The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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154 ■ THE WOLFPACKER you can let go for a while. It's constant. I think the course is fine. The pins were dif- ficult, but the course wasn't out of control. "If you hit the ball in the right place, it wasn't a surprise. It was pretty fair." In some ways, Mulroy has prepared his entire life to be a vagabond golfer. He grew up in Umkomass, South Africa, not far from where former Wolfpack All-American and PGA Tour star Tim Clark grew up. In fact, when Mulroy began looking for an Ameri- can college to play for, Clark's father called Sykes to see if he had a scholarship available at NC State. At the time, Sykes did not, so Mulroy spent a year at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, and then a year at Scottsdale Junior College in Arizona. Sykes had a scholarship available in 2000, so Mulroy finished his career with the Wolfpack, placing in the top 10 at the ACC Championships and qualifying for the NCAA Championships both seasons. He earned All-America honors as a senior in 2002. After turning pro, he played on multiple mini-tours and in Asia in search of golf suc- cess. His big break came in the inaugural Big Stakes Match Play in 2005, when he and playing partner David Ping convinced several professional football players to spon- sor their entry fee for the event. When he and Ping won, they all split the $3 million purse. "He's always been a really good player," said Sykes, who followed Mulroy hole for hole during the second round. "He's just always been kind of a nomad. It's nice that he was able to do well at the Open, this close to home." Mulroy played the new setup at Pine- hurst as well as most of the players in the field, other than wire-to-wire winner Martin Kaymer, who won the 114th Open by eight strokes. He made few mistakes on a course that had no rough, hard and fast fairways and some of golf's most treacherous greens. The only thing he was kicking himself over for the entire week was something he left at home, something that would have helped him connect with the NC State fans who yelled "Go Pack" at him two or three times a hole. "I should have actually put an NC State head cover on my driver this week," said Mulroy, who planned to spend six to eight weeks in the U.S. trying to pad his winnings on the Buy.com Tour in hopes of regaining his PGA Tour card. "I didn't think about that." ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. He can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. NC State's Pinehurst Connections Wolfpack men's golf coach Richard Sykes followed his former pupil, Mulroy, around Pinehurst No. 2 during U.S. Open action. PHOTO BY TIM PEELER Kelly Mitchum was one of many NC State products that had a good two weeks at the back-to-back U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open. Mitchum, a four-time All-American under head coach Richard Sykes from 1990-93, didn't actually compete in the 156-player field at the 114th annual men's tournament when it was played at Pinehurst No. 2 in June. But as the longtime director of golf instruction at the resort and a multiple qualifier for the PGA Championships as a teaching pro, he was in demand for his knowledge when the USGA pulled off an un - precedented double at the famous Donald Ross-designed course: hosting back-to-back championships on the same course. On Monday of the week of the men's Open, Mitchum was the starter for the first day of practice rounds. On Wednesday, when asked for a prediction on who would win the tournament, he threw out the name Martin Kaymer, because of how the Ger- man star played in his first practice round. Kaymer led from wire to wire, winning the tournament by eight strokes. And on Sunday, Mitchum capped off the first week in grand style, playing as a non- competing marker on the last day of the tournament. He shot 79, which matched up nicely with his playing partner Toru Taniguchi of Japan, who carded a 76. A marker is used by request when there is an odd number of players remaining in the field in the final two rounds. Saturday's first player didn't want a marker, but Tani- guchi did. So after making a few phone calls Saturday night, Pinehurst director of golf Ben Bridgers asked Mitchum if he would be willing to play with Taniguchi on Sunday. "It was a little weird, playing in the final round of the U.S. Open, but knowing your score wouldn't count," said the native of nearby Southern Pines. "But what was neat was just the number of people out there yelling my name, following me around. It was a good time." Mitchum, who finished eighth at the NCAA Championships in 1990 and won the ACC individual title in 1990, does have some experience at Pinehurst No. 2 and at the U.S. Open. He won the North & South Championship at No. 2 in 1993 and played in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1995. And he's played in four PGA Championships, qualifying as a PGA teaching professional. But playing on the final day of what is essentially his home course, with hard and fast fairways and ramped up greens, made it a round unlike any that Mitchum had ever played at the famous Donald Ross design. "For me, it's about a five- to 10-shot difference in terms of difficulty," Mitchum said. "For the average player, it's probably about a 30- to 40-shot difference from what it normally it is. With the green speeds the way they are right now, the average player would just leave so many shots around the greens." Mitchum wasn't the only connection NC State had to the course. Kevin Robinson, the superintendent of golf at No. 2 since 2010, is an NC State turfgrass management graduate, as are two of his assistants. They were in charge of setting up the course to United States Golf Association specifications for the back-to-back Opens and have been working at it since the course was restored to its original design by architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. They received wide praise from players and fans alike for maintaining the Sandhills treasure throughout 14 grueling days of competition and practice rounds. Former Wolfpack golfer Chase Duncan led a team of seven instructors from the Lonnie Poole Golf Course who spent both weeks at Pinehurst giving lessons to fans at the American Express Swing Zone and Golf Fitness Studio, showing those who signed up for the free tutorials how radar technology and a Doppler swing analyzer could improve their games. Duncan also serves as the swing coach for tour player and former Wolfpack All- American Garth Mulroy, who qualified for the Open in England, made the cut after carding rounds of 71 and 72 on the first two days and finished tied for 40th at the Open. Finally, for the last four years, NC State assistant professor of crop science Danesha Seth Carley worked with the course and with Coore and Crenshaw to help identify the native plants that replaced the Bermuda grass rough that was removed during the recent restoration. Her work, which began during the construction of LPGC on NC State's Centennial Campus, will be the foundation for how golf courses of the future make use of native plants to create more sustainable, less-chemical dependent maintenance. — Tim Peeler 152,154.Wolfpackers at US Open.indd 154 6/26/14 3:39 PM