Griffin Earns Second All-ACC Honor

University of North Carolina senior Ben Griffin, the school's single-season and career stroke average leader, is a member of the 2018 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Golf team, the league announced today.

It is the second time Griffin has earned a spot on the All-ACC team; he also was an all-conference player as a freshman in 2015. He is Carolina's first two-time All-ACC men's golfer since Kevin O'Connell in 2008 and 2009.

He is the second Tar Heel to earn All-ACC honors as a freshman and again as a senior (with Lee McEntee in 1993 and 1997).

Griffin is No. 1 all-time in career stroke average by a Tar Heel at 71.95 and is the only Tar Heel with a career stroke average under 72. This season, the Chapel Hill native is averaging 70.61 strokes in 33 rounds. He is on pace to become the first Tar Heel to average under 71 strokes in a season in school history. He owns the previous record at 71.06, a mark he established in 2015.

"We're very proud of Ben and happy for him," says UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "We were together as a team the other night and our seniors had an opportunity to speak. Ben talked about several things, but one of them was his journey. Most things went his way his freshman year and things seemed easy. Then the road blocks hit. He held himself accountable and took ownership of changes that he wanted to make. The fact that they were changes he wanted to make was key. Naturally, he lost some confidence along the way. But he never stopped working and little by little his game and confidence came back. He worked and fought his way through adversity and that's really what this game and life are all about."

Griffin has played 33 rounds this season in 27 under par and leads the team in rounds under par (19), birdies (139) and rounds in the 60s (12). He won the 2017 Tar Heel Intercollegiate in October in record fashion, setting 54-hole records by a Tar Heel with a 19-under-par 197. He has five top-10 finishes this season. He is also a two-time member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll and is UNC's director of athletics scholar-athlete award winner for men's golf.

"All of our seniors mean so much to our program," says DiBitetto. "They have all been successful on the course and in the classroom. More importantly, Ben, William (Register) and Jose (Montaño) are incredible people and have become exceptional leaders this year. There's a good chance Ben will finish his career at Carolina with the lowest scoring average in the history of the program. He's also finished tied for sixth, fifth and fifth in his last three events, which is exactly what you like to see from your leaders at this time of the year."

Carolina is the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Kissimmee Regional, which will be contested on May 14-16 at the Watson Course in Kissimmee, Fla. The top five teams advance to the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla.

Griffin was 11^th as a junior at the 2017 NCAA Championship.

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