Since women’s golf was reinstated as one of State’s varsity sports back in 2000, head coach Page Marsh has taken her team to 11 ACC Championships. The one taking place this weekend at Greensboro’s Sedgefield Country Club is going to feel a little different than the previous 11.
Marsh, a winner of five North Carolina Women’s Amateur Championships in her competitive playing days, has overseen No. 21 N.C . State’s journey to uncharted waters. The Wolfpack has never finished better than third in the conference championship, and has only been in the top-5 once throughout the past six years. After earning a top-25 ranking for the first time in program history, the only two teams expected to finish ahead of N.C . State are the two powerhouse programs a half an hour west of Raleigh.
Playing the tournament on the same Donald Ross design for a fourth consecutive year, State is led by freshman Augusta James. With a 73.65 scoring average, the young Canadian ranks sixth overall in the ACC and possesses the talent to challenge the likes of 2011 Champion, Cheyenne Woods (Wake Forest), and this season’s scoring average leader, Lindy Duncan (Duke).
If State hopes to capture its third team victory of 2011-2012, James’ fellow Ontarian teammates will have to be particularly sharp in the short game department. Sedgefield , the course Marsh grew up at before composing an ultra-productive career at her alma mater UNC , features undulating greens and an abundance of run-offs that steer away inaccurate approach shots. Freshman Vivian Tsui and decorated sophomore Brittany Marchand , both of whom are top-20 players in a competitive golfing conference, hope to repeat the success they had on Pinehurst No. 6 less than a month ago. Marchand , a participant in the 2011 U.S . Women’s Open, won the Pinehurst Spring Challenge with 5-under tournament total to edge out Tsui by two shots while also increasing her lead as the Wolfpack’s winningest women’s golfer in program history.
In Raleigh, another pivotal weekend of golf will be played right here on Centennial Campus when the men’s team, who ranked a disappointing No. 64 in the country, hosts the Wolfpack Spring Open at Lonnie Poole Golf Course. State finished seventh in this fall’s home event without the services of All-American junior Mitch Sutton and will be eager to take advantage of its home turf following a solid second place showing last weekend at the River Landing Intercollegiate. Now fully healthy, Sutton has started to assemble some solid rounds with three of his past six being under-par.
Despite sophomore All-American Albin Choi picking up his third collegiate title earlier this season, the man with the No. 8 scoring average in the conference hasn’t been able to carry the Pack to the same type of success it had last year. Aside from senior Mark McMillen tying for an individual title during the fall, it has been a relative struggle for a team featuring just one of the top 34 golfers in the ACC. At this time last season, State was ranked No. 23 and eventually garnered a No. 20 seed in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship.
To aid in reaching the NCAAs for the 17th time in program history, a strong home showing would be a crucial momentum booster heading into the following weekend’s ACC Championships. For the final time in collegiate competition, four seniors – McMillen , Chad Day, Graham Baillargeon and Hunter Howell – will play on their home course. Watching the course’s grand opening take place in July 2009, the foursome will be the last class to have experienced what lacking a true home course feels like.
Conditions should be an improvement over the wet, cold and blustery elements that accompanied the Wolfpack Intercollegiate back in October. The weekend forecast calls for warm temperatures and slight breezes coming out of the west.
