Burnett Third, Tar Heels Seventh at Duke

Sunday, September 15

Durham, N.C.

All Day

North Carolina

Rod Myers Invitational Day Two

Photo by: Andy Mead

September 15, 2019 | Men's Golf

RMI Final Results

Gerard Also in the Top 20

By: Steve Kirschner

University of North Carolina sophomore Ryan Burnett shot an even-par 72 in Sunday's final round and finished third at the Rod Myers Invitational at the Duke University Golf Club. It was his second consecutive third-place finish at the Duke tournament.

UNCG's Jonathan Brightwell shot a 5-under-67 today to win medalist honors by a stroke over Duke's Adrien Pendaries and two shots ahead of Burnett, who led by a pair of shots after 36 holes ion Saturday.

Wake Forest won the team title at 22 under par, three better than the host Blue Devils. Louisville was third at 6 under, defending champion Penn State and UNCG tied for fourth at even par, Liberty was sixth at 2 over and the Tar Heels placed seventh at 8 over. The Demon Deacons shot 7-under-281 today to win, beating Duke by nine strokes in the final round.

Burnett was even on the round after nine holes and was tied for the tournament lead as he headed to the final nine holes (UNC started on the 10^th hole today). The Lafayette, Calif., native fell behind after he missed par putts on 1 and 4, while Brightwell birdied 11 and 14.

Burnett eagled his final hole (the 9^th) to finish at even-par today and 9-under-207 (69-66-72) for the tournament.

Tar Heel junior Ryan Gerard shot Carolina's best round of the day with a 2-under-70 to finish in the top 20 at a tie for 18^th.

Austin Hitt and Austin Greaser tied for 50^th at 12 over and Dougie Ergood tied for 58^th at 14 over.

"It was a very rough start yesterday," says head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "We were 14 over par through the first four holes and we tried to fight back after that, but it was so unsettling we never really got going after that. That's probably the disappointing part. I feel we became a little soft after that start. That's exactly what we don't want to be. We want to be able to overcome adversity and overcome bad shots because they are going to happen. That's something we were fantastic with a couple of weeks ago in New York, but not so good this week.

"Ryan (Burnett) plays with a lot of confidence. He's always been a really good ball striker. Right now, the putter has been pretty good to him, but it goes back to practice. He's been a little bit more focused, had a little bit more purpose to his practice. Obviously, he's been seeing some positive results, which is fantastic for him and good for the team."

"I played pretty solid which is kind of tough to do when your team isn't playing as well, when there's not a lot of momentum out there," says Burnett. "It was nice to play well and hold us together a little bit.

"I really had it going (yesterday) in the 36-hole day, playing hole after hole, getting lost in the round. Today, I just hit a few wayward shots, didn't give myself the opportunities and the putter wasn't working as it did yesterday."

The Tar Heels return to action next week at the Olympia Fields Fighting Illini Invitational.