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University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Tar Heel Intercollegiate Day One
Tar Heels in Second Place, One Shot Back at Tar Heel Intercollegiate
March 23, 2019 | Men's Golf
CHAPEL HILL – The Illinois men's golf team leads a tight race at the top after 36 holes of the Tar Heel Intercollegiate at Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill.
After the first round, it appeared to be a three-team race. No. 24 Illinois had the 18-hole lead with a 2-under 286, but No. 30 North Carolina (1-under, 287) and Kansas State (Even Par, 288) were right behind the Illini. Those three teams had some separation from fourth-place Mississippi State (6-over, 294).
The Illini posted four of the top seven individual scores in the first round, but two of the golfers were entered as individuals and did not qualify toward the team score.
There was a four way tie atop the player leaderboard at 4-under, and only 17 golfers total shooting even par or under. Austin Hitt (-3), Dougie Ergood (E) and Josh Martin (E) accounted for three of those 17 and helped keep the Tar Heels in second place. Austin Gerard (+1) and Ryan Burnett (+8) rounded out the Tar Heel's starting five.
"It was a pretty a pretty solid day," said Tar Heel head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "A lot of sunshine. A lot of Tar Heel fans which we certainly appreciate. In terms of performance, there were certainly some good things and some things we would like to clean up."
Carolina got off to a blistering start to the second round. Shooting 3-under as a team through the front nine, Carolina had the lead over Illinois by the time they made the turn.
North Florida, the highest ranked team in the field coming in, had an equally hot start to round two, shooting 4-under through their first nine holes to get back in contention.
At the conclusion of round two, Illinois and Carolina were back where they each began the round, as both teams shot even par and held on to the top two spots.
Kansas State shot 10-over in round two and dropped back to fifth, while North Florida's 2-under for the round, and Michigan State's even par in round two were enough to jump the Wildcats.
Austin Hitt and Dougie Ergood are each at 2-under par through 36 holes to pace the Tar Heels. Josh Martin is just behind at 1-under, and Ryan Gerard and Ryan Burnett round out the scoring at 5-over and 11-over, respectively.
"Overall on the day it was a grind, just a mental grind," DiBitetto said. "The sun was out but it was really windy which just turns into a mentally taxing day when you're on the course for 11 hours."
Competing as individuals, Mason Elmore shot 10-over, Preyer Fountain shot 11-over and Tailin Song shot 23-over.
Carolina is slated to begin the final round on Sunday at 9:30 off the first tee.
Players Mentioned
