Sept. 10, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM - The No. 15-ranked Wake Forest men's golf team will begin the season at the Carpet Capital Collegiate this weekend at The Farm Club in Rocky Face, Ga. The 54-hole tournament will begin on Friday, Sept. 12 and conclude on Sunday, Sept. 14. Wake Forest will tee off at 10 a.m. both Friday and Saturday with Sunday's tee time to be determined by the standings after the first two rounds. The Deacons are chomping at the bit after a 2007-08 season which saw them post a pair of victories and a total of six top-five finishes. But, a rough showing at the NCAA Championships in May have left the Deacs wanting more. Head coach Jerry Haas, who is starting his 12th season at the helm of the program is anxious to get the season underway. "The best of the season for me is when the wheels role of the campus," said Haas. "We get going this afternoon so I am excited to see how we do and what we've got." One of the wins last season came at the NCAA Central Regional, where the Deacons won by an impressive ten shots. It was also their third NCAA East Regional victory in the last four years. Sophomore Brendan Gielow finished second at the Regional and had a tremendous summer, winning the Northeast Amateur and qualifying for both the U.S. Amateur and North/South Amateur. Gielow, who is a Golfweek preseason second team All-American, will play in the number one spot this weekend and coach Haas is looking for big things this season the Muskegon, Mich., native. "Brendan had a big win this summer at the Northeast Amateur and he qualified for the U.S. Amateur so I think he is on the verge of having a really sound year," said Haas. "Last year, he had a lot of 10th-15th place finishes and I think he will improve on those this year." Gielow and senior Dustin Groves, who also had a good summer, both posted top-20 finishes last year at the Carpet Capital. Gielow finished tied for tenth while Groves shot a 2-under 70 in the final round to finish tied for 13th.
Groves ended the 2008-07 season fourth on the team with a 74.6 stroke average. He also played well at the NCAA Regional, finishing fourth. Groves will play in the number two spot this weekend. "I think Dustin is starting to realize that he is a really good player," Haas commented. "If he plays well and understands that his teammates are going to play well too, then we'll be alright." Junior Travis Wadkins will play in the three spot. He played 27 rounds a year ago and averaged 76.0 strokes per round. He opened the 2007 Carpet Capital with a round of 73 and finished tied for 56th. A pair of freshmen, Lee Bedford and Daniel Meggs will round out the Demon Deacon five. Bedford won and individual North Carolina state championship as a sophomore and led his team to a team title last year. "Both Lee and Daniel are really excited to go," said Haas. "This is what they've been working for this fall and I'm not surprised that they made it. They came in at a disadvantage with not seeing the courses that we qualified on but they handled themselves very well." A total of 18 teams will compete this weekend with 13 of them being ranked in the top-30 in Golfweek's preseason poll. Alabama has won each of the last two Carpet Capital team titles while Georgia Tech junior Chesson Hedley will look to defend his individual crown from 2007. The Deacons finished tied for eighth last year at the Carpet Capital and their best finish came in 2004 when the Deacs finished second, just two shots behind Georgia. Oscar Sanchez won Wake's first individual title in 1997 and All-American Bill Haas took co-medalist honors in 2002. "We have five really good players going this weekend," said Haas. "This will be Dustin's fourth time playing the course and Brendan has finished third there. Travis played well last year except for one hole so we should be familiar with the course. We go out there and try to win every time and there is no reason why we can't do that this weekend." The tournament website is www.thefarmgolfclub.org and live scoring of the event will be conducted at www.golfstat.com. Rain is forecasted for the next couple of days in Rocky Face but the weather clears up for Friday through Sunday with temperatures in the mid to upper 80s all three days. After the Carpet Capital, Wake Forest will have almost two weeks off before they travel to the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate at the famed Shoal Creek on Sept. 22-23. |
