Sophomore Matt Hill won his third tournament of the year at the annual Intercollegiate at River Landing Golf Course, while the Pack as a team managed a second place finish. Hill, who has now won three of his last four tournaments, continued his dominating play by shooting a four-under (68) in the final round while finishing ten-under for the tournament – four strokes ahead of the second place finisher.
“As a team, we played well into the first two rounds. The third round we were not able to seal the deal,” sophomore Brandon Detweiler said. “Matt played well like usual.”
The final round did not go as well for the rest of the Wolfpack, however, as the team blew a seven-shot lead in the final round and let Duke come in and take the team win for the second straight year. The Pack dominated the tournament in both early rounds on Friday posting a 10-under (563). But on Saturday, State shot a five-over (293), and finished at eight-under (856), letting Duke come in and win with a 14-under (850).
“Well today we kind of let it get away from us. We shot five over par today, we came in with a seven shot lead over Duke, but they came out and shot eight under and played an outstanding round,” coach Richard Sykes said. “They just outplayed us.”
With Hill’s win, it puts him into a tie with Tim Clark, a PGA pro, for most titles won in school-history with five. The first coming last year as a freshman and the four others coming this year with one in the fall season and three in the spring. With his fourth win this year, Hill also set another school record with most titles won in a single school year with four.
“The level he is at right now is good enough, in my opinion, to play on tour. He has to be in contention for the Ben Hogan award, which is the award for the best golfer and he deserves it. He is the best,” Detweiler said. “He is playing great and is playing solid golf every day and not making mistakes. I am glad he is on my team.”
After squandering a seven-stroke lead, State is still looking for that elusive first team win of the season. The second place finish was the fifth of the year for the Pack.
“They are probably pretty disappointed because they had a good chance to win this one and they let Duke take it away from them,” Sykes said. “Maybe we can feed off of this disappointment and realize we let it get away, and when we get in that position next time we can close the deal.”
Hill wasn’t the only golfer who played well however, as two other Pack golfers finished in the top twenty with senior Darren Black taking an eighth-place finish shooting a two-under and junior Brad Revell finishing 19th with a one-over. Junior Kent Copeland and sophomore Chad Day finished 10th and 13th, respectively.
