Tar Heels Move Into Tie For Second At ACC Championship

Friday, April 14

at Pawleys Island, S.C.

All Day

North Carolina

ACC Championship

April 14, 2017 | Women's Golf

By: UNC Athletic Communications

Pawleys Island, S.C. – The Carolina women's golf team turned in a 4-over par 292 on Friday in the second round of the ACC Championship to bring their overall tournament score to 3-over par. The Tar Heels are tied for second place with Clemson and Florida State, nine shots back of Duke.

Coach Jan Mann thought the team positioned themselves well, “A couple of players played very well and I think overall it wasn't bad at all. Did we give away a few shots here and there? Yes. Overall we're pleased with the end result, we hung in there. We have an opportunity.”

The Tar Heels were led by junior Lexi Harkins and freshman Brynn Walker who matched each other for the second straight day with 1-under par 71s. The two are tied for 27^th in the individual competition at 3-over par.

Mann believes Walker has settled into her first ACC Championship, “It was great Brynn had a much better day, we worked on her putting yesterday afternoon. I think we found some things that she could do on the course that worked for her overall. There's a tendency for her and other players to get quick with their tempo. So, we worked on slowing that down, with that adjustment she did very well.

Harkins has only one blemish this week, a quadruple bogey on No. 9 in the first round. After that, she played the next 27 holes in 2-under par. Her consistent play has given the Tar Heels a boost according to Mann, “With the exception of No. 9 yesterday her play has been extremely solid. There's lots of birdies to be had out there, obviously they want to play one shot at a time and not worry about it. But, you have to keep the high numbers out and Lexi knows that and it showed today.”

After matching her career low with a 68 on Thursday, Bryana Nguyen shot a 76 on Friday. She stands at even par and is tied for seventh individually. Senior Leslie Cloots is looking for back-to-back top five individual finishes and is also tied for seventh after rounds of 70 and 74.

Kelly Whaley shot an 80 on Friday to move to 9-over par overall and a tie for 40^th.

The Tar Heels are playing in the final group tomorrow morning with Duke and Clemson. It's the Tar Heels first time in the final pairing at the ACC Championship since 2014. With the exception of 2011 (when Carolina led by 24 after two rounds and won the ACC title), the nine shot back mark is tied for the closest Carolina has been after two rounds since 1994.

According to Mann, playing in the final group for the final round is always the team's goal, and they're ready to, “embrace” that challenge.

Postseason comebacks have been a theme this month for the Tar Heels. Coach Mann believes that the team can learn a few lessons from the NCAA Championship winning men's basketball team, “I'd like to learn from what our men's basketball team did, watching them play the last couple of games, they came from behind, they never gave up, they played with a tremendous amount of heart and determination. I think if we can do the same then we can have a very good result. This team can go very low and its possible for that to happen tomorrow. But, we can't press to make it happen, we just have to do our job out there and stay focused and if the players can do that they'll be happy with the result.”

Individually, Kim Metraux of Florida State and Leona Maguire of Duke lead the competition at 4-under par. There are a total of six players in red figures at this point in the tournament.

The team's overall score of 3-over par, 579, is the best score to par the team has had after two rounds in ACC Championship history.

The final group will tee off from 9:20-10:00 a.m. EDT tomorrow.

ACC Network Extra will have coverage of holes No. 15-18 Friday from 1 p.m. ET until the conclusion of play. Former UNC and LPGA player Donna Andrews will be the analyst on the coverage. The ACC Network Extra can be streamed on WatchESPN and on the ESPN app to ESPN subscribers.

For fans interested in attending tomorrow's round, there is no admission fee for the event.