning’s opening round with a 12-over 292, but bounced right back with the best team round of the tournament, a 7-under 273 in Monday afternoon’s second round that left them eight shots behind Wake Forest heading into Tuesday’s final round. The Tar Heels finished strong with a 2-under 278 that left them nine shots behind their ACC rival with a 3-over 843 total.
It was another 14 shots back to No. 35 North Carolina State, which finished in third place at 17-over 857. The Wolfpack matched North Carolina’s opening-round 292, but got it going in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 1-under 279. N.C. State closed with a 6-over 286 in Tuesday’s final round.
No. 36 Duke was four shots behind N.C. State in fourth place at 21-over 861, the Blue Devils adding a solid 1-under 279 in Monday afternoon’s second round to their opening-round 287 before stumbling a little in Tuesday’s final round with a 295.
No. 43 Virginia made it an all-ACC top five, although the Cavaliers finished 16 shots behind Duke in fifth place with a 37-over 877 total. Virginia opened with a 293 and added a solid 8-over 288 before finishing up with a 296 Tuesday.
Backing up Brennan for Wake Forest was Fitzpatrick, who matched the low round of the day in Tuesday’s final round with a 3-under 67 that featured an eagle on the par-5 10th hole, to finish alone in fourth place at 3-under 207. Fitzpatrick, who reached the second round of match play in the 2019 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst, had opened with solid rounds of 1-over 71 and 1-under 69 in Monday’s double round.
Graduate student Eric Bae, whose family moved from South Korea to Pinehurst when he was a youngster, was one of three players who landed in a tie for eighth place at 2-over 212. Bae had the low round for the Demon Deacons in Monday morning’s opening round with a 2-under 68 before matching par with a 70 in Monday afternoon’s second round and closing with a 74.
Parker Gillam, a senior from Cary, N.C., was a shot behind the trio tied for eighth place as he finished alone in 11th place at 3-over 213. Gillam was solid throughout for the Demon Deacons, opening with a 1-over 71 and adding a 2-over 72 in Monday afternoon’s second round before matching par in Tuesday’s final round with a 70.
Rounding out the lineup for Wake Forest was Power, who, after struggling in the opening round with a 79, bounced back with a 1-over 71 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 2-over 72 Tuesday that left him among the group tied for 32nd place at 222.
Fitzpatrick and Power are on the list released late last year by the Royal & Ancient of 15 candidates for the Great Britain & Ireland team that will square off against the United States in the Walker Cup Match in the middle of the college postseason in May at another iconic American layout, Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla.
The fifth-best total recorded by a Wake Forest player was actually turned in by Fulton Smith, a sophomore from Pinehurst who finished in the group tied for 15th place at 7-over 217 to lead the way for the B team fielded by the Demon Deacons. The Wake B team shared ninth place with Boston College at 53-over 893.
N.C. State’s Steinlachner had actually taken the lead with his 2-under 68 in Monday morning’s opening round. A second-round 71 left him two shots behind Brennan and Steinlachner matched Fitzpatrick for the low round of the day in Tuesday’s final round, a 3-under 67 that left him a shot behind Brennan at 4-under 206.
North Carolina’s Fountain joined Steinlachner at that figure as Fountain, after opening with a 2-over 72, matched Brennan’s sparkling 6-under 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 2-under 68.
Steinlachner’s N.C. State teammate, Benjamin Shipp, a graduate student from Duluth, Ga., and Duke’s Adrien Pendaries, a senior from France, finished three shots behind Wake Forest’s Fitzpatrick in a tie for fifth place at even-par 210.
Shipp started slowly with a 74 in Monday morning’s opening round before getting it going with a 3-under 67 in Monday afternoon’s second round and finishing up with a 1-under 69. Pendaries sandwiched a 2-under 68 in Monday afternoon’s second round with a pair of 71s.
Backing up Fountain for North Carolina was sophomore Ryan Gerard, like Fountain from Raleigh, N.C. Gerard finished alone in seventh place at 1-over 211, a shot behind Shipp and Pendaries. After opening with a 73, Gerard matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 70 before closing with a solid 2-under 68.
Joining Wake Forest’s Bae in a tie for eighth place at 2-over 212 were another Tar Heel, Austin Greaser, a sophomore from Vandalia, Ohio, and Augusta’s Ben van Wyk, a sophomore from South Africa. Greaser bounced back from an opening-round 76 with a 3-under 67 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 1-under 69. Van Wyk was one of the few players to better par in the opening round with a 1-under 69. He added a 71 in Monday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 72.
North Carolina also got a strong showing from junior Dougie Ergood, a product of Lenape High in Mount Laurel, N.J. who showed up on Golf Association of Philadelphia leaderboards as a junior player. Ergood struggled to a 77 in the opening round, but matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 70 before closing with a 73 that left him among the group tied for 22nd place at 7-over 217.
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