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University of North Carolina Athletics
Saturday, March 23
Chapel Hill (UNC Finley GC)
All Day
North Carolina
vs
Tar Heel Intercollegiate Day One
Men's Golf Hosts Tar Heel Intercollegiate This Weekend
March 21, 2019 | Men's Golf
Admission Free at UNC Finley; Plays Begins 8:30 a.m. Saturday
UNC Finley Golf Course will play host to the 2019 Tar Heel Intercollegiate, a two-day, 54-hole men's golf tournament, on Saturday, March 23, and Sunday, March 24.
Action gets underway for the 14 participating teams and 14 individual players in a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.
"We only have a chance to compete at home once per year so everything about this tournament for our team members and coaches is about being excited to play at home in front of family, friends and Tar Heel fans," says UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto.
The Tar Heels are the defending champions in the event, which is being contested for the sixth time since the start of the 2012-13 season (rain and wet grounds forced a cancellation of the tournament in 2015-16).
Carolina won the event in October 2017 in record fashion, blistering its home course with a 49-under-par score of 815, which set the school record for 54 holes and was the second-lowest result to par in Atlantic Coast Conference men's golf history.
Tar Heel senior Ben Griffin captured medalist honors also by re-writing the tournament and school record books. The Chapel Hill native shot 67-63-67 to finish 19 under 197, five shots ahead of fellow senior Jose Montaño.
Griffin set school and tournament records for 54-hole total and score to par, and his 63 in the second round was the best in the six years of the Tar Heel Intercollegiate and matched the school record.
UNC is one of four schools that have taken home the team title in the Tar Heel Intercollegiate. Duke won the inaugural event in 2012. Georgia Tech (2013), Carolina (2014 and 2017) and UNCW (2016) are previous winners.
The host Tar Heels are the third-highest ranked team in the 2019 field and are one of 11 top-100 teams competing at Finley this weekend.
North Florida comes in as the highest-ranked team by Golfstat at No. 13. Illinois (24) and Carolina (30) are also in the top 30.
North Florida is coming off its second team title of the season, winning two weeks ago in wire-to-wire fashion at the General Hackler in Myrtle Beach.
The Illini have also won two tournaments this year and has a strong tradition of success on the conference and national stage in the last decade, winning four consecutive Big Ten championships from 2015-18 and NCAA Regionals from 2013-16. Illinois has finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships in five of the last six seasons, including second in 2013 and third in 2015 and 2016.
Carolina finished 15th at the 2018 NCAA Championships, and despite losing three senior starters in Griffin, Montaño and William Register, has finished in the top four in five of eight events to date, including a season-best second-place at Duke.
The Tar Heels have shot under par as a team five times this year, including 18 under at the John Burns in Hawai'I and 3 under at the Lamkin San Diego Classic in their most two tournaments. UNC finished fourth in both of those events.
"We started the spring on an average note at the Sea Best Invitational in early February, but have been progressing nicely since," says DiBitetto. "We've been right on the heels of some of the best teams in the country in our last two tournaments, and we know we can still play better."
Austin Hitt, a junior from Longwood, Fla., will start in the No. 1 position for the Tar Heels. He is 12 under par through 24 rounds this year and leads the team with a stroke average of 70.50.
Ryan Gerard, a sophomore from Raleigh, is second in stroke average at 70.96, is also under par for the season at -1, and leads the team in rounds counted (23 of 24; Hitt's score has counted 22 times).
Gerard broke the UNC record for 18 holes (that Griffin tied at the 2017 Tar Heel Intercollegiate) by shooting 61 in the final round at Notre Dame in October.
A pair of freshmen, Ryan Burnett (Lafayette, Calif.) and Dougie Ergood (Mount Laurel, N.J.), and a senior, Joshua Martin (Pinehurst) round out the starting lineup for UNC.
Hitt (fourth), Gerard (10th), Burnett (18th) and Martin (20th) all finished in the top 20 in San Diego.
The entire Tar Heel roster will be competing this week. Seniors Preyer Fountain (Raleigh) and Tailin Song (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.), sophomore Mason Elmore (Charlotte) and freshman Luis Castro (Philippines) will vie for the individual title.
Carolina's starters will be paired with North Florida and Illinois in the first two rounds.
The Tar Heel Intercollegiate features five in-state teams. Two of the other four – Elon and Gardner-Webb – are coached by former Tar Heel All-Americas. Tee Burton, a three-time All-ACC performer and first-team All-America in 1991, leads Gardner-Webb; Don Hill, a two-time All-ACC selection and first-team All-America in 1999, directs the Elon program.
DiBitetto says the Tar Heels are excited about playing on its home course: "It's being comfortable with the golf course and not having any surprises. There isn't a hole location that our guys haven't seen, there's not a wind direction that they haven't seen, and there isn't a new strategy that they will need to implement. Our guys should have full confidence in their process, shot selection, and decision making this weekend.
"UNC Finley is an excellent Tom Fazio course and for the most part, it's right in front of you. There are a lot of great players in the field and there are a lot of great coaches here this weekend. They will figure out how to play Finley. Our guys have been around Finley a lot. Our upperclassmen have probably played close to 100 rounds here. The more you play a course, typically the more comfortable you become and therefore the easier the course feels. Hopefully this is the case for all our guys this weekend."
Sunday's third and final round is scheduled to tee off at 8 a.m.
TAR HEEL INTERCOLLEGIATE PREVIOUS CHAMPIONS
TEAM
2017-18: North Carolina (49 under 815)
2016-17: UNCW (9 under 567, 36 holes)
2015-16: cancelled (rain, wet grounds)
2014-15: North Carolina (26 under 838)
2013-14: Georgia Tech (22 under 842)
2012-13: Duke (8 under 856)
INDIVIDUAL
2017-18: Ben Griffin, North Carolina (19 under 197)
2016-17: Alfredo Ruiz, Coastal Carolina, and Jake McGlone, UNCG (6 under 138, 36 holes)
2014-15: Ben Griffin, North Carolina (10 under 206)
2013-14: Seth Reeves, Georgia Tech (8 under 208)
2012-13: Albin Choi, NC State (11 under 205)
Action gets underway for the 14 participating teams and 14 individual players in a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Admission is free.
"We only have a chance to compete at home once per year so everything about this tournament for our team members and coaches is about being excited to play at home in front of family, friends and Tar Heel fans," says UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto.
The Tar Heels are the defending champions in the event, which is being contested for the sixth time since the start of the 2012-13 season (rain and wet grounds forced a cancellation of the tournament in 2015-16).
Carolina won the event in October 2017 in record fashion, blistering its home course with a 49-under-par score of 815, which set the school record for 54 holes and was the second-lowest result to par in Atlantic Coast Conference men's golf history.
Tar Heel senior Ben Griffin captured medalist honors also by re-writing the tournament and school record books. The Chapel Hill native shot 67-63-67 to finish 19 under 197, five shots ahead of fellow senior Jose Montaño.
Griffin set school and tournament records for 54-hole total and score to par, and his 63 in the second round was the best in the six years of the Tar Heel Intercollegiate and matched the school record.
UNC is one of four schools that have taken home the team title in the Tar Heel Intercollegiate. Duke won the inaugural event in 2012. Georgia Tech (2013), Carolina (2014 and 2017) and UNCW (2016) are previous winners.
The host Tar Heels are the third-highest ranked team in the 2019 field and are one of 11 top-100 teams competing at Finley this weekend.
North Florida comes in as the highest-ranked team by Golfstat at No. 13. Illinois (24) and Carolina (30) are also in the top 30.
North Florida is coming off its second team title of the season, winning two weeks ago in wire-to-wire fashion at the General Hackler in Myrtle Beach.
The Illini have also won two tournaments this year and has a strong tradition of success on the conference and national stage in the last decade, winning four consecutive Big Ten championships from 2015-18 and NCAA Regionals from 2013-16. Illinois has finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships in five of the last six seasons, including second in 2013 and third in 2015 and 2016.
Carolina finished 15th at the 2018 NCAA Championships, and despite losing three senior starters in Griffin, Montaño and William Register, has finished in the top four in five of eight events to date, including a season-best second-place at Duke.
The Tar Heels have shot under par as a team five times this year, including 18 under at the John Burns in Hawai'I and 3 under at the Lamkin San Diego Classic in their most two tournaments. UNC finished fourth in both of those events.
"We started the spring on an average note at the Sea Best Invitational in early February, but have been progressing nicely since," says DiBitetto. "We've been right on the heels of some of the best teams in the country in our last two tournaments, and we know we can still play better."
Austin Hitt, a junior from Longwood, Fla., will start in the No. 1 position for the Tar Heels. He is 12 under par through 24 rounds this year and leads the team with a stroke average of 70.50.
Ryan Gerard, a sophomore from Raleigh, is second in stroke average at 70.96, is also under par for the season at -1, and leads the team in rounds counted (23 of 24; Hitt's score has counted 22 times).
Gerard broke the UNC record for 18 holes (that Griffin tied at the 2017 Tar Heel Intercollegiate) by shooting 61 in the final round at Notre Dame in October.
A pair of freshmen, Ryan Burnett (Lafayette, Calif.) and Dougie Ergood (Mount Laurel, N.J.), and a senior, Joshua Martin (Pinehurst) round out the starting lineup for UNC.
Hitt (fourth), Gerard (10th), Burnett (18th) and Martin (20th) all finished in the top 20 in San Diego.
The entire Tar Heel roster will be competing this week. Seniors Preyer Fountain (Raleigh) and Tailin Song (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.), sophomore Mason Elmore (Charlotte) and freshman Luis Castro (Philippines) will vie for the individual title.
Carolina's starters will be paired with North Florida and Illinois in the first two rounds.
The Tar Heel Intercollegiate features five in-state teams. Two of the other four – Elon and Gardner-Webb – are coached by former Tar Heel All-Americas. Tee Burton, a three-time All-ACC performer and first-team All-America in 1991, leads Gardner-Webb; Don Hill, a two-time All-ACC selection and first-team All-America in 1999, directs the Elon program.
DiBitetto says the Tar Heels are excited about playing on its home course: "It's being comfortable with the golf course and not having any surprises. There isn't a hole location that our guys haven't seen, there's not a wind direction that they haven't seen, and there isn't a new strategy that they will need to implement. Our guys should have full confidence in their process, shot selection, and decision making this weekend.
"UNC Finley is an excellent Tom Fazio course and for the most part, it's right in front of you. There are a lot of great players in the field and there are a lot of great coaches here this weekend. They will figure out how to play Finley. Our guys have been around Finley a lot. Our upperclassmen have probably played close to 100 rounds here. The more you play a course, typically the more comfortable you become and therefore the easier the course feels. Hopefully this is the case for all our guys this weekend."
Sunday's third and final round is scheduled to tee off at 8 a.m.
TAR HEEL INTERCOLLEGIATE PREVIOUS CHAMPIONS
TEAM
2017-18: North Carolina (49 under 815)
2016-17: UNCW (9 under 567, 36 holes)
2015-16: cancelled (rain, wet grounds)
2014-15: North Carolina (26 under 838)
2013-14: Georgia Tech (22 under 842)
2012-13: Duke (8 under 856)
INDIVIDUAL
2017-18: Ben Griffin, North Carolina (19 under 197)
2016-17: Alfredo Ruiz, Coastal Carolina, and Jake McGlone, UNCG (6 under 138, 36 holes)
2014-15: Ben Griffin, North Carolina (10 under 206)
2013-14: Seth Reeves, Georgia Tech (8 under 208)
2012-13: Albin Choi, NC State (11 under 205)
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
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