UNC men’s golf ?nishes ?fth in Wolverine Intercollegiate

It would have taken a serious team effort for North Carolina’s men’s golf team to catch the top of the leaderboard after two rounds.

California led the Wolverine Intercollegiate in Ann Arbor, Mich., after Monday’s two rounds at 12-under par. The Tar Heels were 17 strokes back and in fifth place after an even par 284 and a 5-over 289 in the first and second rounds, respectively.

But gains could be made.

“We felt pretty good because we got off to a great start on Monday,” senior Matt Raudenbush said.

“It wasn’t like we played terrible and we needed to regroup today. We just needed everybody to make a couple shots which shouldn’t be too difficult.”

But it’s certainly no easy task to make up strokes. UNC finished fifth after recording a 9-over 293 in the third round.

The Tar Heels could have used the second round from Cal’s Joël Stalter, who turned in a tournament-low, 8-under 63 that included an eagle two on the par-4 sixth hole.

“I think we played, clearly not where we wanted to, but we showed some good signs of where we’re headed,” senior Patrick Barrett said. “I think everyone felt we’re all really close to playing well, we just didn’t come through this week.”

UNC finished 27 strokes off of Cal’s three-round score of 839. Break it down, and Cal’s golfers were just more than two strokes better than UNC’s each day.

“We had some good and some bad,” coach Andrew Sapp said.

“It’s just kind of a bump in the road. We had some good scores this week and some scores that need some improvement.”

Three UNC golfers — Raudenbush, Barrett and freshman Bailey Patrick ­— finished 4-over par with a three-round score of 217, good enough to tie them for 22nd place.

Freshman Brandon Dalinka shot 218 while junior Michael McGowan carded a 219. Freshman Zach Munroe shot a 10-over-par 223.

Missouri junior Jace Long was the medalist of the event, posting a score of 7-under.

“It’s a long season,” Sapp said. “This being the first tournament, we learned a lot about ourselves and what we need to work on in the fall.”

What’s more, UNC gained familiarity with the University of Michigan Golf Course, which will be an NCAA regional site in the spring. In the long run, that may be even more important for the Tar Heels.

“I know it so much better now having played four rounds on it than I did in the beginning,” Barrett said. “There’s so many spots out here that if you’ve played it a couple times, you’ll know where to miss it.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.