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Two putts from glory. But it was still a great day for Carolina.
The UNC men’s golf team did not advance to the NCAA championship match in Scottsdale, Arizona, edged out by Georgia Tech on the last green of the last semifinal Tuesday, the Tar Heels’ best such finish since 1993.
In those 30 years, college golf has changed enormously.
For starters, the entire match-play tournament of the eight teams that survived four days of stroke play was on The Golf Channel, which was launched in 1995. Now owned by NBC, it draws millions of golf-hungry viewers to whatever is showing.
And this week, it was another showcase for college golf and for the third straight year Andrew DiBitetto’s top-seeded team was in that spotlight. Whereas Davis Love III and John Inman had to star on the PGA tour before becoming household names of the game, now the golf world knows of lefty David Ford and Peter Fountain, who battled into dusk before the Yellow Jackets proved a little bit better.
Still, it was wonderful exposure to be among the final four that included Florida and Florida State, football schools that were also trying to win their first golf national championship. And how the Heels battled in the setting sun.
It was only until Georgia Tech senior Ross Steelman sank two critical putts on the 16th and 17th greens to win his match on the final hole to secure the decisive point for the Jackets in a 3-2 win over Carolina Tuesday at the Grayhawk Golf Course.
It was riveting theater. Not yet stars on the pro tour that some of them will surely become, these college kids turned an individual game into the team sport that makes college athletics so unique.
As each match ended, the players didn’t disappear into the clubhouse or become trunk-slammers in the parking lot, they kept joining teammates for the dramatic final holes until Florida and Georgia Tech advanced to Wednesday’s final, where one of them will emerge with their first national title.
With the program DiBitetto has put together, the Tar Heels may very well be there for a fourth straight year and keep knocking on the door before they bust through it.
Carolina got a dominant 6&5 win by Dylan Menante, and a second come-from-behind win by Ford to put two points on the board, but Ryan Burnett and Austin Greaser could not muster the magic of the 72 holes of stroke play and the morning quarterfinals of the five-team matches.
Regardless of the outcome, Carolina blue gleamed in the desert for a golfing nation to see.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
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I am not a golfer, but I am a Tarheel, so I watched and sat on the edge of my chair hoping for one stroke less…
UNC’s golf team represented the university well. They’ll be back next year.