By Jon Giokas
Old Gold & Black Reporter
The Demon Deacon men's golf team finished in sixth place at last weekend's ACC Men's Golf Championships with a three-day total of 865 at the par 72, 7,012-yard Old North State Club in New London, NC.
The tournament was won by the Clemson Tigers, who put together a stunning total of 28-under par.
As anyone who has followed ACC golf this season might have guessed, the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech finished right behind Clemson, in second place.
Clemson's Charles Warren successfully defended the individual ACC title he won last year with an 11-under par total of 205.
Senior Todd Lynch continued his strong play of late, pacing the Deacs with an even par total of 216, good for a tie for 20th place.
Fellow senior Ray Floyd, Jr. recovered from a first-round 77 by playing the last two rounds in three-under par, to finish in 26th place.
Senior Ryan Gioffre was one shot behind, in a tie for 27th place and juniors Juan Vizcaya and Michael Capone tied for 37th in the individual portion of the tournament.
The Deacons' chances were all but dead after a first-round 295, which left them in last place.
The Deacs rebounded to shoot a 6-under-par 282, the best round of the day.
They followed that with an even-par final round, but that still left them in sixth place, 29 shots behind the Clemson Tigers.
"We got off to a slow start, obviously, we played well after that" Coach Jerry Haas said.
"Clemson played awesome. It would have been real hard to beat them."
Haas noted that the Deacs' poor, first-round performance could be attributed to their play over a three-hole stretch.
"We had a stretch of holes, 13, 14 and 15 that we played eight or ten over as a team," Haas said.
The Deacs had six individual rounds that were equal to or below par.
However, only one of those came in the first round.
In winning the tournament, Clemson set a new 54-hole record, breaking the record set by the Deacons in 1980.
N.C. State took home third place and North Carolina finished in fourth, with the University of Virginia in fifth place.
Competition for the individual title was tight as well.
After Warren, Don Hill of Clemson finished in second place.
Defending U.S. Amateur champion Matt Kuchar, who competed in last week's Masters in Augusta, GA, was one shot back of Hill and two behind Warren.
Overall, 19 players finished the tournament below par.
The next step on the Deacs' road to the NCAA Championships are the NCAA Regionals in May. The team looks to gain some momentum for the tourney.
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