Hitt Tied for Lead, UNC Tied for 5th in Kissimmee

Tuesday, May 15

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North Carolina

NCAA Regional Day 2

May 15, 2018 | Men's Golf

NCAA Kissimmee Regional Day 2

Final Round Scheduled for Wednesday

By: Steve Kirschner

University of North Carolina sophomore Austin Hitt shot his second straight 68 to tie for the individual lead and the Tar Heels are in a three-way tie for fifth place with one round to play at the NCAA Kissimmee Men's Golf Regional.

(Second-round action was suspended with two teams still on the course due to heavy rains).

Carolina followed a 5-under-par opening round with a 6-under 282 today. Hitt led with a 68, junior Joshua Martin fired a 69 and seniors William Register and Jose Montaño added a 71 and 74, respectively. Ben Griffin shot 75 after triple bogeying the fourth hole.

The Tar Heels are tied with Colorado State and Vanderbilt at 11-under-par for 36 holes. Colorado State shot even-par in the first round and 11 under today. Carolina started on the 10^th hole today and played its first 14 holes in 10 under par, but was 4 over on its final four holes.

Florida shot 13 under today and is 25 under for the tournament. UCF is second at -20, Kent State is third at -16 and South Florida is fourth at -13. The top five teams advance to the 2018 NCAA Championship May 25-30 in Stillwater, Okla.

Hitt had three birdies, an eagle and just one bogey in his round at the 7,154-yard Watson Course at Reunion Resort. He is tied with UCF's Kyler Tate and Florida's Andy Zhang for the 36-hole lead at 8-under-par 136. Tate shot a 65 today; Zhang and Hitt have both shot back-to-back 68s.

Hitt opened with four pars before eagling the 525-yard, par-5 14h hole. He stayed 2 under for the round at the turn, then birdied the first and second holes to get to 8 under for the tournament. He finished his round with seven pars in a row. It was Hitt's third straight round in the 60s in NCAA regional play dating back to the third round in the 2017 Stanford Regional when he shot 67.

Hitt became the second Tar Heel in as many days to shoot in the 60s in three straight NCAA regional rounds, a feat Montaño accomplished for the first time in school history yesterday (68-69 in final two rounds at Stanford and 69 on Monday).

The third and final round of the regional is scheduled for Wednesday.