Two weeks ago, four Tar Heels posted top-10 finishes at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate, leading the North Carolina men’s golf team to its first win of the season.
But in their last tournament of the fall season, at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate in Dallas, none of the UNC golfers emerged atop the leaderboard. The team recorded a nine-over combined total to finish in 12th place.
Oklahoma State came out on top of the 14-team field by firing a 10-under par 842.
“Sometimes good play can be contagious as well as bad play. We just really didn’t get anything going this week and struggled a little bit,” coach Andrew Sapp said.
Senior Patrick Barrett led the way for the Tar Heels, shooting an even-par 213 in the three rounds of the tournament, which placed him in a tie for 21st place.
Barrett was followed by sophomore teammate Brandon Dalinka who faltered on Tuesday after sitting in the top 15 after the first two rounds. Dalinka ended the tournament tied for 29th at two-over par.
“Patrick played solid. He didn’t really make too many huge mistakes and played well today,” Sapp said. “Brandon played well also. Unfortunately, he finished today with a triple-bogey and bogey coming down the stretch.”
The three remaining golfers of UNC’s starting five — seniors Michael McGowan and Clark Palmer and sophomore Bailey Patrick — all had similarly disappointing outings. Palmer finished in a tie for 44th place while Patrick ended in a tie for 56th place.
Although the par 71, 7,068-yard layout at Royal Oaks Country Club seemingly gave UNC trouble this week, Dalinka believes the Tar Heels simply failed to execute.