The North Carolina women’s golf team finished in a tie for third place with Auburn in the Bryan National Collegiate over the weekend — its fifth top five finish of the season.
What happened?
Despite rainy conditions, cold temperatures and three rounds in two days, UNC played on and played well, placing toward the top among 17 teams.
After the first two rounds on Friday, the Tar Heels were in first place, led by a strong day from junior Kelly Whaley. But they didn't start at the top.
North Carolina was in 10th after a 13-over-par first round. Something needed to change if they wanted to move up. A team score of two-under in the second round, the best round of the day, certainly helped.
Four-under-par (68) scores from both Whaley and first-year Ava Bergner, the best scores of the round, pushed the team to the top of the leaderboard at 11-over-par with one round left.
“To play like they did in the afternoon was very impressive,” coach Jan Mann told GoHeels.com, “because the wind picked up tremendously.”
The windy conditions continued to be a problem for all teams in the third round, when all but two teams shot their worst round of the weekend. The Tar Heels consistency fell off as well, shooting 22-over for the round. The team's best score of the round coming from Bryana Nguyen at four-over-par.
In the end, UNC dropped from the top down to third at 33-over, behind only Wake Forest and Furman — now wracking up the most top five finishes since 2011-2012.