UNC men's golf ties for ninth place

Duke’s men’s golf team made the game look easy at last weekend’s Rod Myers Intercollegiate, as they finished the event as the only team under par.

Then again, the Blue Devils were hosting the event at the Duke University Golf Club.

“Home course advantage is huge,” UNC golf coach Andrew Sapp said.

“In golf, it’s bigger than it is in football or basketball, just because of the nuances of the golf course.”

Sapp’s Tar Heels ended up in a tie for ninth place in the 11 team field that included five teams ranked in the top-50. Duke’s Julian Suri took the top individual honor, finishing with a 68 in the final round.

Though UNC doesn’t get the chance to see the Blue Devils’ home track as often as Duke does, the Tar Heels get more looks at it than the rest of last week’s field. But that didn’t translate to the leader board.

UNC’s score of 45-over-par landed them in a tie with Coastal Carolina for the penultimate position.

“We should have a little home course advantage here because our guys have played it quite a bit,” Sapp said. “Unfortunately, that didn’t pay off for us this week.”

Senior Patrick Barrett was the low Tar Heel in the tournament, posting a score of four-over and landing him in a tie for 14th place.

“Patrick did a wonderful job just managing the game,” Sapp said.

“There were difficult conditions, it was windy and colder than it had been and he just minimized his mistakes.”

Barrett entered the final round on Sunday in a tie for 15th after two rounds of one-over. In the final round, he was two-over par.

Michael McGowan started the final round in the top 10 as he carded the only sub-par round of the tournament for the Tar Heels when he shot a 70 in the second round. McGowan couldn’t finish with that momentum and fired a 79 on Sunday to drop him back in a tie for 21st.

McGowan focused his frustration on his putter as it turned cold on him in the final round Sunday. He used 35 of his 79 strokes on the green.

“The putter didn’t really work too well,” McGowan said. “On the back nine, I missed literally every putt I hit … I hit about every green, and when I missed the green, I’d leave it six feet for par and miss.”

The 909 shots that the Tar Heels used at Duke is the highest shot total for UNC so far in the fall season, a mark Sapp doesn’t want to hit again.

“(It is) very disappointing, and frustrating,” Sapp said. “ These guys have been working hard, and it’s disappointing to see a poor result. But that’s the way golf is.”

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