North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Hill Looks to Shake Off Illness at NCAA Regional
5/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. After winning four of the last five tournaments he entered, NC State sophomore Matt Hill seemed primed to peak when the Wolfpack teed off this morning in NCAA Central Men's Golf Regional in Bowling Green, Ky.
Except for the nagging little problem of strep throat.
Hill, a sophomore from Brights Grove, Ontario, Canada, began feeling ill before leading the Wolfpack to a 3-and-2 victory in the Big 4 Challenge at Durham’s Treyburn Country Club.
The 2009 ACC Golfer of the Year has been on antibiotics to fight the infection ever since. He limited his practice with the team on Tuesday, but managed to get in a full practice round with his teammates Wednesday afternoon at the Club at Olde Stone, the par-72, 7,400-yard layout that will host the regional championship.
“He looks like he is feeling better,” head coach Richard Sykes said late Wednesday night. “I think he will be okay, but he doesn’t have all the strength that he might. He started feeling bad before we started playing Monday and it got worse Monday night.”
Hill has set both an ACC record and school record with six tournaments this school year, including wins in his last three starts and five of his last six tournaments overall. He recently claimed co-medalist honors at the ACC Championships, the first Pack golfer since 1995 to do so, and this past Monday won the Big 4 Challenge.
The No. 23 Wolfpack, seeded third in the regional, was scheduled to tee off at 9:30 a.m. (EDT) in Thursday’s first round, but that has been delayed until at least 11 a.m. because of inclement weather. Fans can follow live scoring of the Wolfpack’s round at www.golfstat.com. This is the team’s 17th appearance in an NCAA Regional and 10th in the last 12 years, all under Sykes.
Conditions were rugged during Wednesday’s practice round, with 20-30 mile-an-hour winds, Sykes said.
“We didn’t look too sharp because of that, but I think we played all right,” said the coach. “I don’t have any reason to think that we won’t play well this weekend.”
The team’s success this year has not been limited to Hill. Senior Darren Blair also claimed an individual victory at the Bank of Tennessee @ The Ridges Invitational in October. Junior Brad Revell has also come on strong with four straight top-20 showings, and has been the Pack's second-highest finisher the last two times out.
“The team has been consistent all year long,” Sykes said. “When you always have someone near the top of the leaderboard, you should be doing pretty well. We have a nice team with some good players. Some of the guys haven’t accomplished all they wanted to this season, but they are still working for it and they still have some opportunities to get there.”
The Wolfpack will be looking to advance to the NCAA Championships, which will be held May 27-30 in Toledo, Ohio. The top five teams, along with the top finishing individual not on those teams, will advance to the championship round.
“For us, it is certainly not a formality to advance,” Sykes said. “The regional is a difficult test to get through. We look at it like this: We have played well all year to earn this opportunity. Now, we put it all on the line and see if we can deliver. If not, we can walk away and say we have had a pretty good year, we got our shot and we just didn’t get it done.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
