Mark Power scored the winning point as the Wake Forest men’s golf team cruised through to the ACC Championship finale at Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst.
It was Power who punched the Deacs ticket to the final match, winning 2&1 with the Deacs running out eventual 5-0 victors over Virginia.
That sets up a repeat of last year’s final today [Monday] as Wake Forest meet Georgia Tech in the Championship decider. Both teams look very familiar from a year ago as seven of the 10 players who were in the match in 2022 will take part in Monday’s match.
“What a great day here at CCNC at the ACC championship with bright, sunny skies,” reflected Deacs Coach Jerry Haas.
“The Demon Deacons slid in there in the second seed, finishing 10-under for the tournament and got a spot in the semis against Virginia. We just went out there and played some really good golf, some of our best golf this year. With just a quick calculation about 17-under-par in the semi. Every guy was up in his match.
“I am very excited as the defending champion to be playing in the finals. We’re peaking at the right time and it’s great to see. We have a young team. We have a couple of freshmen in the lineup. Andrew McLaughlan played great this afternoon. Boyd Owens bogied his first hole and then made six birdies after that. He looked like he was going to win his match but they called it a tie. Mark Power got a win and Michael Brennan won 6&5. Then Scotty Kennon played against Ben James of Virginia who’s one of the top 10 players in the country. Scotty played very well and beat him 5&4.
“We have a good feeling. We liked this golf course. Obviously, we played well on the stroke play portion. Coming in here, we needed some wins. We were below 500 but felt like we were a really good team. As a coach and speaking for Coach Aaron [O’Callaghan], I’m so proud that the last couple of weeks here we’ve had to play well and we have. It just shows all their hard work and dedication to the golf program at Wake Forest. It’s really paid off and who knows what will happen tomorrow. It’s golf. They should feel very confident and very good about where they stand right now heading into tomorrow’s finals and then into NCAA Regionals. Go Deacs!”
Meanwhile, Louisville’s Max Kennedy was best of the Irish in the 54-hole strokeplay as he continued his superb form with a T-7 finish.
The Royal Dublin man carded rounds of 69, 71 and 71 for a five-under total as the Cardinals failed to qualify for the matchplay.
Full scoring HERE
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