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University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina's Men's Golf Team Heads To NCAA East Regional
May 14, 2002 | Men's Golf
May 14, 2002
TAR HEEL GOLF NOTES
*CAROLINA IN THE EAST REGIONAL:
This year marks Carolina's 14th straight trip to the NCAA Regionals. The Tar Heels will be making their 13th appearance in the East Regional as their lone appearance in the Central Regional was in 2001. Carolina has received a bid to the NCAA Regionals each year since the regional format was instituted in 1989 and has advanced on to the NCAAs 13 times (each year except 2001). This year's 54-hole East Regional will be played at Ansley Golf Club's Settindown Creek in Roswell, Ga., which features a par 72, 7,119-yard layout. Twenty-seven teams and six individuals will be on hand to compete for the chance to advance on to the NCAA Championship as the top 10 teams and top two individuals not on those 10 teams earn the right to move on to the NCAAs to be played May 29-June 1 at Ohio State's Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio. Carolina's highest finish in the East Regional came in 1993 and 1995 when they were runners-up.*LAST YEAR IN THE CENTRAL REGIONAL: North Carolina finished in 14th place at last year's NCAA Central Regional played at the Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla. The Tar Heels posted a three-day 895 total after carding rounds of 299-296-300. A trio of teams, Kent State, Oklahoma and Purdue, tied for the team title with 883 totals and John Klauk of Texas claimed the individual title with a 212 total.
Dustin Bray and Johno Harris were the low Tar Heels tying for 40th place in the individual race with 223 totals. Carolina's Ramon Bescansa tied for 55th place with a 225 total while Rob Simmons tied for 60th at 226 and Jeremy Elliott tied for 114th at 234.
*CAROLINA IN THE NCAA: This year marks Carolina's 32nd trip to the NCAAs since 1949. The Tar Heels have carded 21 top 20 finishes and 14 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 34 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, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Last year was the only year the Tar Heels did not advance out of the Regionals.
*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 broken in 2000 by Charles Howell of Oklahoma State who fired a 23-under-par score of 266.
*BRAY SELECTED TO ALL-ACC TEAM: Dustin Bray, a sophomore from Asheboro, N.C., and this year's ACC champion, was one of 12 golfers named to the 2002 All-Atlantic Coast Conference team. Bray is joined on the All-ACC team by Georgia Tech's Troy Matteson, Kris Mikkelsen and Matt Weibring; Clemson's Gregg Jones and D.J. Trahan; NC State's Garth Mulroy and Justin Walters; Wake Forest's Bill Haas and Brent Wanner; Maryland's Corey Brigham and Virginia's Steve Marino.
Clemson's Trahan was chosen ACC Player of the Year while Georgia Tech freshman Chan Wongluekiet was named Rookie of the Year and Yellow Jacket Head Coach Bruce Heppler was selected ACC Coach for the Year for the second consecutive year and the third time in his career.
*CAROLINA LOOKING FOR RIGHT COMBINATION: North Carolina is still searching for all the right pieces and its second win of the 2001-02 campaign. However, the Tar Heels are coming off two of their finest performances of the year. Carolina finished fifth at the ACC Championship after rounds of 283-285-294 for an 862 total and Tar Heel Dustin Bray captured the individual title after firing an 11-under-par 205 total with rounds of 66-67-72. Bray's 205 total was two shots better than a pair of 207s by two Georgia Tech players, Matt Weibring and Nicholas Thompson. Prior to ACCs, Carolina carded a 15-under 849 total after firing rounds of 285-273-291 for a third-place finish in The Intercollegiate played at Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels finished eight strokes behind champion Wake Forest and seven shots behind runner-up NC State. Earlier this spring, Carolina captured the team championship at the Seminole Intercollegiate in Tallahassee, Fla. Three Tar Heels posted top 20 finishes - Bob Cherry, Dustin Bray and Brad Moldin. Carolina tallied a ninth-place finish at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., the first tournament of the spring campaign. In their other spring tournaments, the Tar Heels finished 10th at the Birkdale Collegiate Classic in Huntersville, N.C., finished 14th at the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational played in Statesboro, Ga., and tied for 14th place at the Cleveland Golf/Augusta State Invitational in Augusta, Ga.
In the fall campaign, the Tar Heels posted three top 10 finishes. They tied for fifth place at the Mason Rudolph Championships in Franklin, Tenn. and finished in seventh place at the Carpet Capital Classic in Dalton, Ga., and the Duke Golf Classic in Durham. In their other two tournaments, the Heels finished 13th at The Ridges Intercollegiate in Jonesborough, Tenn. and The Prestige in Palm Desert, Calif.
*BRAY TOP PERFORMER FOR THE TAR HEELS: Dustin Bray, a unanimous selection on this year's All-ACC team, captured the individual title at the ACC Championships in just his second year as a Tar Heel. For the second win of his collegiate career, Bray fired rounds of 66-67-72 for an 11-under-par 205 total to stave off a pair of Georgia Tech players, Matt Weibring and Nicholas Thompson, by two strokes. Bray led throughout the tournament which was played at the Old North State Club in New London, N.C., carding 14 birdies and only three bogies. Many of Bray's friends and relatives were there to see the biggest win of his young career as he is a native of nearby Asheboro.
ray has held down the number one spot in Carolina's starting lineup throughout his two-year career. He has carded five top five and eight top 10 performances this year - four last fall and four so far this spring. This spring, he won the ACC Championship, tied for fifth place at The Intercollegiate, tied for seventh at the Seminole Intercollegiate and tied for 10th at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate.
In the fall campaign, Bray tied for individual medalist honors at The Prestige, the first individual victory of his collegiate career. He also tied for third place at the Mason Rudolph Championships, tied for fifth at the Duke Golf Classic and tallied a 10-place finish at the Carpet Capital Classic.
*CHERRY MAKING HIS MARK THIS SPRING: After two starts last fall, Bob Cherry, a junior from Wilmington, N.C., has garnered a spot in the starting lineup this spring and has tallied four top 25 finishes. He tied for runner-up honors at the Seminole Intercollegiate, leading the Tar Heels to the team title. Cherry also tied for 10th place at the Cleveland Golf/ASU Invitational, tied for 14th place at The Intercollegiate and finished in 22nd place at the ACC Championship. His top finish in two appearances last fall was a tie for 47th place at the Mason Rudolph Championships.
*BESCANSA SHOOTS RECORD ROUND: Ramon Bescansa, a junior from Santiago, Spain, was the runner-up at The Intercollegiate earlier this spring. After carding an even-par 72 in the opening round, Bescansa fired an eight-under-par 64 in the second round, breaking the course record at Finley Golf Course by one stroke. He added a four-under 68 in the final round for a 12-under 204 total. Bescansa has posted two additional top 10 finishes this spring - a tie for fifth place at the Birkdale Collegiate Classic and a tie for 10th place at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship. He tied for 32nd place at the ACC Championship and his low performance last fall was a tie for 28th place at the Mason Rudolph Championships.
*ELLIOTT AND MOLDIN ROUND OUT LINEUP: Jeremy Elliott, a junior from Chapel Hill, N.C., has struggled a bit this spring. However, he carded a pair of top 20 finishes last fall, tying for 16th place at the Mason Rudolph Championships and at the Duke Golf Classic. His top finish this spring was a tie for 43rd place at the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational.
Brad Moldin, a junior walk-on from Wilmington, N.C., has played in all but one of Carolina's spring tournaments. Moldin's top finish was a tie for 17th place at the Seminole Intercollegiate.
*TAR HEELS IN THE POLLS: Carolina is ranked 42nd nationally in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings. Tar Heel sophomore Dustin Bray is ranked 19th in the individual rankings.
*JOHN INMAN IN FOURTH YEAR AS TAR HEEL COACH: John Inman, in his fourth year at the Tar Heel helm, led Carolina to a 10th-place finish in the NCAA Championships in 1999 and 2000. Carolina has captured the team title in four tournaments since Inman was named head coach, three coming during the 1998-99 season and one in 2001-02.
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
