North Carolina
ACC Championship Day One
Hitt Moves Up to No. 32 in National Rankings
April 17, 2019 | Men's Golf
Tar Heels 23rd in Golfstat Rankings as ACCs Tee Off Thursday
2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Golf Championship
Old North State Club
New London, N.C.
Thursday, April 18 – Saturday, April, 20
TAR HEEL LINEUP
Austin Hitt – Jr., Longwood, Fla. (3rd ACC Tournament)
Ryan Gerard – So., Raleigh, N.C. (2nd ACC Tournament)
Ryan Burnett – Fr., Lafayette, Calif. (1st ACC Tournament)
Joshua Martin – Sr., Pinehurst, N.C. (2nd ACC Tournament)
Dougie Ergood – Fr., Mount Laurel, N.J. (1st ACC Tournament)
• Carolina is the No. 6 seed and is paired with No. 4 seed Clemson and No. 5 seed Louisville in round one. The teams will begin play at 9 a.m. on Thursday on hole No. 1.
SEASON RECAP
• Carolina is ranked No. 23 in the country in Golfstat's April 17 rankings.
• That is sixth in the ACC behind No.3 Wake Forest, No. 8 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Duke, No. 19 Clemson and No. 20 Louisville. Two other ACC schools – No. 24 NC State and No. 29 Florida State – are ranked in the top 30.Â
• Carolina is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Arizona State Thunderbird Collegiate in Phoenix. UNC shot even par 852. Junior Austin Hitt tied for sixth and senior Joshua Martin tied for eighth.
• UNC has finished sixth or higher in all 11 tournaments this season. Carolina won the Tar Heel Intercollegiate (March 23-24) at its home course, placed second at the Hayt in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., on March 31-April 1 and was fifth in Phoenix in its last three starts.
• Carolina has shot under par in six of 11 events this year.
• Carolina's starting lineup in the 2019 ACC Championship has started all five of UNC's previous spring events and each of the last six tournaments dating back to the fall.
CAROLINA IN THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIPÂ
• Carolina has won 11 ACC championships (third most behind Wake Forest's 18 and Georgia Tech's 17).
• UNC's ACC titles came in 1956, 1960, 1965, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1995, 1996 and 2006.
• Tar Heels have won the ACC individual championship 13 times, most recently by Dustin Bray and Richard Treis in 2002 and 2003. The 13 titles are the second most behind Wake Forest's 22 champions.
• The Tar Heels tied for sixth at 19 under par in the 2018 ACC Championship. UNC senior Ben Griffin became the first Tar Heel to shoot three rounds in the 60s at an ACC Championship. Griffin shot 67-69-69–205 (11 under) to finish fifth.
No. 1 AUSTIN HITT (Freshman, Longwood, Fla.)
Played in all 11 events this year and 35 as a Tar Heel • Ranked No. 32 overall and No. 11 in the ACC (Golfstat) • 806-128 record this year • Tied for 37th in 2017 ACC Championship (+10) and tied for 48th in 2018 ACC Championship (+5) • Played in two NCAA regionals and NCAA Championships (tied for third at 10 under 206 in 2018 NCAA Kissimmee Regional) • Leads Carolina in stroke average at 70.73, which is the lowest in UNC single-season history (Ben Griffin averaged 71.06 in 2014-15) • Career average of 72.16 is No. 2 in Tar Heel history behind Griffin's 72.02 • Leads Carolina in score to par (15 under), sub-par rounds (17) and rounds in the 60s (12) • Has five top-10 finishes this season • Second at the Tar Heel, fourth at San Diego and sixth at Wake Forest and Arizona State • Three rounds in the 60s at Wake Forest (69-66-67).
No. 2 RYAN GERARD (Sophomore, Raleigh, N.C.)
Played in all 11 events this season and 21 as a Tar Heel • 676-258 record this year • Tied for 38th at 2018 ACC Championship (71-71-77–219, +3) • Played in one round (fourth round) in 2018 NCAA Championship • Second on the team in stroke average (71.79), the 12th lowest in UNC history • Set all-time UNC 18-hole record with his 10 under 61 in the second round at Notre Dame • Finished second at Notre Dame, one of three top-10 and six top-25 finishes this season • Also tied for 10th at Wake Forest and San Diego.
No. 3 RYAN BURNETT (Freshman, Lafayette, Calif.)
Played in all 11 events • Third on the team in stroke average (72.18) • Has three top 10s and seven top-25 finishes with a season-best third at Duke • Low round of 67 at Notre Dame • Shot all three rounds in the 60s at Notre Dame (68-67-68) • Leads UNC with seven eagles • UNC's best finish at Duke, Royal Oaks (T14) and John Burns (T4).
No. 4 JOSHUA MARTIN (Senior, Pinehurst, N.C.)
• Carolina's only senior in the starting lineup • Played in nine of 11 events this season and 37 as a Tar Heel • Has a 368-85 record in the last five tournaments • Tied for 39th in the 2016 ACC Championship (+7) • Earned honorable mention All-America honors last season after shooting 69 in the second round of the NCAA Championship • Fourth on the team this season in stroke average (72.67) • Has finished under par in three of the last five tournaments • Tied for eighth at Arizona State (field included five top-25 and 10 top-50 teams) at 3 under 210 • Shot 67 in final round of 2018 NCAA Kissimmee Regional.
 No. 5 DOUGIE ERGOOD (Freshman, Mount Laurel, N.J.)
Played in 10 of UNC's 11 events, including each of the last six • Fifth on the team in stroke average (72.83) • Shot seven sub-par rounds, including five in the 60s • UNC's best finish at Louisville (T5) when he shot 68 in each of the last two rounds • Shot 69 in the second round in his previous start at Arizona State.
Players Mentioned
