%20(1).png&width=36&height=36&type=webp)
University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Men's Golfers Head to NCAA West Regional
May 14, 2008 | Men's Golf
May 14, 2008
TAR HEEL GOLF NOTES
•CAROLINA IN THE WEST REGIONAL:
This year marks Carolina's 20th straight trip to the NCAA Regionals. This marks the Tar Heels' first trip to the West Regional. The Tar Heels have been to the East Regional 17 times and have appeared in the Central Regional twice (2001 and 2003). 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 17 times (each year except 2001 and 2005). This year's 54-hole West Regional will be played at Gold Mountain Golf Club, a par 72, 7,111-yard layout, in Bremerton, Wash. 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 28-31 at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, Kampen Course, in West Lafayette, Ind. Carolina's highest finish in the regionals came in 1993 and 1995 when they were runners-up.•LAST YEAR IN THE EAST REGIONAL: North Carolina finished in eighth place at last year's NCAA East Regional played at The Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, advancing on to the NCAA Championship. The Tar Heels posted a three-day 877 total after carding rounds of 306-286-286. Georgia won the team title with an nine-under-par 855 total and Georgia's Brendon Todd claimed the individual title with a six-under 210 total.
Martin Ureta was the low Tar Heel, tying for eighth place with a 215 total. Reed Darsie tied for 17th with a 218 total while David Holzworth tied for 19th at 219, Barden Berry tied for 56th at 225 and Robert Riesen tied for 100th with a 232 total.
••CAROLINA IN THE NCAA: This year marks Carolina's 44th trip to the NCAAs since 1949. The Tar Heels have 34 top-20 finishes and 18 top-10 finishes in NCAA competition. Carolina has had 17 players finish in the top-10 of the individual race 18 times and 30 players finish in the top-20 individually 36 times. Prior to this year, the Tar Heels made trips to the NCAAs in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The only years the Tar Heels did not advance out of the regionals were 2001 and 2005.
••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.
••CAROLINA THIS SPRING: North Carolina has carded four top-six finishes this spring. The Tar Heels finished third at the ACC Championship, their most recent outing. Junior Chase MacFarland was the runner-up with a nine-under-par 207 total and Kevin O'Connell tied for sixth place. Carolina finished fourth at the Seminole Intercollegiate as O'Connell tied for third place and Barden Berry tied for 11th place. Carolina finished fifth at the Administaff Augusta State Invitational and finished sixth at the River Landing Intercollegiate. O'Connell was Carolina's top finisher in both events, tying for eighth at the Administaff Augusta State Invitational and tying for 11th at the River Landing Intercollegiate played in Wallace, N.C. In their other tournaments this spring, the Tar Heels finished 10th at the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational in Statesboro, Ga., and placed 12th at the General Hackler Championship in Murrells Inlet, S.C.
•CAROLINA IN THE FALL: Last fall, the Tar Heels tied for first at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at The Ridges in Jonesborough, Tenn. Three Tar Heels finished in the top 15 - Robert Riesen tied for fourth, Kevin O'Connell tied for seventh and Barden Berry tied for 13th. Carolina finished fourth at the UNCG Bridgestone Collegiate Championship, the last event of the fall campaign. Berry and David Holzworth both tied for fourth place and O'Connell tied for 15th. In their other tournaments, the Tar Heels placed sixth at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate in Birmingham, Ala., and tied for seventh at the VCU Shootout in Manakin-Sabot, Va. O'Connell was the top Tar Heel in both events, tying for fourth place at the VCU Shootout and tying for sixth place at the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate.
•THE TAR HEELS IN THE POLLS: Carolina is ranked 20th in this week's Golfstat's Rankings.
•O'CONNELL NAMED ACC'S TOP FRESHMAN: Tar Heel freshman Kevin O'Connell was selected ACC Freshman of the Year and was also named to the 2008 All-Atlantic Coast Conference team as selected by the league's 11 head coaches. O'Connell, from Cary, N.C., has carded seven top-10 and nine top-20 finishes this year. O'Connell boasts a 71.07 stroke average this year.
Players Mentioned
