The N.C. State golf team traveled to Rio Grande, Puerto Rico for a fifteen-team tournament that featured a slew of national powerhouses, including No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia Tech and No. 5 Georgia.
The Wolfpack finished 15th overall, scoring 897 as a team (+33). Head coach Richard Sykes said the finish was simply the result of bad luck.
“It wasn’t a lack of effort,” Sykes said. “Everyone just played poorly on the same day.
“We played against a good field but we didn’t represent ourselves well. Hopefully when we come out again we will do better.”
Senior Logan Harrell led the team, ending with a three-day score of 217, one stroke over par for the tournament. His low round of the week came on the second day, when he tied a season-best score of 69 (-3).
State had a solid first day in Rio Grande. Harrell was the Pack’s leading player, landing a 73 (+1) on the first day of competition. Sophomore David Cooke and redshirt junior James Chapman finished right behind Harrell with identical scores of 74 (+2). Harrell, Cooke and Chapman were followed by Wolfpack sophomores Carter Page (75) and Chad Cox (77).
After the first day, Harrell was tied for 20th in the individual standings, recording two birdies and three bogeys in the first round.
As a team, State finished the first day in 13th place, trailing UNC-Chapel Hill (296) by just a single stroke.
The Pack improved its team score after the second round by three strokes over its score from day one, finishing day two with a score of 293. Harrell shot one stroke under par on the front nine and two strokes under par on the back nine, finishing the round with a 69 (-3). The quality round from the Huntersville native knocked his total score for the tournament down to two strokes under par.
Chapman shaved a stroke off his previous day, shooting one over par, 73. He had a solid front nine, shooting one stroke under par. Chapman was in a good position to finish the round under par until a triple bogey on the 17th hole bumped his score up to two strokes over par.
Despite some success on the second day, the Wolfpack struggled in the final round on day three. Harrell had the lowest score among Wolfpackers, but even he finished the round three strokes over par. Harrell, Cooke, Chapman, Page and Cox combined for a total of 18 bogeys, six double bogeys and one triple bogey, while only sinking eight birdies on the day.
Harrell ended the tournament tied for 35th among all players in the tournament, with a final score of one stroke over par. Chapman finished tied for 61st place, nine strokes over par, while Cooke tied for 64th place.
“We didn’t execute and we made some judgment errors,” Sykes said. “We weren’t very sharp and obviously as you start playing poorly, then you try to press a little bit to make up for it, and it seemed to go in the wrong direction.”
The Pack heads to Aiken, S.C. for the Palmetto Intercollegiate Tournament on March 10. Notable teams participating in the tournament are No. 13 Clemson, No. 16 South Carolina and No. 25 Virginia.
Sykes was very straightforward about how the Wolfpack will prepare for Palmetto, saying his team will have to work hard to improve its scores.
“We are going to get busy and get to work,” Sykes said. “We are going to figure out what we did wrong and make it better.”
