Wake Forest University
ACC Championship
Deacs Well Positioned Through 36 Holes at ACC Championships
4/21/2023 9:23:00 PM | Men's Golf
The Demon Deacons enter the final day of stroke play in second place and 11 strokes above the cutline for the match play rounds.
PINEHURST, N.C. -- With 18 holes remaining in stroke play, the Wake Forest men's golf team is well positioned in second place while junior Michael Brennan tops the individual leaderboard through 36 holes at the ACC Championships at Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C.
The Demon Deacons surged to the top of the leaderboard and remained in the top two for much of Friday. Wake Forest sits at 11-under-par which is two strokes out of first and 11 strokes clear of the match play cut.
Brennan led the way not only for the Deacs but paced the field for nearly the entire day. The Leesburg, Va. native took the individual lead on the 14th hole of the first round and never relinquished it from that point. He built his lead out to as much as four strokes.
He was the only player in the field to record two rounds in the 60s and one of three players in the field to have two rounds under par. Only seven players in the 60-player field were under-par in the second round.
Going into the final round, Brennan holds a three-stoke lead for the individual title and is 9-under-par. If he were to win the individual title, he would become the 23rd Wake Forest individual champion and the first since Webb Simpson in 2008. The Deacs 22 individual champions are the most in ACC history as well as having a league leading 19 team titles in program history.
Behind the bogey-free opening round of 66 (-6) from Brennan, Wake Forest was within one stroke of the lead going into the second round of the tournament. In the first round, every Deac was par or better with all four of the counting scores being 2-under or better.
At one point in the second round, the Demon Deacons had the top two players on the leaderboard with senior Mark Power having a nice stretch of holes to begin the second.
Power and sophomore Scotty Kennon enter the final round of stroke played tied for 12th individually at 1-under-par
For the final round of stroke play, the Demon Deacons will tee off Saturday with No. 12 Georgia Tech (-13) and No. 6 Florida State (-4), with the first tee time set for 8:30 a.m. off No. 11.
From Coach Haas
"The ACC Championship is always great competition. We are here at the Country Club of North Carolina - Dogwood Course. It was a great day for the Demon Deacons. We played beautifully this morning at 13-under-par. The scores were a little higher this afternoon because of the wind. The greens are firm and fast. We hung in there and shot 2-over this afternoon. We got a good round this morning from Michael Brennan, shooting 66 and then he held us in this afternoon with 69. We were in great positions off the tee. We made some unforced errors which we had not been doing for the first 27 holes today, but they did a nice job of hanging in there. Mark Power birdied the last hole, Andrew McLauchlan made a couple of birdies coming in and Scotty Kennon made a couple of birdies. All and all a good day. You want to fight and get into that top four and make it into match play and we have a chance to do that tomorrow. The weather looks pretty tough and windy. Today was a great day, but we have a lot of golf left to play tomorrow to hopefully get a spot in the top four and try to defend our title as ACC Champs. Go Deacs!" - Head Coach Jerry Haas
Day One Scores:
Team
|
Rank |
Team |
Round One |
Round Two |
Total |
|
1. |
No. 12 Georgia Tech |
274 |
289 |
563 (-13) |
|
2. |
No. 28 Wake Forest |
275 |
290 |
565 (-11) |
|
3. |
No. 6 Florida State |
284 |
288 |
572 (-4) |
|
4. |
No. 34 Duke |
282 |
291 |
573 (-3) |
|
5. |
No. 16 Virginia |
287 |
290 |
576 (E) |
|
6. |
No. 27 Louisville |
287 |
290 |
577 (+1) |
|
7. |
No. 2 North Carolina |
290 |
288 |
578 (+2) |
|
8. |
NC State |
287 |
295 |
582 (+6) |
|
9. |
Notre Dame |
292 |
293 |
585 (+9) |
|
10. |
Clemson |
292 |
297 |
589 (+13) |
|
11. |
Boston College |
300 |
292 |
592 (+16) |
|
12. |
Virginia Tech |
296 |
298 |
594 (+18) |
Wake Forest Team
|
Player |
Rank |
Round One |
Round Two |
Total |
|
1 |
66 (-6) |
69 (-3) |
135 (-9) |
|
|
T12 |
70 (-2) |
73 (+1) |
143 (-1) |
|
|
T12 |
71 (-1) |
72 (E) |
143 (-1) |
|
|
T31 |
70 (-2) |
76 (+4) |
146 (+2) |
|
|
T31 |
72 (E) |
74 (+2) |
146 (+2) |
Players Mentioned
