Tar Heels Advance to Fourth Round of NCAA Golf

Sunday, May 27

All Day

North Carolina

NCAA Championship

May 27, 2018 | Men's Golf

2018 DI Men's Golf Championships Round Three Team Results May 27 2018 NCAA DI Men's Golf Championships Player Leaderboard May 27

Hitt's Eagle on 18th Hole Caps Back Nine Comeback

By: Steve Kirschner

The University of North Carolina bounced back from a slow start to shoot 2 under par over the final nine holes to secure the 15^th and final spot to advance to the fourth and final round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Golf Championship at the Karsten Creek Golf Club.

Carolina is 18 over par through 54 holes and finished two strokes ahead of Northwestern and Stanford and four shots better than Florida for the 15^th spot in the 30-team field. Duke shot a record 12 under par on Sunday and leads after three rounds at 10 under.

Duke, Oklahoma State (-7), Texas Tech (-3), Vanderbilt (+2), Oklahoma (+4), Auburn (+6), Texas A&M (+7), Kent State (+8), Alabama (+10), Texas (+11), Arkansas (+12), Clemson (+14), Arizona State (+16), Illinois (+17) and UNC advance to Monday's round.

The top eight teams after Monday's round advance to the match play quarterfinals beginning on Tuesday.

The Tar Heels began the day tied for 13^th, but played the front side in 11 over par. However, on the back nine, Ben Griffin and Joshua Martin both shot 2 under 34s and William Register and Austin Hitt each came home in 1 over 37s.

At one point during the round, the Tar Heels fell to a tie for 29^th place, but shot 4-under over the final five holes, some of the most difficult on the challenging course, to close at 9-over-par 297 for the day.

When Martin made Carolina's final putt of the day for par on the 18^th hole, UNC was tied for 19^th place. Over the next four hours, UNC waited as play continued and teams fell behind it for the 15^th and final spot.

Griffin birdied 14 and 15 and shot a 1 under 71, his first sub-par round of the NCAA Championship; Martin began the day in 12^th place and shot 3 over on the front, but had seven pars and birdied 15 and the 500-yard, par-4 17^th hole to finish with a 73. Martin is tied for 14^th place in the individual standings at 2 under 214.

Junior Austin Hitt, who led UNC at the NCAA Kissimmee Regional, shot 77 on Sunday but made an eagle 3 on the par-5 18th hole. Hitt nailed a 4-iron from 245 yards to within 15 feet of the cup and sank the putt for a 3 to move the Tar Heels to 18 over par for the tournament.

Senior Jose Montaño made birdie on 18 in what will be his final hole as a Tar Heel. The Cochabamba, Bolivia, native will be flying home tomorrow to compete in the South America Games, which are being held in his home city.

Freshman Ryan Gerard, who has six top-20 finishes in nine events this year, will replace Montaño in the lineup for the Tar Heels.

Live coverage of the fourth round may be seen on the Golf Channel beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern.