Wake Forest University
ACC Championship
Womble, Beck Lead Deacs On Day 1 of ACC Championship
4/26/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 26, 2013
By Gary Petit, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMGolf)
NEW LONDON, N.C. - Wake Forest senior Evan Beck and freshman Davis Womble each carded 3-under 69s to lead the Demon Deacons in the opening round of the ACC Men's Golf Championship at the Old North State Club on Friday.
Behind those two rounds, Wake Forest posted a 2-under 286 and is in fifth place in the 11-team field.
"It was a pretty good way to start to tournament," Wake Forest head coach Jerry Haas. "We didn't shoot ourselves out of it but we also know we left some shots out there. With par-5s at the start and finish of this course, it's important to take advantage of both of those holes and I think we played them at just 1-under. We need to get out of the gates quick tomorrow and get some momentum going for the rest of the round."
One team that took advantage of the two par-5s was Florida State, making nine birdies on holes one and 18, which helped the Seminoles post an opening round of 17-under 271. That is 11-shots better than Duke and Virginia Tech which both posted scores of 6-under 282.
Womble made a total of six birdies in his round on Friday, including back-to-back birdies at Nos. 9 and 10 and a nice 15-foot putt for birdie at the tough par-3 17th. The 69 matches his lowest round as a Demon Deacon, which he carded in the second round of the season at the Golfweek Conference Challenge.
"You've got to like the freshman Davis Womble coming in here in his first time seeing the course and showing the juniors and seniors how to do it," said Haas. "I'm proud of him doing that."
Beck could not have gotten off to a better start, making four birdies in the first six holes, and grabbing the lead at 4-under par. But he then made three-straight bogeys to close the front nine and made the turn at 1-under par. A nice birdie at No. 12 and a two-putt birdie at No. 18 allowed the Virginia Beach, Va., native to come home in 34 for an opening 69.
"Evan got off to a great start today and obviously had a little halt to his momentum midway through but he made some good up and downs the rest of the round and played 2-under coming home," Haas said. "I walked with him today so my blood pressure was pretty low."
Junior Thomas Birdsey opened the tournament with a round of 1-over 73 which was perhaps the highest he could have shot. Birdsey struck the ball well all round but just didn't get many putts to fall. He did birdie the opening hole and then knocked his approach to within four feet at the par-4 13th for his second birdie of the day. Birdsey will start the second round in a tie for 24th.
Senior Charlie Harrison and junior John Varol each carded rounds of 3-over 75 on Friday. Harrison was even-par through 14 holes with a couple of birdies but he would bogey holes 15, 16 and 17 to finish. Varol overcame a double-bogey six at the par-4 sixth and would play even-par the rest of the way. Both players are tied for 36th heading to the weekend.
Florida State's Daniel Berger made eight birdies and just one bogey in his opening round 65 and holds a one-shot lead over Georgia Tech's Andres Albertson who carded a 6-under 66.
The Demon Deacons will be in the second-to-last wave on Saturday which starts at 10:10 a.m. Wake is paired with Virginia and Georgia Tech. Golfstat.com will have live scoring of the final two rounds and live video coverage on TheACC.com will begin at 2:30 p.m. each of the next two days.
Team Standings1. Florida State 271 (-17)2. Virginia Tech 282 (-6) Duke 282 (-6)4. Georgia Tech 284 (-4)5. Wake Forest 286 (-2)6. Virginia 287 (-1)7. North Carolina 292 (+4)8. NC State 294 (+6)9. Clemson 296 (+8)10. Maryland 298 (+10)11. Boston College 308 (+20)
Top-5 Individuals1. Daniel Burger (FSU) 65 (-7)2. Anders Albertson (GT) 66 (-6)3. Hank Lebioda (FSU) 68 (-4) Mikey Moyers (VT) 68 (-4)5. 7 players tied 69 (-3)
Wake Forest IndividualsT5. Evan Beck 69 (-5)T5. Davis Womble 69 (-5)T24. Thomas Birdsey 73 (+1)T36. John Varol 75 (+3)T36. Charlie Harrison 75 (+3)
Players Mentioned
