Men's Golf Readies for ACC Championship

TAR HEEL LINEUP

Ben Griffin – Sr., Chapel Hill, N.C. (4th ACC Tournament)

William Register – Sr., Burlington, N.C. (4th ACC Tournament)

Jose Montaño – Sr., Cochabamba, Bolivia (2nd ACC Tournament)

Ryan Gerard – Fr., Raleigh, N.C. (1st ACC Tournament)

Austin Hitt – So., Longwood, Fla. (2nd ACC Tournament)

SEASON RECAP

• The Tar Heels are the No. 3 seed in the ACC Championship and will be paired with Georgia Tech and Clemson in the first round.

• Andrew DiBitetto is in his first season as head coach and Matt Clark is in his first as assistant coach. DiBitetto was UNC's assistant and associate head coach the previous six years. Clark came to Chapel Hill after 14 seasons as head coach at Georgia State and UNCW.

• Carolina has won two tournaments, its first season with multiple victories since Ben Griffin and William Register were freshmen in 2014-15.

• UNC has finished in the top five in seven of 10 events this year, including each of the last four tournaments heading into the ACC Championship. UNC has finished in the top nine in all 10 tournaments.

• Carolina won the Tar Heel Intercollegiate on its home course (UNC Finley GC), setting a school record at 49 under par (275-270-270). UNC broke its 54-hole school record by 16 strokes and 49 under par was the second-lowest score to par in ACC history.

• The Tar Heels also won their most recent tournament, the Western Intercollegiate at Pasotiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif. UNC shot 14 under, 10 clear of runner-up California. Nationally-ranked Texas, Southern California and Stanford were also in the field.

• Seniors Ben Griffin, Jose Montaño and William Register have played in the Tar Heel lineup in all 10 tournaments.

• Freshman Ryan Gerard, an honorable mention Rolex Junior All-America, will be making his fifth consecutive start.

• Carolina is ranked 17th in the country by Golfstat and Golfweek. The Tar Heels are the third-highest ranked team in the ACC behind Georgia Tech (5/7) and Clemson (15/16).

• Carolina is one of six schools with five players in Golfstat's top 140.

RANKINGS

Golfstat: UNC (17), Ben Griffin (61), William Register (93), Jose Montaño (102), Ryan Gerard (107), Austin Hitt (139)

Golfweek: UNC (17), Griffin (52), Montaño (94), Register (107), Hitt (139), Gerard (153)

CAREER LEADERS

Carolina's senior trio of Ben Griffin, William Register and Jose Montaño have three of the four best stroke averages in Carolina men's golf history.

• Griffin is UNC's all-time leader in career average at 72.03 (9724 strokes in 46 rounds).

• Register is second all-time with an average of 72.19 (9457 strokes in 45 rounds).

• Montaño is fourth in UNC history, behind Dustin Bray, with an average of 72.27 in 64 rounds as a Tar Heel. He played his first two seasons of college golf at Xavier. His four-year combined career average in 128 rounds is 72.16.

SINGLE-SEASON STROKE AVERAGES

• All five of Carolina's starters enter the tournament with stroke averages this season under 72. All five are among the 14-lowest stroke averages in UNC single-season history.

• Griffin leads the team at 70.83, which is on pace to break his own school record, which he set at 71.06 as a freshman in 2014-15.

• Montaño is second on the team this season at 71.53, which is fifth-best in UNC history; Register is third at 71.60, which is the eighth-lowest stroke average in school history. Register also has the 10th-best mark at 71.63, which he set in 2014-15.

• Ryan Gerard (71.75) and Austin Hitt (71.92) are on pace for the 12th- and 14th-best averages, respectively, in school history.

CAROLINA IN THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP

• Carolina has won 11 ACC championships (third most behind Wake Forest's 18 and Georgia Tech's 16).

• UNC's ACC titles came in 1956, 1960, 1965, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1995, 1996 and 2006.

• The Tar Heels tied for seventh in the 2017 Championship.

• Tar Heels have won the ACC individual championship 13 times, most recently by Dustin Bray and Richard Treis in 2002 and 2003. The 13 titles are the second most behind Wake Forest's 22 champions.

• Ben Griffin tied for first after 54 holes in 2017, and finished tied for second after a four-way playoff.

BEN GRIFFIN (Senior, Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Ranked No. 61 Golfstat/No. 52 Golfweek • Previous ACC Championship finishes (2017– T2nd -5, 2016– T31st +4, 2015– T20 -1) • Honorable mention All-America in 2015 and 2017 • Carolina's all-time leader (72.03) and single-season leader (70.83 in 2017-18) in stroke average • Has played the 10 events this season in 16-under par • Leads UNC this season in rounds under par (16), rounds in the 60s (nine) and birdies (123) • Ranked seventh in the ACC in stroke average this year • Won three college tournaments – 2014 Tar Heel Intercollegiate, 2014 Bridgestone Collegiate at UNCG, 2017 Tar Heel Intercollegiate • Has 17 top 10s • Broke UNC 54-hole records for fewest strokes (197) and lowest score to par (-19) in winning the 2017 Tar Heel • Made 19 birdies in the Tar Heel • Career-best 63 in the final round at the Tar Heel is the second-best score in the ACC this season • Shot a final-round 68 and finished tied for third at -13 in November in the 2017 Andeavor Sun Bowl All-America Classic held at the El Paso Country Club • Is playing in his 47th team event for the Tar Heels • Tied for 11th at 2017 NCAA Championship • Two-time ACC Honor Roll and is the Athletic Director's Scholar-Athlete for men's golf • Eighth at MacKenzie Tour qualifier in Florida in late March to earn a spot in the tour's first four events.

WILLIAM REGISTER (Senior, Burlington, N.C.)

Ranked No. 93 Golfstat/No. 107 Golfweek • Previous ACC Championship finishes (2017– T40th +11, 2016– T16 Even, 2015– T14 -2) • Second in career stroke average at Carolina (72.19) • Has the eighth- and 10th-best single-season stroke averages by a Tar Heel (71.60 this season and 71.63 as a freshman) • Ranked 14th in the ACC in stroke average this year • Two-time winner in college • Has eight top fives and 12 top-10 finishes as a Tar Heel • Three-time ACC Honor Roll and two-time Academic All-ACC • Tied for ninth at MacKenzie Tour qualifier in Florida in late March to earn a spot in the tour's first four events.

Jose Montaño (Senior, Cochabamba, Bolivia)

Ranked No. 102 Golfstat/No. 94 Golfweek • Previous ACC Championship finish (2017– T25 +5) • Second on the team this season in stroke average at 71.53, the fifth best in UNC single-season history • Two-year stroke average at Carolina of 72.27, fourth-best in school history behind Griffin, Register and Dustin Bray • Leads the Tar Heels this season with six eagles and is second in birdies with 110 • Tied for second on the team in cumulative score to par this year at plus four • Ranked 13th in the ACC in stroke average this year • Shot 64 and 65 in the third and final rounds in UNC's two team wins this season • His 64 at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate was a career-best round and capped a 54-hole career-best total of 202 • Made Carolina's only ace this year (at NC State) • Played freshman and sophomore seasons at Xavier • Has played in 45 team events as a collegian – his score has counted in 110 of 114 rounds (96.5 percent of the time) • Has 16 career top-10 finishes and won three times (twice at Xavier, once as an individual entry at UNC) • Has played in three NCAA regionals and shot under par in six of nine rounds in those regionals • Academic All-ACC and Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar in 2017.

RYAN GERARD (Freshman, Raleigh, N.C.)

Ranked No. 107 Golfstat/No. 153 Golfweek • Ranked 17th in the ACC in stroke average this year • Six top-20 finishes in eight events with a season-best T6 at the John Hayt Collegiate in Ponte Vedra, Fla. • Also T7 at the John Burns in Hawai'i • Cracked the starting lineup for the first time in the second spring tournament (John Burns) • ACCs will be his fifth straight in the lineup • Led or tied for the best UNC finish in each of his first three starts at the John Burns, Lamkin San Diego and John Hayt • Stroke average of 71.75 • Counting score in 11 of 12 rounds in the lineup • Shot a season-best 67 in the final round in the Tar Heel and the first round at Sea Best • Shot at or below par in 14 of 24 rounds • Honorable mention Rolex Junior All-America.

AUSTIN HITT (Sophomore, Longwood, Fla.)

Rankings: No. 139 Golfstat/No. 139 Golfweek • Previous ACC Championship finish (2017– T37 +10) • Season stroke average of 71.92 and career average of 72.79 • Tied for second on the team in cumulative score to par this year at plus four • Ranked 20th in the ACC in stroke average this year • Has five top-20 finishes in eight events this year • Enters the ACC Championship with three consecutive top 20s (T6 at Lamkin San Diego, T14 at John Hayt and T20 at the Western) • Has shot at least one round in the 60s in five of eight events with a season-low 66 in the second round at the John Hayt • Was Carolina's second-best finisher at the 2017 NCAA Championship at Sugar Grove and helped the Tar Heels advance out of the Stanford Regional with a final-round 67.

2018 FALL SIGNEES

Ryan Burnett (Lafayette, Calif.), Luis Castro (Sta. Rosa, Laguna, Philippines) and Dougie Ergood (Mount Laurel, N.J.) signed National Letters of Intent in the fall of 2017 to attend the University of North Carolina and play men's golf for the Tar Heels.

• This week, Burnett was named to the Toyota USA Junior World Cup team. The four-player squad will compete in Japan in June.

• Earlier this month, Castro won the 2018 Philippine Junior Amateur Open.

• Ergood recently became the first scholastic player to repeat as medalist at the Garden State Cup.

2017-18 MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS

Player Eagles Birdies Bogeys Doubles Others

Ryan Gerard 3 89 65 15 2

Ben Griffin 2 123 82 11 2

Austin Hitt 5 91 74 11 3

Jose Montaño 6 110 103 10 1

William Register 4 107 90 12 2

CURRENT TAR HEELS IN RECENT ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017 – Musgrove Mill Golf Club, Clinton, S.C. (Par 72)

T2 Ben Griffin 67-70-74 211 -5

T25 Jose Montaño 72-72-77 221 +5

T37 Austin Hitt 81-69-76 226 +10

T40 William Register 77-75-75 227 +11

T56 Henry Do 79-80-78 237 +21

T7th UNC 295-286-302 883 +19

2016 – Old North State Club, New London, N.C. (Par 72)

T13 Carter Jenkins 72-75-67 2143 -2

T16 Williams Register 73-69-74 216 E

T31 Ben Griffin 76-74-70 220 +4

T39 Joshua Martin 75-75-73 223 +7

44 Henry Do 75-78-72 225 +9

T8th UNC 295-293-282 870 +6

2015 – Old North State Club, New London, N.C. (Par 72)

T5 Henry Do 70-69-69 208 -8

T14 William Register 76-70-68 214 -2

T20 Ben Griffin 74-70-71 215 -1

T28 Carter Jenkins 73-74-71 218 +2

T34 Brandon Dalinka 78-73-71 222 +6

5 UNC 293-282-279 854 -10

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ryan Gerard

Ben Griffin

Austin Hitt

Joshua Martin

William Register

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