Men's Golf Tees Off in 13 Days

Fresh off a successful run at the U.S. Amateur in Pinehurst, where senior Austin Hitt and junior Ryan Gerard tied for ninth in stroke play, the University of North Carolina men's golf team will begin its 2019-20 schedule on Sept. 1-2 at the Turning Stone Intercollegiate in Verona, N.Y.

All nine Tar Heels, including freshmen Austin Greaser of Vidalia, Ohio, George McNeely of Carmel, Calif., and Kenan Poole of Raleigh, will compete at the Turning Stone Resort, a new event for Carolina. Two weeks later (Sept. 14-15), UNC returns to the Triangle when it plays at Duke in the Rod Myers Invitational, where the Tar Heels tied for second place a season ago behind a T3 finish by then-freshman Ryan Burnett.

Carolina makes a return visit to Olympia Fields Country Club on Sept. 20-22 to play in the Fighting Illini Invitational. That event was the season opener in 2017-18 and features a number of the top programs in the nation, including Oklahoma State, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the end of last season; Texas, which reached the finals of match play at the 2019 NCAA Championship; and eight other top-30 ranked teams from a year ago, including Carolina, California, Georgia Tech and Florida State.

On Oct. 7-8 the Tar Heels play in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Classic, a second appearance in as many seasons there for UNC. Last year, Ryan Gerard led UNC to a third-place finish with the team shooting 31 under par. Gerard opened with a 65 and finished with a UNC single-round record 61 to place a career-best second. That runner-up finish also equaled the best individual finish by a Tar Heel last season.

The fall campaign concludes Oct. 18-20 at Georgia Tech's Golf Club of Georgia Intercollegiate in Atlanta, another new event for UNC this season. The tournament features one of the deepest and most talented lineup of teams of any event in the country. The Yellow Jackets repeated as ACC champions last spring and the field includes defending NCAA champion Stanford and 11 other participants from the 2019 NCAA Championship, including Wake Forest and Texas A&M, who also advanced to match play.

"We are very excited about this year's schedule," says third-year UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "We made several changes in the fall that we are really looking forward to. We start by playing our complete roster at a great golf course in New York. We see some of the best teams in the country on a major championship golf course at Olympia Fields and end the fall with another new event for us, The Golf Club of Georgia Intercollegiate, which also has a loaded field. We play over Labor Day and fall break, which are good because our guys won't miss much class time."

The spring slate begins with four tournaments the Tar Heels competed in last season – the Sea Best Invitational Feb. 3-4 at Pete Dye's TPC Sawgrass Valley; the John Burns Intercollegiate Feb. 20-22 in Hawai'i; the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic March 9-10; and the Tar Heel Intercollegiate March 21-22 at UNC Finley. UNC finished in the top four in the latter three events last year, with a six-stroke win over runner-up Illinois in UNC's home event. Hitt tied for fourth in San Diego and second at UNC, part of his team-leading five top-10 finishes in 2018-19.

The final regular-season event of the season is NC State's Stitch Invitational on April 10-11, Carolina's first tournament in Cary at MacGregor Downs since 2006.

The ACC Tournament returns to the Old North State Club beginning April 17 for the 17th time in 18 seasons, but with a new format. All the teams will compete over 54 holes of stroke play for two days (36 holes on day one, 18 holes on day two). The top four teams from stroke play will advance to Sunday's semifinals, which are now 18 holes of match play. On Monday, April 20, two teams will compete head-to-head in one round of match play to determine the ACC champion.

NCAA Regionals action is May 18-20 at Auburn, Ala.; Baton Rouge, La.; Clemson, S.C.; East Lansing, Mich.; Norman, Okla.; and San Diego, Calif.

The 2019 NCAA Championship will be contested May 29-June 3 at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"We travel to Florida, Hawaii and California in the spring," says DiBitetto. "We blend those tremendous trips with hosting in Chapel Hill, playing in Cary and the ACC Championship right here in North Carolina. Overall, we feel the schedule has great balance and will expose our guys to a variety of golf courses, climates, conditions and regions of the country. This will hopefully benefit us greatly in the postseason."

Players Mentioned

Ryan Burnett

Ryan Gerard

Austin Hitt

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