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University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Men's Golf Makes 12th Straight Trip To NCAA East Regional
May 17, 2000 | Men's Golf
May 17, 2000
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - This year marks Carolina's 12th straight trip to the NCAA East Regional. The Tar Heels have received a bid to the Regional each year since the regional format was instituted in 1989. This year's 54-hole event will be played at Glenmaura National Country Club in Scranton, Pa., which features a par 72, 6,910-yard layout. Twenty-seven teams and five individuals will be on hand to compete for the chance to advance on to the NCAA Championship as the top 11 teams and two individuals earn the right to move on to the NCAAs to be played May 31-June 3 at the Grand National Golf Club in Opelika, Ala. Carolina's highest finish in the East Regional came in 1993 and 1995 when they were runners-up and the Tar Heels have advanced on to the NCAA Championships each year since the regional was instituted in 1989.
LAST YEAR IN THE EAST REGIONAL: North Carolina tied for sixth place at last year's NCAA East Regional played at the Rhode Island Country Club in Barrington, R.I. The Tar Heels posted a three-day 870 total after carding rounds of 293-293-284. Georgia Tech won the team title with an 845 total and Kyle Thompson of South Carolina claimed the individual title with a 208 total.
Max Harris was the low Tar Heel finishing in a tie for 12th place in the individual race with a 215 total. Carolina's Don Hill tied for 18th place with a 216 total while Paul Daniel tied for 53rd at 221, Rob Simmons tied for 72nd at 224 and Brad Hyler tied for 81st at 226.
CAROLINA IN THE NCAA: Carolina has been to the NCAA Championships 29 times since 1949. The Tar Heels have carded 21 top 20 finishes and 13 top 10 finishes in NCAA competition. Carolina has had 17 players finish in the top 10 of the individual race 18 times and 28 players finish in the top 20 individually 32 times. Prior to this year, the Tar Heels made trips to the NCAAs in 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1971, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.
CAROLINA'S TWO CHAMPS: Two Tar Heels, John Inman and Harvie Ward, have won NCAA Individual Championships. On his way to the title in 1949, Ward defeated Oklahoma's Bo Winninger, LSU's Gardner Dickinson and Notre Dame's Tommy Veech before dispatching Texas' Morris Williams Jr. in the 36-hole final, five and four. Thirty-five years later in 1984, Inman captured the title with a 17-under-par score, breaking Ben Crenshaw's NCAA record by two strokes. That record, set at Houston's Bear Creek Golf World, was tied in 1992 by Phil Mickelson of Arizona State, in 1994 by Justin Leonard of Texas and in 1998 by James McLean of Minnesota.
LAST YEAR IN THE NCAA: Carolina posted a 10th-place finish in last year's NCAA Championship played at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. The Tar Heels carded a four-round total of 1201. Max Harris tied for sixth place with a 294 total while Don Hill finished 10th at 296, Brad Hyler tied for 16th place at 299, Paul Daniel finished 77th at 319 and Rob Simmons finished 83rd at 330. Georgia won the team title with an 1180 total while Northwestern's Luke Donald won the individual title with a four-under-par 284 total.
CAROLINA LOOKING FOR RIGHT COMBINATION: North Carolina is still searching for all the right pieces and its first win of the 1999-2000 campaign. The Tar Heels began the fall season with a fifth-place finish at The Ridges Intercollegiate. They followed that with a 16th-place finish at the Ping/Golfweek Preview, a 12th-place finish at the Carpet Capital Classic, an 11th-place finish at the Iron Duke Classic and a tie for 11th at the Golf World/Palmetto Dunes Collegiate.
This spring, Carolina posted an eighth-place finish at the San Juan Shoot-Out, tied for 10th place at the Las Vegas Intercollegiate, finished 10th at the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational, finished ninth at The Intercollegiate at MacGregor Downs and finished fifth at the ACC Championship.
HARRIS ENJOYING STELLAR SENIOR CAMPAIGN: Max Harris, a senior from Worthing, England, is leading the way for the Tar Heels this year. He picked up his second collegiate championship this year as he captured the team title at The Ridges Intercollegiate, the first tournament of the fall campaign. Harris was recently named to the All-ACC team for the third consecutive year.
Harris has posted six top 10 and seven top 20 finishes this year. In addition to his win at The Ridges Intercollegiate, he was the runner-up at the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational this spring, tied for seventh place at the Las Vegas Interollegiate, tied for eighth place at the ACC Championship and the Carpet Capital Classic and tied for ninth place at The Intercollegiate at MacGregor Downs. Harris also tied for 11th place at the Golf World/Palmetto Dunes Collegiate.
Harris was selected third-team All-America in 1999 and was chosen second-team All-America in '98. He was named to the All-ACC team in '98 '99 and '00. Harris is currently ranked 14th in the MasterCard Collegiate Individual Rankings and ranked 16th in the Golfweek/Sagarin Individual Rankings. In addition to his win at The Ridges Intercollegiate last fall, his other collegiate victory came in the fall of '97 when he won the Black & Decker Duke Golf Classic. Harris was chosen to participate in the Savane College All-America Golf Classic last fall in El Paso, Texas, where he posted a 20th-place finish.
DANIEL HOPES TO CONCLUDE CAREER IN STONG FASHION: Paul Daniel, a senior from Burlington, N.C., has posted three top 20 finishes. He tied for 11th place at The Ridges Intercollegiate, the first event of the fall season. He tied for 19th place at the Iron Duke Classic last fall and tied for 18th place at this spring's San Juan Shoot-Out where he was low scorer for Carolina.
SIMMONS TWO-YEAR STARTER FOR TAR HEELS: Junior Rob Simmons, from Walterboro, S.C., has posted three top 25 finishes this year. He tied for 11th place at the Golf World/Palmetto Dunes Collegiate last fall. He started off the spring campaign with a tie for 18th place at the San Juan Shoot-Out and he tied for 24th place at The Intercollegiate at MacGregor Downs.
HYLER AND MEARES ROUND OUT LINEUP: Brad Hyler, a senior from Raleigh, N.C., and Whitten Meares, a sophomore from Fair Bluff, N.C., round out Carolina's lineup for the NCAA East Regional this weekend.
Hyler has played in four tournaments this year and his top finish came in the ACC Championship where he tied for 10th place with a 217 total.
Meares has played in two B-team tournaments, competed in The Intercollegiate at MacGregor Downs as an individual and made the starting five for the ACC Championship. In the first round of The Intercollegiate at MacGregor Downs, he carded a double eagle on the par five, 560-yard ninth hole where he holed out his second shot. Meares' top finish this year came last fall where he tied for fourth place at the Johnny Palmer/Old North State Invitational, a B-team event for the Tar Heels.
TAR HEELS IN THE POLLS: Carolina is ranked 40th in the latest MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings administered by the College Golf Foundation. The Tar Heels are ranked 32nd in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings.
North Carolina senior Max Harris is ranked 14th in the MasterCard Individual Collegiate Golf Rankings and ranked 16th in the Golfweek/Sagarin Individual Rankings.
JOHN INMAN IN SECOND YEAR AS TAR HEEL COACH: John Inman, in his second year at the Tar Heel helm, led Carolina to a 10th-place finish in last year's NCAA Championships. Carolina has captured the team title in three tournaments since Inman was named head coach, all coming during the 1998-99 season.
Inman came to Carolina in the summer of '98 after spending 12 years on the PGA Tour. A native of Greensboro, N.C., and a 1984 graduate of Carolina, Inman won two tournaments during his professional career -- the 1987 Provident Classic and the 1993 Buick Southern Open. He posted eight top 10 finishes and 32 top 25 finishes.
Inman, a three-time All-America (1982-84) and three-time All-ACC performer (1982-84), played on the Tar Heel team from 1981-84. He won the NCAA Individual Championship in 1984 and was the recipient of the 1984 Fred Haskins Award as the National Player of the Year. Inman won five individual titles while donning a Tar Heel uniform, including the '84 NCAA Championship and the '82 ACC Championship. Inman was also a member of the 1984 World Amateur Team and the '84 Western Amateur champion.
Players Mentioned
