By Roy J. Akers- Tar Heel Invitational
The rollercoaster is now firmly down the first big hill as fall golf is nearly moving to the offseason but there are still big tournaments and the UNC home course proved to be perhaps the toughest test for all of the players. How tough? The entire 18 holes were played at or very above par. The winning school, Duke was 16 over and MSU, who finished T-2, was just three strokes behind the Blue Devils. Michigan’s women’s team was 8th. Great test of golf and several ACC teams participated giving MSU and UM a firm test of golf. The scoreboard is below and the analysis is coming up.
Top Team Finishers- by players on top teams
Andie Smith of Due was the top player in the tournament with three scores in the 60’s and Duke finished with four rounds under 70. MSU had two players shoot one round under 70 ( Katie Lu, Catalina Monroy with four more rounds by golfers from various teams including Bailey Davis of Tennessee shooting a 64. Brooke Biermann of MSU won her second B1G Women’s Golf Player-of-the-Week based on her very consistent rounds and one under par for the tourney. Michigan was paced by Mara Janess who finished at even par.
Analysis by Par 3’s, 4’s, and 5’s
The Par 3’s and 4’s at UNC Finley at everyone up. North Carolina was strong on the par-3’s with a team score of +4. NC State was -10 on the par 5”s. Duke was in the top 7 in all of the hole types but was +26 on the par fours where the average of the holes by all schools was nearly 20 strokes higher as a team. MSU was fourth on the par 3’s, third on the par 4’s, and second on the par five holes. Michigan also had a good showing with a 7th place finish on the par 3’s. 6th on the fours and tenth on the par fives. Michigan is consistent on all of the hole types and getting better on the longer holes will see them get higher tournament finishes.
