Daniel Claytor feltcomfortable every time he stood over the ball this week at the NCAA Division II men’s golf national championship.

He said his ball striking was as good, if not better, than it has been in quite some time, yet Claytor was remindedafter three rounds at Sagamore Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind. that golf sometimes requires near perfection.

By Claytor’s count, he hit only six or seven bad shots during the week, and those swings cost him 17 strokes. The Northern Nash graduate and Barton College freshman finished with scores of 78, 80 and 77 (19-over, 235) and adistant 54th-place showing on the individual championship leaderboard.

Claytor and 26 others did not play a fourth round because of rain Friday.

“Eliminate some of those (mistakes) and I’m in Indiana playing for a nationalchampionship,” Claytor said by phone after returning to Rocky Mount. “I’m disappointed with the scoring, but not with how I played. If a couple things had gone my way, who knows what would havehappened.”

Claytor, the only Barton player to qualify for thenational championship, struggled the most with holes No. 5 and No. 18. He double-bogeyed No. 5 twice, and he played the 18th 5-over par during the tournament.

“All 18 holes are tough,” Claytor said. “It’s the nicest, and toughest, course I’ve ever played. The greens are hard and firm. It makes you have to be pretty much perfect. The greens are so small and so hard you have to know where to miss it. I missed a lot in the worst possible place. I was close. Not close enough.”

Claytor said his experience was a lot different because he did not have the normalcy of being with his Bulldogs teammates. His coach, father and grandfather made the trip, but the familiar routine of playing a practice round, competing on the course and going out to eat with teammates wasn’t there.

Next season might be different all around. Claytor will be a year older and more experienced, and the Bulldogs, who are perennially one of the better programs in the nation, were disappointed in not qualifying for the national championship tournament as a team.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Claytor said of his experience. “It’s the best thing that can happen to a freshman golfer in college, showing what you have on the biggest stage possible. I know I belong with anybody in the nation. I have a lot more confidence than I had going into the fall and spring.”

Jessie H. Nunery can be reached at 407-9959 or jhnunery@rmtelegram.com