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University of North Carolina Athletics
Griffin Ties for Second at ACC Golf Championship
April 22, 2017 | Men's Golf
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2017
GRIFFIN TIES FOR SECOND AT ACC CHAMPIONSHIP
CLINTON, S.C. – Virginia's Jimmy Stanger birdied his 18th hole of regulation and the first playoff hole to win the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference individual title over North Carolina's Ben Griffin, Clemson's Bryson Nimmer and Wake Forest's Paul McBride Saturday at the Musgrove Mill Golf Club.
Griffin shot a 5-under 67 in the first round on Friday and a 2-under 70 in Saturday morning's second round to hold the individual lead by two strokes after 36 holes.
The Chapel Hill native then bogeyed four holes on his first nine (he began on No. 10) to drop to fifth place, but birdied the third, fifth and sixth holes to regain the lead by two strokes at 6-under.
McBride birdied 15 and 16 and Griffin bogeyed the eighth hole, his 17th of the day, to give McBride a one-shot lead. McBride bogeyed the 18th to fall back to -5 in a tie with Griffin and Nimmer. Stanger eagled the 14th hole and made his way into the playoff with a birdie on his final hole, the ninth.
"We're so proud of Ben's performance this weekend,” says head coach Andrew Sapp. “He played so well and his hard work and dedication is paying off this spring and now into the postseason.”
The ACC moved the third and final round to Saturday due to the threat of inclement weather forecast for the area on Sunday. The Tar Heels began play today at 7:30 a.m. and had a 15-minute break between the second and third rounds.
Carolina tied Georgia Tech for seventh place at 19-over 883 after a third round 302. The Tar Heels opened the tournament on Friday with a 7-over 295, then posted a 286, the third-lowest round of the second round.
Duke won the team title at 14-under 850, a dozen shots ahead of defending champion Clemson.
UNC's Jose Montaño finished 5-over 221, Austin Hitt was 10-over 226, William Register was 11-over 227 and Henry Do shot 237.
The NCAA Golf Committee will announce the fields for the six NCAA Regionals on May 4th.
The regionals are scheduled for May 15-17.
“Now we have some time before finding out where we will go for the NCAA Regional,” says Sapp. “We are looking forward to teeing it up at any of the six sites across the country.”
