%20(1).png&width=36&height=36&type=webp)
University of North Carolina Athletics
Q & A With Carolina Junior Carter Jenkins
October 1, 2015 | Men's Golf
Q and A with Tar Heel junior Carter Jenkins. The Raleigh native finished second at the Primland Collegiate Invitational on Sept. 29, two strokes off the lead. He led the Tar Heels to the team championship as UNC shot 18-under-par for the tournament to beat Auburn and Wake Forest.
Jenkins tied the all-time UNC record for 18 holes with a 63 in the second round. He was 9-under-par for the round, which is the best score to par ever by a Tar Heel.
Q: What did you think about the Primland Collegiate Invitational?
Carter Jenkins (CJ): “It went pretty well, aside from the fact that we couldn't get the third round in. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time I had ever seen the golf course. The golf course is beautiful. I had heard a lot of good things about it from the guys who played it last year, and it was just a fun place to play and fun to get the win.”
How would you describe your-record setting performance in the second round when you shot a 9-under 63?
CJ: “I had our assistant coach Andrew DiBitetto walk with me in the first round. He kept me pretty calm and got my feet under me for never having played a competition round on that golf course. The first six holes are really gettable out there, so I managed to get off to a hot start being 4-under through six holes. And then just sort of kept it rolling, made the turn at 5-under, got a couple of putts to drop on the back side and then finished up the next morning in the rain and made a nice, long 25-footer. It was pretty exciting to have that one go in. I kept drawing on my freshman year where I played a tournament in Raleigh, the Wolfpack Intercollegiate. I actually ended up winning that event, but it was in very much the same conditions where we were riding, it was misty, rain, cool temperatures, and I actually shot 65-63 on a 36-hole day there. I kept drawing off those memories, and knowing that I can play in these conditions and play well in them is good. Apparently I like the rain.”
Did it frustrate you to play so well and come in second in the individual competition?
CJ: “The initial reaction is, yes, to be a little frustrated. To be like, 'Gosh, I shot 13-under through two rounds and didn't win. That's going to win 97-98% of the time, and it just didn't this time.' But you click in and you realize: I didn't lose, I got beat. I got beat by two great rounds and a really great player, so you cannot be upset.”
How do you carry that momentum into the Tar Heel Intercollegiate?“
CJ: You just keep drawing off the memories. You keep practicing hard. Keep staying mentally focused on what you're trying to do and trying to get better. Know that this is a home-field advantage, so that's very comforting to know that you've played this golf course hundreds of times and you could play it blindfolded. That gives you a distinct advantage over everybody else. And then just hopefully the putts drop.”
What clicks for you at UNC Finley Golf Course after finishing T9 at this tournament the past two seasons?
CJ: “I manage to play very consistent rounds on this golf course. I find myself consistently shooting scores in the range from 70-73. And if you look the past two years at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate and NCAA Regionals, all nine of my scores were between 70-73. It bodes well for good, consistent play to help out the team and get a solid finish. Unfortunately, it doesn't lead to winning very often, so this year I'm going to try to get a little bit better and lower that average down and get the win. I enjoy the visual off the tee, and I've played a bunch of rounds here in junior golf and just got really comfortable on it. So it was a very, very nice place to start playing college golf.”
How do you look at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate?
CJ: “We want to use this week to keep our momentum. Take the momentum from Primland and ride it straight into this week, win this week, and then keep moving forward. That's really all we can do. I'm really competitive. I don't like to lose. Whenever I have an opportunity to do something, I'm going to do everything in my power to make that happen. It doesn't always work, because it never works all the time, but those times when it does work, you remember them because it's pretty sweet. You've got to tell yourself, 'Last week was great. Last week was a lot of fun, I broke a record. It was incredible and couldn't be better.' You remember that and draw off those memories. But then you have to remember this is a brand new week. You've proven nothing this week.”
What will you focus on this week?
CJ: “With the rain that we've been getting the past few days, the superintendents haven't been able to get out and cut the rough. So the rough is incredibly long right now. And when we played last, it was sitting down in the bottom every single time. So being wet, being long, it's going to be near impossible—you're basically going to be chipping out, even if you're six inches in the rough. So it's a premium this week to hit the fairways. That's what I'm going to try to focus on. It's not an overly long golf course, it'll play a little bit longer with the wet conditions, but it'll still be a whole lot of wedges, a whole lot of short irons, so if you can manage to hit those close inside 10-15 feet and get a couple of putts to drop, that's really all it takes.”
How beneficial is it to have a young team?
CJ: “When I came in last winter we were starting two sophomores, two freshmen and a senior and we were incredibly young. We still had very high expectations for ourselves, but we still knew in the back of our minds we had two, three more years of this. Just stay patient and continue with the process. Understand we will be playing together for the next two, three years and we can do a whole lot of really great things. It's pretty nice. Plus it's cool for Henry (Do) and I to think of ourselves as leaders on the team, even though we are only juniors.”
What does it mean to be a team leader?
CJ: “Hopefully, it means that I can lead by example. “Actions speak louder than words” is a very often-used quote for a situation like that. So if you can just continue to work hard and let the other guys see you working hard and having focused practices instead of just goofing around, not really getting anything done, then it's going to make them work harder because we all want to play. We all want to play well. It's going to make them work harder to try to beat me. That's all I can ask for.”
Players Mentioned
