BY TIM PEELER Press McPhaul remembers the end of his freshman season at North Carolina State, and not fondly. His confidence was shot. His golf game was crap. He just wanted to go home to Sanford and not come back. A bit disconsolate, McPhaul stopped by head coach Richard Sykes’ office late in the spring…
By Kurt Dusterberg Andrew DiBitetto is in an unlikely situation, coaching a major Division I golf program at the age of 31. He’s on the young side, but he’s well prepared to be the head coach at University of North Carolina, a position he earned in July after the dismissal of Andrew Sapp. He may…
By David Droschak If you’re around Richard Sykes for five minutes and don’t crack a smile or double over laughing then you probably don’t have a pulse. It’s open for debate whether Sykes saw more one-putts or fired off more one-liners in his 46 years as men’s golf coach at North Carolina State. What is…
Men’s North & South Championship Tim Conover of Holly Springs survived a do-or-die playoff just to make the match play field and then posted a series of stunning victories to capture the 116th Men’s North & South Amateur Championship at Pinehurst No. 2. Seven players ended 36 holes of medal play at 151 and…
By David Droschak If there was ever a “can’t miss” golf prospect it’s Gina Kim. The rising junior at Chapel Hill High School has skill and talent – and maybe even more importantly – the desire and drive to become the best. The 16-year-old Kim is the No. 1 female junior golfer in North Carolina,…
By Kurt Dusterberg Emily Brooks would like to become a household name in golf circles. In the meantime, she has the most famous silhouette in the sport. Brooks is a senior at Elon University, and much to her surprise, her image adorns the 2016 United States Golf Association rule book. “My dad and my grandfather…
By DAVID DROSCHAK Dan Brooks chuckles some when asked about his early days as Duke’s women’s golf coach. “I actually came into this not wanting to be a coach, I wanted to be a teacher, and my ego was huge and I wanted to be THE teacher,” said Brooks, who has now coached the ultra…
By DAVID DROSCHAK No telling what athletic path Carter Jenkins would have taken had he suited up behind home plate as an aspiring baseball youth a decade ago. “I wanted to catch, but the coach’s son also wanted to catch, so unfortunately that stuck me in left field. That wasn’t a whole lot of fun,”…
By STUART HALL As Page Marsh played her way through the golfing ranks, her father always said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Those words still resonate with Marsh, who is in her 15th season as N.C. State’s women’s golf coach. The process of building the Wolfpack into a nationally-competitive program has not…
By Kurt Dusterberg When Jason Widener was a teenager, golf came easily. He won the USGA’s Junior Amateur championship in 1988, and followed it up by signing with Duke University, where he won medalist honors at the ACC Championship as a freshman in 1990. Then everything changed. “Three quarters of the way through my freshman…