North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Hot Hill Heads to NCAA Golf Championship
5/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. In his nearly four decades as NC State’s head golf coach, Richard Sykes has witnessed a lot. But, heading into the 112th Men's NCAA Division I Championship at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, he’s never seen a golfer hotter than Wolfpack sophomore Matt Hill.
Hill has won seven of the last eight events he has entered, including the ACC Golf Championship, the NCAA Central Regional Championship and a USGA-run U.S. Open local qualifier.
He has won four consecutive college events, starting with the NC State-hosted River Landing Intercollegiate in Wallace, N.C., and followed by the ACC Championship in New London, N.C. He shared medalist honors with Clemson’s David May. He was the individual winner at the Big Four Challenge at Durham’s Treyburn Country Club and took a one-stroke victory at The Club at Olde Stone in the NCAA Central Regional in Bowling Green, Ky.
His seven individual wins this school year (one in the fall, six in the spring) shattered the ACC record of five individual wins in a season.
“This really is something I have never seen before, and people know I have been around for a long time,” said Sykes, who took over the golf program in the fall of 1971. “And I have been paying attention.”
Sykes takes no credit for Hill’s accomplishments this season. The sophomore from Bright’s Grove, Ontario, has a calm demeanor on the course, uses his athletic 6-foot-3 frame for leverage and has steadied his putting stroke on his own. And, heading into the NCAA Championships, he has a Tiger-like confidence.
“I just stay out of his way and make sure he gets to the course on time,” Sykes said. “Right now, he’s really playing like a thoroughbred. All I have to do is get in the saddle and ride. Isn’t that what those jockeys do?”
Sykes has coached his share of talented golfers, from former PGA Tour pro Vance Heafner to Kelly Mitchum to the trio of former Wolfpack players currently on tour: Tim Clark, Carl Pettersson and Marc Turnesa. But Hill has smashed every mark in the school and ACC record book. Mitchum previously held the record with three wins in a season and Clark held the mark for career victories with five.
Hill has won six collegiate events since the middle of the March.
“I don’t know how to talk about it, really, other than to sit back and enjoy it,” Sykes said. “It really is kind of enjoyable, to be honest with you.”
Hill tees off at 2:05 p.m. Tuesday and 8:55 a.m. Wednesday. His tee time Thursday will be set after the second round. For more information on the NCAA Championship hosted by Toledo, click here.
Sykes considers Hill to be one of the favorites in the 156-player field, even though this will be his first college tournament he has played this year as an individual. The Wolfpack did not qualify as a team, but Hill advanced by winning the Central Regional.
“This will be the first event he has played for us strictly as an individual,” Sykes said. “You never know how that might affect somebody. With his focus, I don’t think it will affect him whatsoever, but you never know.”
Hill aims to become NC State’s third individual national champion this spring, following in the footsteps of wrestler Darrion Caldwell and platform diver Kristin Davies, who both won NCAA titles in March. The school has never had three individual national champions in the same school year.
“I think winning has to pop into his mind, because he is getting used to it,” Sykes said. “He has to pop into other people’s minds, especially if Matt is up there near the lead in the last few holes. He has created that kind of aura.
“If someone else is going to win, they are going to have to beat him.”
Even if he doesn’t win, Hill can make school history. The best finish by an NC State player at the men’s championship was the fifth-place performance by current PGA Tour star Tim Clark in 1996. Clark also finished 10th in 1997 and seventh in 1998. Justin Walters was sixth in 2002 and Jason Moon was 10th in 2003.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
