The NC State men’s golf team finished eighth of 15 teams in the General Hackler Championship March 10-11 at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

NC State shot +14 at 878 strokes in three rounds, shooting 290, 292 and 296. It was a tough field of teams overall, with three other ACC teams and a number of solid nonconference opponents, including second-ranked Texas A&M.

Troubling for the Pack, it finished third out of the four ACC teams. A strong conference will make it difficult to contend, so NC State will need to play much better than it has in the last two tournaments. Also, a downward trend of scores throughout the weekend will not suffice against some of the top teams.

Junior Stephen Franken and freshman Easton Paxton led the Pack all tournament. Franken finished tied for 11th at -2, despite being as high as second place. NC State has leaned on him to be its No. 1 guy this season. Paxton shot even par to find a top-20 finish.

The rest of the team did not perform as well. Sophomore Benjamin Shipp fell out of the top 20 after day one, finishing tied for 45th at +6. He has also been one of the top performers this season.

The bottom two NC State golfers, junior Nolan Mills Jr. and sophomore Christian Salzer, finished tied for 59th at +10 and tied for 81st at +20, respectively.

No. 8 Georgia Tech won the General Hackler Championship with a team score of -16, behind the top two golfers on the weekend. The Yellow Jackets beat out No. 2 Texas A&M, which shot -11, and another ACC team in Virginia, as the Cavaliers shot -5.

The Pack will need strong outings from the bottom three golfers to compliment Franken and Paxton if it wants to have a chance in future tournaments.

The men’s golf team will be on the links again March 16-18 for the Chris Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, Georgia.