Wake Forest Athletics
Demon Deacons Look To Defend At General Hackler Invitational
3/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
March 5, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's golf team will get back to action this Sunday at the General Jim Hackler Invitational at the TPC of Myrtle Beach, an event in which the Demon Deacons won a year ago.
Wake is coming off a bit of a disappointing showing at the spring's first event, the SunTrust Gator Invitational, and returning to the site of one of the team's two victories last season might be just what the Deacons are looking for.
"We obviously have some good vibes down there but it's a tough golf course," said head coach Jerry Haas. "We had a bit of a tough week with the weather and exams but I think it's made the guys focus a little more and I think they'll be ready to go."
The Deacs entered the final round last season tied for fifth and was 16-shots back of tournament host Coastal Carolina. Led by an impressive round of 1-under 71 from Travis Wadkins, Wake posted the low-round of the day of 4-over 292, and would comeback for the improbable victory.
Last year was only Wake's second appearance at the General Hackler and it definitely proved to be a memorable one. The win was made even sweeter because it came over such a strong field and this year's field is no exception.
All 14 teams in this year's Championship advanced to the 2008 NCAA Regionals, with five of them moving on to the Championship. Included in this year's group is defending national champion UCLA, as well as the champions of the last five Hackler Championships - Pepperdine (2005), Coastal Carolina (2005), East Tennessee State (2006), Lamar (2007) and Wake Forest (2008). In addition, 10 of the 14 teams are ranked in the top-50 of the latest Golfweek rankings with Illinois (No. 8) being the highest-ranked team.
"This is another very strong field," Haas said. "With teams like Illinois, Pepperdine and East Tennessee State, the guys are going to have to play well. Not mention that the TPC (of Myrtle Beach) is a very tough course."
Junior Brendan Gielow and senior Dustin Groves will play in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for the Deacs this weekend.
Groves tops the squad with a 72.4 stroke average and is coming off a T17th finish at the SunTrust Gator Invite. Gielow is right behind him with a 72.7 stroke average over 18 rounds. Both players finish tied for 31st last year at the General Hackler.
Wadkins will play in the No. 3 spot for the Deacs. He is averaging 74.3 strokes in 15 tournament rounds this season with his best finish coming at the VCU Shootout last fall where he carded a pair of 1-under 71s.
Junior Preston Yates will make his second straight start and will look to build on his solid first round at the SunTrust Gator Invite last month which saw him post an even-par 70.
Freshman Daniel Meggs rounds out the Demon Deacon five as he too is making his second straight start of the spring. He played steady at the Gator Invite, carding rounds of 71-73-72=216 (+6) to tie for 35th. Meggs is third on the team with a 73.9 stroke average and is also third on the squad with 83.3 percent of his round counting towards the team score.
The tournament is being played at the TPC of Myrtle Beach, which features bent grass greens and Bermuda-rye grass fairways stretching the length of its 6,960-yeard par-72 layout.
The first and second rounds will begin with a shotgun start on Sunday morning with the final round be played on Monday. Live scoring of the event can be found on www.golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
