The NC State men’s golf team secured a wire-to-wire victory on Tuesday in the Golfweek Conference Challenge. The event was held at Cedar Rapids Country Club in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The Wolfpack finished with 847 strokes, good for 17-under par. The Pack finished two strokes ahead of tournament-host Iowa, and 10 strokes ahead of third-place finisher UNC-Wilmington.
In the first round, the Pack exploded out of the gate with a 274, good for a nine-shot lead over Iowa. Out of its five participants, the Wolfpack had four golfers in the top 10 after the first round of play.
Junior Stephen Franken shot a 66 (-6) to sit atop the leaderboard at the end of the first round. Sophomore Benjamin Ship finished at 68 (-4) in a tie for third, junior Nolan Mills Jr. and freshman Easton Paxton tied for eighth at 70 (-2) and junior Harrison Rhoades rounded out the group with a first-round 75 (+3) in a tie for 44th.
Shipp continued his low scoring on day two with a three-under-par 69, dropping to second place behind Lipscomb golfer Dawson Armstrong. Paxton was consistent, recording a one-under-par 71, moving back to a tie for ninth.
Franken took a step back, shooting a 73 (+1) on Monday pinning him in a tie for fourth. Mills fell back in the leaderboard as well, tallying a 75 (+3) in a tie for 23rd on day two. Rhoades was the lone Pack golfer to improve in the second round as he registered a one-over-par 73, climbing the rankings to tie for 38th out of 75 golfers.
NC State shot a team score of 286 (-2) in the second round. Iowa sat only five shots back, while San Francisco was in third, 10 strokes back of the Pack.
In the final round of competition, Mills closed with a 76 (+4) and finished in a tie for 30th. Rhoades improved once more on his total score with an even-par 72, finishing one stroke ahead of Mills in a tie for 27th.
In Paxton’s first appearance as the lone freshman for NC State, he finished the tournament with a 75 (+3). The Riverton, Wyo. native secured a top 20 finish in a tie for 19th.
Leaders Franken and Shipp shined on day three, both finishing in the top four. Franken bounced back and shot a 71 (-1), tallying 210 strokes overall, putting him in fourth place.
Shipp passed then-leader Armstrong and won the individual title on the final day, registering a 3-under-par 69. Shipp prevailed by two strokes with a final count of 10-under-par.
The result is the Pack’s 55th all-time win and the first away from Lonnie Poole Golf Course since March 2013, when NC State won the USF Invitational under former head coach Richard Sykes.
In his first season at NC State, head coach Press McPhaul has had some big shoes to fill since Sykes’ retirement, but he has more than delivered after winning in Iowa and finishing fifth in the Wolf Run Intercollegiate in Zionsville, Ind. earlier this season.
NC State’s quick start on day one surely made the triumph easier, but McPhaul credits the endurance his squad exhibited for the outcome.
“I am proud of my guys,” McPhaul told NC State Athletics. “They showed a lot of grit and toughness. They came up here committed to play 54 holes, and let the chips fall where they may. They did that. I’m proud of them for that, more than the win. But I am very glad they got to enjoy a victory after a great effort.”
Wolfpack golf is back on the links on Oct. 2 at Lonnie Poole Golf Course for the Wolfpack Intercollegiate.
