After a strong second round Saturday, Wake Forest is in position to battle for survival Sunday in the third round of the men’s NCAA Championship at Omni LaCosta Resort in Carlsbad, California.
Wake is tied for the 15th and the last spot in Monday’s final round of the stroke-play competition.
Sparked by a 67 from Marshall Meisel, the Demon Deacons shot 4-over-par as a team to move into contention to make the 54-hole cut. Wake is tied with Vanderbilt and Texas A&M for the last spot at 12-over.
Sunday’s round should be interesting with only four strokes separating 11th from 19th in the standings. Connor Williams, who shares the medalist lead with Michael LaSasso of Ole Miss at 9-under, has powered Arizona State into the lead at 13-under with Oklahoma, Auburn, Florida and Florida State rounding out the top five teams.
Kyle Haas recovered from an 81 Friday to shoot 72 for the Deacons, whose other scores Saturday included Tom Haberer with 76 and Scotty Kennon and Jakob Melin, who had an ace the first round, with 77.
Jakob Melin aced the 16th hole Friday at Omni LaCosta Resort on his way to an even-par 72 to lead Wake Forest, which was in 22nd place with only a few teams in the 30-team field still on the course at the men’s NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, California.
The Swede started fast with birdies on the first two holes and finished with the ace and two pars. But four bogeys in between prevented him from breaking par on the 7,480-yard course and left him five strokes off the lead in a tie for 39th on a bunched leaderboard.
Wake shot 8-over 296 as a team, 16 shots behind leader Oklahoma, which holds a five-stroke lead over Florida State, Florida and Texas. Jackson Van Paris of Vanderbilt, a Pinehurst native, was tied for the individual lead at 6-under before bogeying his final two holes.
Tom Haberer shot 74, Marshall Meisel and Scotty Kennon shot 75 and Kyle Haas had 81 for Wake, which hasn’t won a national championship since 1986.
The 72-hole tournament will have a cut to the top 15 teams and nine individuals on non-qualifying teams for the final round. The top eight team finishers in stroke play advance to the match-play portion of the tournament.
Perhaps, there’s no better way to learn about what’s going on in Triad golf than making the rounds at area courses distributing the latest issue of Triad Golf Magazine, which is what I did for much of the past week.
Before I share some of that knowledge, a little review. I hope everybody enjoyed the May print issue featuring ranks of all Triad courses and the Triad’s courses open to public — at least on a limited basis.
Thanks to the 18 “experts” who agreed to do the voting. For the record, the panel consisted of 18 voters composed of four top area amateurs, 13 golf professionals and one golf administrator. The vast majority had played each of the courses on the Top 25 list and all of the Top 20 on the public-access list.
There was one mistake in a graphic in the print edition. Though Old Town Club was correctly identified throughout the story as No. 1 on the overall list, there was a mistake in a graphic. My fault — there is no excuse. Fortunately, the graphic was always correct on TriadGolf.com.
I’ve planned a podcast that will focus on the results of the panel voting to include how panelists were picked and to discuss some of the results that could be considered as surprises. We couldn’t do it this week due to vacations and prior commitments.
But we’ll do it in the coming week. I’m proud of the product and eager to share the process.
The renovated clubhouse at Gillespie reopened several months ago after renovation from damage created by Helene.
Moving on to the 700-something-mile trek to regional courses …
Salem Glen has a fleet of eight Finn Scooters available for on-course use at an upcharge of $10 for 18 holes. The Finn vehicles have been available for several years at Pine Needles.
What do members do when their home course is under renovation? Well, at Starmount Forest, members have more than 20 clubs offering access. New grass soon will be visible when driving by on Holden Road.
The new clubhouse has taken shape at Tanglewood Park. Most of the exterior is built and can be seen sitting atop the hill in the old spot, next to the opening and finishing tees and greens. The opening date is scheduled for the fall.
The modern clubhouse is a needed improvement at the 36-hole Forsyth County facility. Now, how about showing some love to the Reynolds Course, which could be a premier muni with some investment in the grounds and maintenance?
The clubhouse at Gillespie Golf Course has been open several months. The plans and timetable for new greens, a new artificial putting green and a short course have not been released.
The roof was damaged when a tree fell on it in September during Hurricane Helene. Much of the repairs were to the kitchen and electrical system.
I like Quail Hollow. I’ve enjoyed my visits there for the annual PGA Tour event sponsored by at least three different megabanks.
Great golf course. Love the Green Mile. I hope the PGA Tour’s signature event never leaves the Charlotte club.
But I hope the PGA Championship never comes back. Quail Hollow just isn’t a major championship venue. It’s a PGA Tour stop. Rarely, can a golf course effectively be both.
Though most of the focus of a major championship is the competition and other compelling story lines involving the players — albeit, this past week Scottie Scheffler didn’t get arrested outside the gate and Rory McIlroy had already completed the Grand Slam — the host course is part of the appeal.
The USGA knows this. The R&A knows this. The PGA of America, the organizing body behind the PGA Championship either hasn’t figured it out, or it doesn’t have enough juice to secure an appropriate course for the No. 4 major championship.
At the Masters, the mystique and beauty of exclusive Augusta National Golf Club, where golf fans from around the world are willing to spend small fortunes in order to make pilgrammages to attend practice rounds and buy lawn gnomes, the course and the grounds take front stage.
The USGA picks the nation’s top courses — private, public and resort — for the U.S. Open. The regular rotation includes historic and cherished venues such as Shinnecock Hills, Oakmont, Olympic, Merion, The Country Club, Winged Foot, Pinehurst No. 2, Bethpage Black and Pebble Beach.
The R&A opts for the world’s most historic and classic links layouts such the Old Course at St. Andrews, Troon, Prestwick, Birkdale, Muirfield, Lytham & St. Annes and St. George’s — all but Muirfield and St. Andrews officially designated as “Royal.”
Golf fans relish the opportunity to see Augusta National and the U.S. and British Open courses on television and imagine playing them.
The PGA Championship lacks historic venues needed to make a major championship a reason for golf fans to watch on TV rather than spend the weekend on the course themselves.
Quail Hollow Club has a great course in a rapidly growing market with headquarters of huge banks. It’s been a great host for the Wachovia, Wells Fargo and Truist tournaments. The world can see it every May on TV. To be fair, I’d feel the same way about Muirfield Village. Pebble Beach is an exception.
But there’s no mystique. It lacks the history. Most of the U.S. and British Open sites had held several major championships before Quail Hollow opened in 1961.
The PGA Championship has been held at some great historic venues — Oak Hill, Southern Hills, Baltusrol, Oakland Hills, to name a few. But they aren’t Shinnecock, Oakmont and Merion, are they? Valhalla probably wouldn’t be in the rotation had the PGA not bought it (and since sold it). TPC at Harding Park, Crooked Stick, and Sahalee? Come on.
I will give the PGA some credit. The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and Whistling Straits are special, modern resort courses that golf fans want to see.
Nobody’s tuning in to watch Quail Hollow. In its rankings that came out in December, Golf Magazine’s expert panel ranked Quail Hollow as the 10th best course in North Carolina. There’s nothing compelling enough about Quail Hollow for it to host a major championship, not even the consensus No. 4 among the majors.
Wake Forest failed to make the cut over the weekend at the NCAA Women’s Championship at Omni La Costa Resort North Course in Carlsbad, California.
Carolina Chacarra led Wake with a 5-over-par 221 for 54 holes and teammate Macy Pate of Winston-Salem shot 12-over. Anne-Storre Den Dunnen shot 6-over, including 69 — the team’s only round under par — in the third round.
Stanford went on to win the team competition in lead stroke play. Maria Jose Marin of Arkansas was medalist at 12-under.
Joining Stanford in the eight-team field for match play are Oregon, Northwestern, Southern California, Florida State, Arkansas, Texas and Virginia.
Wake Forest shot the best team round of the tournament Wednesday to rally to finish fourth at the Amherst, Virginia, NCAA Regional and advance to the NCAA Championship.
Jakob Melin shot 65, Kyle Haas posted 66, Marshall Meisel and Tom Haberer carded 67 and Scotty Kennon added 68 for Wake, which shot 15-under-par 265 for the third round. Wake finished at 1-under 839, behind Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
The Demon Deacons shot four strokes better than first-place Oklahoma in the final round and at least 12 better than the other 11 teams. Wake will play in the NCAA Championship May 23-28 in Carlsbad, California.
David Ford, the nation’s top-ranked college golfer, did not advance and neither did his North Carolina teammates.
Ford shot a solid 69 Wednesday to finish at 4-under-par 209 in a tie for 11th place at the Urbana, Illinois, Regional. But the individual berth into the championship went to medalist Hunter Thomson of Michigan, who finished at 203.
The Tar Heels finished sixth as a team at 7-over 859, eight shots behind fifth-place Texas Tech for the final qualifying slot. Illinois, Oklahoma State, UNLV and Troy took the top four berths. N.C. State also failed to qualify at Urbana. Duke finished seven strokes behind the cut line at Reno, Nevada.
South Surry’s Sawyer Slate shot even-par 72 Tuesday at Longleaf Golf Club in Southern Pines then won a playoff to capture medalist honors in the Class 1A State Championship.
Mt. Airy won the team title at 32-over-par 320, beating Christ the King by two strokes. Brandon Bowman shot 76 to lead the Granite Bears. Bishop McGuinness finished fourth at 328.
The tournament was reduced to 18 holes due to a storm that canceled Monday’s round.
1. Bryan Park Champions. 2. The Cardinal. 3. Tanglewood Championship. 4. Forest Oaks. 5. Grandover East. 6. Grandover West. 7. Deep Springs. 8. Pinewood. 9. Bryan Park Players. 10. Mill Creek. 11. Oak Valley. 12. Greensboro National. 13. Holly Ridge. 14. Tot Hill Farm. 15. Cross Creek. 16. Meadowlands. 17. Cedarbrook. 18. Salem Glen. 19. Jamestown Park. 20. Stoney Creek.
Park’s Championship Course hosted the 1974 PGA Championship won by Lee Trevino.
Forest Oaks Country Club was the site of PGA Tour Greater Greensboro Opens for three decades, producing 14 different winners who also won major championships.
But the best public-access course in the Triad, according to a Triad Golf panel, is Bryan Park’s Champions Course, host of the 2010 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.
The above trio provides only a glimpse of the Triad’s outstanding, 18-hole, public-access courses, which include designs from Robert Trent Jones, Pete Dye, Ellis Maples, Joe Lee, Rees Jones, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin and David Graham.
More than 50 of the Triad’s 60-something golf courses are open to the public — at least on a limited basis.
Guilford and Forsyth counties can thank generous benefactors for Bryan Park and Tanglewood Park, amazingly affordable 36-hole facilities with outstanding practice areas.
Grandover Resort offers a premier golf resort with two David Graham and Gary Panks collaborations, known for generous practice facilities and pristine playing conditions.
Several of the region’s best courses are former private clubs that still have sizeable memberships.
Within the last decade, McConnell Golf opened tee times to the public at The Cardinal, a tough Pete Dye design that was once merged into Sedgefield.
Architect Pete Dye called No. 12 at The Cardinal the hardest par-3 he ever designed.
Other clubs with significant memberships include Forest Oaks, Cross Creek, Meadowlands, Deep Springs, Pinewood Mill Creek, Salem Glen, Stoney Creek and Greensboro National.
Holly Ridge, a rarity in not offering memberships, is at the forefront in providing modern amenities including four simulator bays and robot food and drink servers as well as tee times offering discounts for foursomes.
Jamestown Park was the top vote-getter of an outstanding group of municipal courses, including Lexington, Reynolds Park, Oak Hollow and The Valley, sure to make golfers in most other markets envious.
1. Old Town Club. 2. Old North State Club. 3. Sedgefield. 4. Greensboro CC Farm Course. 5. Alamance CC. 6. Forsyth CC. 7. Bryan Park Champions Course. 8. Bermuda Run CC East. 9. High Point CC Willow Creek Course. 10. The Cardinal by Pete Dye. 11. Tanglewood Park Championship Course. 12. Starmount Forest CC. 13. Forest Oaks CC. 14. Grandover Resort East Course. 15. Colonial CC. 16. Grandover Resort West. 17. Deep Springs CC. 18. Pinewood CC. 19. Bryan Park Players Course. 20. Mill Creek GC. 21. Maple Chase CC. 22. Greensboro CC Irving Park. 23. Oak Valley GC. 24. Greensboro National GC. 25. Holly Ridge GL.
The Piedmont Triad offers a wide assortment of outstanding golf courses.
So, how do they rank?
There’s nothing that grabs golfers’ attention more than course rankings. Best in the world, best in the nation, best in the state … best public, best private, best resort … best new course, best classic course, best value … best golf communities, best retirement golf, best golf resorts … The lists churned out by golf media outlets go on and on.
But Triad Golf Magazine couldn’t find any significant list of rankings specifically targeting courses in the Triad region.
So, we put together a panel of 18 respected golfers with knowledge of the entire region to vote on the Triad’s top courses. As a result, we provide lists of the top overall and top public-access courses in the 12-county region commonly defined as the Triad.
A supreme effort was made to recruit a diverse, knowledgeable and respected panel. The local group includes top amateurs in regional and national competition, college coaches and players, golf professionals and a longtime golf administrator.
We gave panel members a list of the more than 60 (we didn’t include any with fewer than 18 holes) or so courses in the region. Most of the panel members had played almost every course. If a panelist did not play a course, that course was not penalized.
No criteria for voting were given. Just rank the courses based on your perception. Why let a formula decide the voting? Then, the formula can be a cause of debate. Who’s to say what aspects of a golf course are most important?
Regardless, I think we’ve got a great list that should be a starting point for debate.
Let’s start with our No. 1 choice. Our panelists largely agreed on the best of the best, especially the top four, though not necessarily in the same order.
Old Town Club came out on top, followed by Old North State Club, Sedgefield Country Club and Greensboro Country Club Farm Course.
Old Town received a plurality of first-place votes with Old North State a strong second. That tight 1-2 finish at the top exemplifies the subjectiveness of rankings.
How can you compare the classic Maxwell design and the history at Old Town to the beautiful Fazio design at Old North State, including a finish on the banks of Badin Lake? But panelists did, and it was razor close.
The 18th hole at Old North State Club wraps around the shoreline of Badin Lake.
Likewise, it was close for No. 3 between Sedgefield, the Ross design home to the PGA Tour Wyndham Championship, and Greensboro Farm, from Maples, and later Steel, whose work includes Primland as well as several top courses in Britain and Ireland.
Next, came Alamance Country Club and Forsyth Country Club, prestigious clubs with classic Ross designs. Bryan Park Champions, the top-ranked public-access course, followed by Bermuda Run East, High Point Willow Creek and The Cardinal rounded out the top 10.
Old Town’s spot at the top should come as no surprise. Adjacent to Wake Forest University and home to the Demon Deacons golf teams, Old Town is ranked among the nation’s top 100 courses by Golf Digest and Golf Magazine.
Old North State, Sedgefield and Greensboro Farm have made several other statewide lists and served as host for major events.
Old North State was the longtime home of the ACC Men’s Championship. Sedgefield is host of the PGA Tour’s annual Wyndham Championship. Greensboro Farm played host to the 2023 Carolinas Open.
Other area courses have hosted major national and international tournaments. Tanglewood Championship played host to the 1974 PGA Championship won by Lee Trevino. Forest Oaks was the longtime site of the PGA Tour’s Greater Greensboro Open. Bryan Park Championship was host of the 2010 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.
Though private clubs fill eight of the top spots in the top 10, public-access courses occupy 13 of the final 15 of the top 25. Maples designed three of the top six courses. Maples courses had five in the top 25.
East Surry’s Pennson Badgett finished second in Class 3A played at Pinehurst No. 6 in state high school tournaments played Monday and Tuesday in the Sandhills area.
Badgett, the 2023 medalist, shot even-par 142 for 36 holes to finish six shots behind Slater Meade of West Wilkes in the Class 2A High School Championship.
East Surry finished fifth in the team standings at 647, only two strokes ahead of sixth-place North Surry. Salisbury won the team title at 59-over-par 627, one shot better than Mooresville Pine Lake Prep.
Lincoln Newton and Tyler Lambert each finished at 1-under 143 to tie for ninth on the individual leaderboard and push Oak Grove to a third-place showing at the Class 3A championship at Gates Four Country Club in Fayetteville.
Oak Grove shot 12-over 588 for 36 holes, only four strokes behind Stuart Cramer and Terry Sanford. Cramer won a playoff to claim the title. Warren Stiglitz of East Lincoln won medalist honors at 6-under 138.
Pinecrest shot 12-under-par 416 as a team in rounds at Pinehurst No. 2 and No. 8 to win the Class 4A title for the third straight year Tuesday, beating second-place Broughton by 14 strokes. Will Houghton of Charlotte Catholic was medalist at 7-under 107 for 27 holes — poor weather limited the first round at No. 2 to nine holes.
