The Pinecrest boys finished in third place at the NCHSAA 4A state golf championships that wound up at Pinehurst No. 8 on Tuesday afternoon.

Defending champion Green Hope maintained its eight-stroke first day advantage to win the title for the fourth time in the last five years. Leesville Road was the runner-up.

Grayson Murry of Leesville Road shot a 4-under par 68 on Tuesday to win medalist honors with a 36-hole total of 70-68-138.

Pinecrest went into the second day of the event with longshot hopes even though it trailed Green Hope by 14 strokes. When the Patriots won the championship in 2008, they trailed Green Hope by nine and had a 19-stroke turnaround on the team from Cary.

Bryan Stewart was 3-under at one point in his round and fellow-senior Sam Packard was 1-under, but both Patriot golfers ran into trouble on the back nine. Packard finished with a 74 and tied for 10th place individually with a 77-74-151 total. Stewart came in with a 76 for a 77-76-153 total.

Senior Austin Dunlap and freshman Zachary Martin were next for the Pats, posting identical totals of 78-77-155. Junior Dylan Harris finished at 77-81-158 and sophomore Nick Thompson posted 81-85-166. Coach Sandy Sackmann's squad won both the Southeastern Conference and East Regional titles this season.

Michael Cromie, the 2009 medalist, was the runner-up after rounds of 70-71-141. Logan Harrell of Hopewell posted 70-72-142 for third place. Those were the only golfers to finish under par on the course set up at par 72, 6,668 yards.

No. 8 proved to be a difficult test of golf as only three of the 82 golfers shot par or better on the first day and only six on the second.

Team Scores: Green Hope 295-296-591, Leesville Road 303-296-599, Pinecrest 309-304-613, Broughton 312-314-616, Terry Sanford 316-308-624, Clayton 309-317-626, Myers Park 313-314-627, North Mecklenburg 323-316-639, Alexander Central 310-330-640, Davie 319-325-644, Grimsley 327-324-651, SE Guilford 329-329-658.