With Hootie and the Blowfish playing in the background on his iPod, Wake Forest's Lee Bedford was relaxed last week during a practice session at the school's on-campus golf center.
Bedford will try to take that same approach into today's first round of the NCAA championships at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla. Bedford, who will play as an individual, said there's some added pressure being the lone Deacon in the field.
"I can't let that bother me," he said. "I mean, I just have to go out there and represent Wake Forest as best that I can."
Duke, conference champion Georgia Tech and N.C. State will have full teams in the field of 156.
Bedford advanced out of regional competition with a clutch birdie on his final hole, and he hopes that momentum will carry over.
He remembers the circumstances as he came down the stretch, trying to do enough to qualify. And on his final two holes, coach Jerry Haas and assistant Dan Walter were frantically checking their cell phones for updated scores.
"They were telling me what I needed to do, and it just so happened on my final hole I had about a six-footer for birdie and made it," said Bedford, a junior from Cary.
As it turned out, all Bedford needed to advance was a par. But that wasn't the point.
"Just being able to grind through it and advance was a big thing for me," he said.
Bedford, the first Wake Forest golfer to qualify as an individual since Bill Haas in 2004, leads the Deacons in stroke average at 73.0. He's been remarkably consistent with nine top-10 finishes, including two victories, this season.
He's confident heading into the 54-hole tournament.
"I wouldn't go to any golf tournament and not expect to win," he said. "If I ever get to the point where I don't think I can win, then I'm not going to be playing golf anymore."
Haas, who traveled with Bedford to the championships, said: "He's been playing well, and I think all this week he's been really working hard on his game."
One of the advantages Bedford will have this week is his ability to drive the ball.
"He hits it pretty straight, and on that course, that's going to help him," said Haas, who helped Wake Forest to a fourth-place finish at Karsten Creek in 2003. "I'm pretty familiar with that course. Lee's biggest issue is patience, and sometimes he likes to go for putts that he shouldn't, but he's really done a good job of not doing that this season."
Bedford expects many challenges at the tournament, and one will be not having teammates around for support.
"It's a little different when you are playing with your team because you have four other guys counting on you to play well," he said. "You just have to go out and play your game just as if the team was here but you just don't have that much riding on it when you play as an individual."
Bedford has some NCAA experience. He was in the starting lineup as a freshman in 2009 when Wake Forest qualified as a team, and he shot 75-77-79 to tie for 131st.
He admits now that he was in over his head that first year.
"In my freshmen year it was a lot to handle," he said. "There's a lot of pressure when you are a freshmen and you are expected to play well. Just that experience and three years under my belt in college will make me that much better this time around."
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