Women's golf places 6th at Mason Rudolph Championship

Competing in a 15-team tournament field littered with several of the nation’s top teams, the No. 15 North Carolina women’s golf team played to a sixth-place finish at the prestigious Mason Rudolph Championship, which ended on Sunday.

Hosted by Vanderbilt and held in Franklin, Tenn., the three-day tournament featured 11 top-25 ranked teams, including four of the nation’s top five.

No. 4 UCLA won the tournament in dominant fashion, finishing at 14-under, the only team to finish below par. No. 5 Arizona State took second place at six shots above par. UNC was 31 strokes off the lead, finishing at 17-above.

“It was a very strong field,” coach Jan Mann said. “We would’ve liked to finish higher, but we weren’t that far off. UCLA ran away with it, but we played well.

In a balanced team effort, seniors Katherine Perry and Jackie Chang led the Tar Heels, tying for 22nd and 24th overall, respectively. Playing through strep throat, sophomore Elizabeth Mallett also finished in the top 30, tying for 29th place out of the tournament’s 88 golfers..

“We always want to win, but we weren’t putting any pressure on ourselves,” Perry said. “We were going to try to put as many good rounds as we could together.”

Perry also noted the tournament’s strong field and believes the exposure to the nation’s best teams will benefit the Tar Heels in the long run.

“Playing with great teams is good for us. It’s good to get used to the competition and figure out what we need to work on,” Perry said.

With frequent rainfall in Tennessee over the weekend, adverse course conditions affected the way the tournament was played.

“It rained all night long and it soaked the course,” Perry said.

“The course was a lot longer…the wind picked up too, it just made the course a little tougher out there,” she added.

Four other ACC squads competed in the tournament, allowing UNC to use the weekend as a measuring stick for how the conference currently stacks up.

The Tar Heels finished third among ACC schools at the tournament, ending five strokes behind No. 3 Duke and one stroke behind No. 20 N.C. State. No. 16 Virginia and Wake Forest finished 11th and 12th, respectively.

“Duke and N.C. State both have great teams and we have to play hard against them,” Mann said. “I think all the ACC teams are very strong. They’ll be forces to reckoned with down the road.”

Regardless, the fifth-year coach said she is certain that her team can compete in the ACC and at the national level.

“The team chemistry is great and I think that plays a significant role in our success, particularly down the road,” she said.

“I feel very confident about that.”

sports@dailytarheel.com