UNC golf struggles through start to reach 12th place in South Carolina tournament

The event in Awendaw, S.C., was not the first event of the spring season for the men’s golf team.

But after day one at Bulls Bay, it sure looked like the Tar Heels’ first rodeo.

The top four scorers on day one put together a score of 306, 22-over-par, and found themselves tied with College of Charleston for last place. UNC would rebound during the three-day event and finish in 12th place.

On day one, though, freshman Sean Jacklin was the only Tar Heel to even sniff the top of the leaderboard after the first round, posting an even-par round of 71, good enough to tie for 19th place on the day.

But the rest of the Tar Heels’ scores were nothing to write home about.

Senior Henry Zaytoun III carded a 6-over-par 77 and sophomore Michael McGowan shot 78. The other two North Carolina golfers in the field failed to break 80.

“We just went through a really bad patch,” UNC coach John Inman said. “It was really windy and we had some really bad play all at the same time.”

In the second round, the Tar Heels returned to form, shaving 18 strokes off their first-round total and coming in at 4-over-par as a team. Zaytoun III fired the first of his back-to-back 69s to lead the UNC charge back into contention.

Before the huge turnaround, Inman told his team to be patient.

“Know that there are birdies out there and play the way you know how to play,” he said.

The 4-over team score was tied for the fourth-best score posted in the second round and pulled the Tar Heels out of last place and into 13th place going in to the final round. The Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate hosted 15 teams.

“I think it was just really everyone wanted to save their butts their last two rounds.” Jacklin said “Just getting comfortable was probably the reason.”

UNC had the fourth-best team score again in the final round to end the tournament in 12th place, coming in two strokes behind Virginia and North Florida.

Inman was much more pleased with his team’s performance in the final two rounds and said that those rounds showed his team that they are capable of playing with any team in the country.

Senior Kevin O’Connell made his way through his final round in 71 strokes, second only to Zaytoun III’s 69 for the best UNC round of the day. Jacklin and Clark Palmer ended their tournaments with rounds of 72 and 73, respectively.

Zaytoun III and Jacklin finished the tournament in 215 shots, 2-over-par, and tied for 17th place.

“That’s obviously what I expect of them and what they expect of themselves.” Inman said. “(Jacklin) had a lot of confidence … he had that confidence throughout the week.”

Louisiana State’s Andrew Loupe and N.C. State’s Mitchell Sutton tied as medalists in the event, both cruising through the 54-hole tournament in 207 shots, 6-under-par. Sutton and Loupe fired matching 68s in the final round, but Sutton won a one-hole playoff to capture the individual event.

LSU took the team event, edging out Augusta State by a single stroke, 849-850.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.