Wake Forest University
ACC Championship
No. 15 Deacs Defeat No. 4 North Carolina, Advance to ACC Championship Final
4/24/2022 7:13:00 PM | Men's Golf
The Wake Forest men’s golf team defeated the Tar Heels 3-1-1 and will face Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship Final on Monday morning.
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- The No. 15 Wake Forest men's golf team will play for the ACC title Monday morning, defeating North Carolina in the ACC Match Play Semifinal Sunday, 3-1-1.
For the second consecutive day, sophomore Michael Brennan lifted the Demon Deacons to the next day. After going 1UP on the 17th with a birdie, Brennan only needed to tie the final hole to send Wake Forest to the Championship Match.
Brennan hit his drive in the middle of the fairway and then found the middle of the green on the second shot. The two putt for par sealed the deal, closing out his match for the third-point clincher.
After trailing in the early holes to the Tar Heels, the nationally-ranked Demon Deacons took control around the turn and never looked back.
Freshman Scotty Kennon, who had his match go undecided and never trailed throughout the day, claimed the early momentum, winning the fourth, fifth and sixth holes to go 3UP.
Around the same point, Senior Parker Gillam grabbed two consecutive holes to go 1UP on the sixth.
Senior Alex Fitzpatrick and junior Mark Power both had to overcome early deficits in their matches. Power went to the par-4 12th down three holes while Fitzpatrick was down two holes on par-4 eighth. Both players found birdies on those holes to help turn the tide of their matches.
Power went on to win the next two holes to square the match on the par-3 14th hole. His match remained square through the 18th, sending it to extra holes. Power would need just one as he knocked it in close and birdied the 19th hole of the match to win his match.
Fitzpatrick squared the match with birdie on the par-4 10th and then went 1UP on the very next hole. With Fitzpatrick going into the 16th 1UP, he striped one down the middle of the fairway and then hit one short of the hole 10 feet out.
The birdie put him 2UP with two holes to play. He took advantage of an error off the tee from his opponent and left it in the greenside bunker on his second shot and then knocked it in close on his third shot. There the Tar Heel player conceded, giving the Deacs their first point of the match.
From Coach Haas
"It has been a good two days of clutch golf down the stretch. It's why they spend so much time at this game. The ACC will have almost every team make regionals. Georgia Tech has been playing well all year. It will be a very competitive match and we are looking forward to it. Go Deacs!"
Semifinal Scores:
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Mark Power def. Greaser (19 holes)
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Alex Fitzpatrick def. Fountain (3&1)
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Michael Brennan def. Burnett (1UP)
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Ford def. Parker Gillam (4&3)
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Scotty Kennon tied Gerard
How to Follow Match Play on Monday
The Demon Deacons advanced to the match play championship for the first time since the ACC changed the championship format ahead of the 2020-21 season.
The Deacs will look to continue their rich tradition of competing for championships as the Deacs have won an conference-best 18 ACC titles while also having a league-best 22 individual champions at the tournament.
ACC Championships by School
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Wake Forest, 18
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Georgia Tech, 16
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Clemson, 10
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North Carolina, 10
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Duke, 8
Wake Forest is set to face No. 11 Georgia Tech, who finished as the runners up in stroke play and defeated Florida State 3-1-1 in the semifinal match.
The Deacs will tee off starting at 9:02 a.m. CT on Sunday with Mark Power as the first to begin the match for the second consecutive day. Full match pairings:
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Mark Power vs. Christo Lamprecht (9:02 a.m. CT)
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Parker Gillam vs. Connor Howe (9:14 a.m. CT)
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Michael Brennan vs. Ross Steelman (9:26 a.m. CT)
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Scotty Kennon vs. Bartley Forrester (9:38 a.m. CT)
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Alex Fitzpatrick vs. Benjamin Reuter (9:50 a.m. CT)
The entire final match against the Yellowjackets can be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
Additionally, follow the live scoring of the championship match on GolfStat.com.
Players Mentioned
