Triad golfer Macy Pate tied for eighth playing for Wake Forest in the 54-hole Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at Long Cove Club on Hilton Head Island.

The freshman from Winston-Salem shot 1-over-par 72 in Wednesday’s final round for a 1-under 212 total in a 17-team field with six of the nation’s top 10 teams. The tie for eighth included teammate Brooke Rivers, who closed with 70.

Wake, ranked No. 1 in the latest women’s college rankings, struggled to a tie for 10th with Mississippi State in the team standings.

Arizona State won the team title with a 3-over 856 total, just one stroke in front of Northwestern. 

The top five teams were only four strokes apart with Auburn finishing third, South Carolina fourth and Arkansas fifth.

The tournament was televised each day on GolfChannel.

The four-way tie for medalist at 5-under 208 included Julia Lopez Ramirez of Mississippi State, Jennifer Cai of Northwestern, Hannah Darling of South Carolina and Farah O’Keefe of Texas. Ingrid Lindblad of LSU, the world’s top-ranked amateur finished one shot off the lead.

UNC Greensboro, which pulled a stunner last year by winning the Wake Forest Invitational at Pinehurst No. 2 (pictured above), wasn’t able to repeat as champions this week.

Auburn shot 12-over-par 852 to win the 54-hole team championship Tuesday by one stroke over East Tennessee State.

Wake Forest finished third at 17-over, one stroke ahead of Duke and Clemson. Northwestern was sixth, N.C. State tied for seventh with College of Charleston at 27-over with Wake Forest’s “B” squad ninth at 29-over. Southern Methodist was 10th at 30-over and UNCG was 11th at 37-over. Iowa rounded out the field at 60-over.

Mats Ege of ETSU and Jackson Koivun of Auburn tied for medalist honors at 1-under 209. 

Scotty Lennon and Collin Adams led Wake at 213 in a tie for sixth place. Symon Balbin led UNCG tied for 25th at 218.

William Love of Duke shot 66 — the low round of the tournament — in the second round and finished fourth at 211. Spencer Oxendine of N.C. State tied for fourth at 212. Wolfpack teammate Nick Mathews of Mebane tied for 22nd at 217. 

Macy Pate eliminated any doubts she was ready for top-flight collegiate golf in her first round playing for defending NCAA champion Wake Forest.

Pate shot 2-under-par 70 in September at the Annika (Sorenstam) Invitational in Minnesota on her way to a tie for ninth at 6-under 210 in a 12-team field including many of the nation’s top women’s teams.

She went on to finish the fall at No. 33 in the national individual rankings as Wake grabbed the No. 1 team ranking. Plus, she had the thrill of winning the deciding match for the Demon Deacons in the championship round of the Jackson T. Stephens Cup.

Pate compiled a 70.62 fall stroke average, tied for third on the team with All-American Rachel Kuehn. Carolina Chacarra led with 69.62, followed by Mimi Rhodes at 70.38. Pate shot par or better in 11 of 13 tournament rounds and was 2-1 in match play.

“It’s been really fun,” Pate said on a frosty winter day at the Wake Forest Golf Center as she prepared for the spring season. “I’m happy with how I played. I worked really hard in the summer, school came around, and I hit the ground running.”

The highlight of Pate’s season was a 4 and 2 victory over Farah O’Keefe of Texas in the deciding match in the Deacons’ victory over Texas at the Stephens Cup in Dallas. Pate made a 6-foot birdie putt on the 16^th hole to clinch the win.

“It was very impressive,” Wake coach Kim Lewellen said.

Only weeks into her college career, Pate found herself in the middle of a celebration on the green after sinking the winning putt. Soon after, she was interviewed (pictured above) by Golf Channel, which televised the tournament.

“We all ran on the green to celebrate,” Pate remembered. “It was super-surreal because it was what I had been dreaming about for years.”

Pate also had a match-play victory in the Deacons’ 3-2 triumph over No. 2 Stanford in another championship round, this one at the East Lake Cup in Atlanta.

Wake Forest golfers join Macy Pate to celebrate after Pate’s clinching birdie putt at the Stephens Cup. (Photos courtesy of Wake Forest Sports Information)

Playing elite competition, the Deacons won three of five fall events, with top four finishes in the other two stroke tournaments.

Though confident after a year of preparing for the adjustment to college golf, Pate said she had a few jitters as she waited for her debut in Minnesota.

One of the nation’s top recruits, Pate was a two-time Carolinas Golf Association Junior Girls’ Player of the Year and a AJGA Rolex All-American. She helped Reagan High to state titles as a freshman and sophomore then skipped high school golf as a junior before graduating a year early to begin at Wake.

“I got here, and I thought, ‘Well, we’re here,’ and I just tried to take it all in,” she said. In Minnesota, “there were a lot of nerves, but it was exciting.”

Pate generated plenty of excitement as a junior, giving the golf world notice by shooting 57 – a feat reported by national and international media outlets — in a tournament at Bermuda Run West as a high school sophomore.

Lewellen was depending on Pate and fellow freshman Brooke Rivers to make successful, quick transitions to college golf. The Deacons have only six players – all six can play in the regulation tournament — on their roster, allowing each player to have a full athletic scholarship and travel to every tournament.

Pate has maintained her momentum so far in the new year. She was the lone Deacon player to go 3-0 in match play as Wake beat Georgetown and San Jose State before losing to South Carolina in a tournament played in Palos Verdes, California.

The national title will be determined in mid-May at La Costa Country Club in Carlsbad, Calif. If the Deacons stay near the top in the rankings, they should have a good opportunity to qualify for La Costa at an NCAA regional at Bermuda Run East.

Despite Pate’s youth, Wake coach Kim Lewellen said Pate has a mature approach to practice and preparation.

Pate said she has maintained a consistent college routine. Class in until 12:15 or so, a short lunch, then four hours of practice, followed by a shower, dinner and classwork.

“She has a routine, and she follows it every day,” the coach said of Pate. “She always has a professional demeanor. With practice, that is what she does and who she is.

Wake’s strong match-play performances may be a product of competitive practices. Pate said practice rounds always include games between the players.

Macy Pate has shot par or better in 13 of her 16 stroke-play rounds at Wake Forest.

Pate and Kuehn, similar in stature and often confused for each other by outsiders despite a five-year age difference, are known for their trash-talking to each other. Pate said she considers the Asheville native, the daughter of former Wake star Brenda Corrie-Kuehn, to be “kind of a big sister” figure.

“If we go out and play, we always have some sort of match going, sometimes two matches going,” Pate said. “We’re super, super competitive. We’re always competing against each other in something.”

Pate said she has enjoyed the celebrations and recognitions afforded the Deacons since their national title victory last June. Plus, it’s made her hungry to be an active part of another championship.

“It’s been fun to celebrate with them, and it’s super-motivating for me to want to go out and win one this year.”

In addition to her teammates and coaches, Pate also has family support only a few minutes away. Her parents, Martha and Chris are only a few minutes away. Close enough for the freshman to drop off her laundry with mom and get a few playing tips from dad. She can also visit her young nephew, who lives in town.

Though slim and only 5-5, Pate averages about 260 yards off the tee – “good enough” – and is consistent in hitting greens in regulation. As her 57 showed, she’s capable of stringing together birdies and eagles.

“I’d say my ball striking is what really helps me right now,” Pate said. “I hit it pretty straight. I don’t miss many greens.”

Though NCAA rules make it possible for Pate to receive NIL deals, including equipment from Ping and apparel from Nike, Pate’s major aspiration is to move on to the biggest stage, the LPGA Tour.

“That’s the goal for sure,” she said. “I’m excited to have 3 ½ more years with both our coaches. It’s nice to be here. We learn things every day from them. At the end of my four years, I should be ready to move on and have success.”

A trio of Triad golfers were ranked in the top 100 of the women’s and men’s NCAA Division I rankings after the fall season, with Wake Forest and North Carolina No. 1 in the team rankings.

Freshman Macy Pate of Wake Forest (pictured) was No. 43 and former Reagan High teammate Morgan Ketchum of Virginia Tech was No. 92 in the women’s rankings. Former Eastern Alamance golfer Nick Mathews, a redshirt junior, at N.C. State, was No. 97 in the men’s rankings.

Wake Forest dominated opponents in the fall with four players high in the rankings and three team victories against elite completion. Caroline Chacarra was No. 9, Mimi Rhodes was No. 30 and Rachel Kuehn was No. 36.

The Demon Deacons won a 15-team tournament hosted by the University of Oklahoma as well as the Jackson T. Stephens Cup (beating Texas in the match-play title match) in Dallas, and finished third out of 15 at the Annika (Sorenstam) Invitational in Minnesota, and fourth of 15 in the Windy City Classic in Chicago.

Pate, the two-time reigning N.C. and Carolinas Junior Girls Player of the Year, finished in the top 25 of all four 54-hole events, and was second in stroke play in a field of 20 in the East Lake Cup. She was 3-1 in match play, including the title-clinching victory against Texas at the Stephens Cup.

Pate, who moved to Winston-Salem for high school after growing up in Boone, achieved national fame by shooting 14-under 57 for Reagan in a conference tournament in 2021 at Bermuda Run West.

While Pate and Wake won the team title at Oklahoma, it was Ketchum who earned medalist honors, shooting 9-under-par 201. She also finished 19th in a strong 15-team, 90-player, national field at Landfall Club in Wilmington and finished 29th in an event hosted by UNC and 32nd in a tournament at Michigan State.

Chacarra led the team with a 69.22 stroke average with Rhodes at 70.38 and Pate and Kuehn at 70.62.

On the men’s side, UNC was dominant with a 42-4 record with victories at the University of Illinois, a match-play title at the East Lake Cup and a triumph in a the Tar Heels’ tournament at Eagle Point in Wilmington. UNC also finished second at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitation in Fort Worth, Texas, one stroke behind Vanderbilt.

Brothers David and Maxwell Ford of UNC, were No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in the individual rankings.

Mathews was in the top 18 of each of his four tournaments, with his best finish, a sixth-place showing at Michigan State. He had an even-par 72 average in the fall.

His sister, Emily Mathews, a freshman at Virginia Tech, was No. 157 in the women’s rankings.

UNC Greensboro senior Symon Balbin from Pinehurst was No. 73 in the men’s rankings.

Due to problems with stat and rankings provider Spikemark, which replaced Golfstat in compiling the rankings, the first lists were not posted until mid-November. Spikemark also tweaked the formula, using player stats entering the event to weigh the field and assign point values for the tournaments.

Another prominent N.C. golfer, Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail, near Charlotte, was No. 21 in the men’s rankings playing for Tennessee.

Kyle Haas, the son of Wake men’s coach Jerry Haas, compiled a 73 stroke average playing in three fall events for the Deacons.

The highlight of the season for the Deacons was a tie for first with Missouri in a 15-team tournament outside Chicago with Michael Brennan earning medalist honors, his seventh collegiate victory.

The Wake women’s team may have the opportunity to play the NCAA regionals at Bermuda Run East before an expected trip to the NCAA Championships at La Costa Country Club in Carlsbad, California.

The UNC men could play in a regional on their home layout, Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, to qualify for the men’s NCAA Championships, also at La Costa.

The NCAA men’s and women’s regionals are held at six regional sites. Though the NCAA tries to balance the fields, the top-seeded teams are generally rewarded with assignments near their campus.