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One of UNC’s best programs is in the hunt for its first-ever national championship.
The Carolina men’s golf program begins play in the NCAA Championship at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona tomorrow. The team is ranked No. 2 in the country and has finished in the top 8 in each of the last two championships. But this group of Tar Heels is the best sixth-year head coach Andrew DiBitetto has had in Chapel Hill.
Carolina’s five-man lineup includes All-Americans and former national champions. Fifth-year senior Ryan Burnett is coming off an individual title in UNC’s regional in South Carolina last week and is as steady as they come. Sophomore David Ford has had a spectacular season, capped off by winning Carolina’s first-ever ACC Player of the Year award in men’s golf. Senior Austin Greaser has played at both The Masters and the U.S. Open, so the NCAA Championship stage isn’t likely to phase him. Dylan Menante is a transfer from Pepperdine, who ironically enough helped knock Carolina out of the championship last year in the match play quarterfinals. He also won a national championship with the Waves two years ago. And let’s not forget about Peter Fountain, the talented junior from Broughton High in Raleigh who won ACC Freshman of the Year two seasons ago.
That quintet has helped Carolina win five tournaments this season, by far the most in one campaign under DiBitetto, who oh by the way just won his second consecutive ACC Coach of the Year award. His Tar Heels will be among 30 of the country’s elite programs competing in the NCAA Championship. Three days of stroke play between tomorrow and Sunday will pare the field down to 15, after which one more round of stroke play determines the eight teams who advance to match play. Carolina has made its way to match play in each of the last two years, but lost in the opening round both times.
Grayhawk was the site of both of those championships, so the Tar Heels certainly have familiarity with the course. If they can go where no UNC team has gone before, it’d be the ultimate feather in the cap for DiBitetto, who took over a program which recent alumnus Ben Griffin candidly said was not competitive as recently as a decade ago.
The nature of the golf championship means not a lot of spectators will be joining UNC in the desert, but they have plenty of support behind them.
Featured image via Stephens Cup
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