Men’s golf team finishes fourth without freshman Henry Do

Despite playing with one less player than the other 13 teams in the third round, the North Carolina men’s golf team finished fourth in the Tar Heel Intercollegiate this weekend.

Freshman Henry Do sustained a wrist injury Saturday, forcing him to withdraw from Saturday’s remaining competition and all of Sunday’s.

“They fought well, especially on the back nine today, so I was proud of the way they performed,” he said.

Brandon Dalinka led the team with a score of 2-under-par 214 after all three rounds.

“It’s added pressure because you know you have no leeway,” he said. “I had to keep my mind straight and try and grind it out as best I could. It’s a little different but you still gotta play your game.”

He acknowledged that he didn’t always hit the ball well, but was able to fall back on his short play on the green.

“I kind of saved myself with my putter all of (Saturday) pretty much.”

After his departure, Do thought his teammates succeeded in the situation they played through.

“Considering that every score counts, they handled the pressure great and they finished like a championship team,” he said.

“(Dalinka) always plays solid … he just constantly hits the ball great and manages well.”

Georgia Tech would take the top rank in the tournament, followed by North Carolina State and UNC-Greensboro.

The rest of the UNC team was made up of Keagan Cummings, Bailey Patrick, and Reeves Zaytoun. Juniors Patrick and Zaytoun finished four-over-par and 11-over-par, respectively, while Cummings — the team’s only sophomore — finished the weekend with a 1 on his scorecard .

Sapp was also pleased with the way all of the individual golfers performed.

“Really all of our individuals had a good score or two,” he said. “That’s what you hope to see when you’re playing at home and you get to play all of your guys — hope to see them shoot some good scores and gain some confidence going into the rest of the fall season.”

The Tar Heels have nearly two weeks until their next tournament — the Jack Nicklaus Invitational in Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 29-30 — and the team hopes that it will be enough time to for Do to recover from his injury.

“It’s a little worrisome for him because he’s one of our top players,” Dalinka said. “We want him back for the next tournament.”

But Sapp is confident that someone else can step into the team if Do is a “don’t” when the time comes.

“He’ll probably see the doc (Monday), keep going to the training room,” he said.

“Hopefully he’ll be ready to go in our next tournament, but we’ll have to see. If not, somebody else will step up and play well.”

sports@dailytarheel.com