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UNC's men's golf team claims ?rst win of the fall

Sophomore Brandon Dalinka took charge on the second day of the Wolfpack Intercollegiate on Saturday, firing a six-under 66 to lead the North Carolina men’s golf team to a commanding win.

He topped the individual leader board, shooting a six-under 210 for the weekend.

“I just wanted to go out there and try to hit some greens and fairways, and luckily it turned out well for me,” Dalinka said.

“I didn’t really have expectations coming in. I wanted to contribute to the team as much as possible.”

Dalinka was not the only Tar Heel sitting near the top of the leader board, as senior Clark Palmer finished in second with a two-under 214.

“I just tried to take it one shot at a time,” Palmer said. “It’s a very mental game. I was pleased with my performance.”

Fellow senior Patrick Barrett shot a one-under 215 to tie for fourth place with sophomore teammate Bailey Patrick, among others.

“We had four guys all competing to win the championship, and that’s how you win the tournament as a team,” coach Andrew Sapp said.

These four finishes led North Carolina to a 10-under 854, beating second place East Carolina by a whopping 10 strokes.

But it was not that easy on Friday in Raleigh, as UNC finished the second round trailing East Carolina by one stroke.

“I was pretty upset with the way we finished Friday, and so were the guys,” Sapp said. “We gave up a lot of strokes on the last three or four holes as a team.”

A second round three-over 291 put UNC behind East Carolina, a place the team and its coach did not expect to be.

“We were the top-ranked team in the field coming into the tournament,” Sapp said. “We were excited. We wanted to come out and prove why we were the top-ranked team in the field.”

The third round gave North Carolina its chance, and the golfers did not hesitate to strike.

The Tar Heels were 10 under par in the first nine holes of the final round Saturday, and they did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the day.

“Usually we are not the best team at finishing rounds, but we finally finished one off,” Dalinka said. “ECU tried to catch us coming down the stretch, but we finished the round on the right note.”

The win is the first for North Carolina this season. But the Tar Heels have been picking up momentum during the last few weeks.

Last weekend the Tar Heels finished second in the Rod Myers Invitational at Duke.

Palmer stepped up for the Tar Heels in Durham and was co-champion of the tournament.

And five weeks ago, UNC put together another strong performance to earn runner-up in Chapel Hill at the Tar Heel Invitational.

The Tar Heels won the last round, and that time it was Barrett who was the low Tar Heel as he finished in second place.

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This weekend UNC was able to put it all together and end the tournament on a high note.

“We finished with a great round. No one was able to catch us,” he said.

N.C. State rounded out the top three teams, finishing 14 strokes behind East Carolina with a 14-over 878 for the tournament.

“After finishing second in the last two events, we were hungry to win this one,” Sapp said.

That hunger was satisfied on Saturday.

Contact the desk editor at

sports@dailytarheel.com.