Men's Golf Takes On Top Field at Olympia Fields

The University of North Carolina men's golf team tees off against one of the strongest fields in the country this fall when the Tar Heels play in the Olympia Fields Country Club/Fighting Illini Invitational Sept. 20-22.

UNC is one of 10 teams in 15-school field that competed in Arkansas in the 2019 NCAA Championship, joining national runner-up Texas, No. 1-ranked Oklahoma State, Baylor, California, Georgia Tech, Illinois, UNLV, Pepperdine and Texas A&M. Alabama, Florida State, Florida, Indiana and Northwestern round out the field of collegiate heavyweights playing at Olympia Fields this weekend.

Carolina is paired with defending champion Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in Friday's opening round.

This is UNC's third appearance in the event. The Tar Heels finished fourth in September 2016 and ninth a year later. Sophomore Joshua Martin led UNC with a 10^th-place finish in 2016, while William Register tied for 23^rd in 2017.

The Tar Heels are competing for the second straight weekend and third time this season. They won the Turning Stone Tiger Invitational in Verona, N.Y., on Sept. 2, and finished seventh at Duke last Sunday.

Sophomore Ryan Burnett won at Turning Stone with an 18-under-198 and was third at the Rod Myers Invitational at 9-under-207.

Burnett has shot in the 60s in five of six rounds this season and is averaging 67.5 strokes per round. Joining him in the lineup in Illinois are junior Ryan Gerard, freshman Austin Greaser, who was second at Turning Stone, senior Austin Hitt and freshman Kenan Poole.

Hitt tied for 22^nd at Olympia Fields as a freshman, shooting 8-over-218.

Gerard turned in Carolina's second-best performance at Duke, shooting consecutive 2-under-70s over the final 36 holes to tie for 18^th. He's averaging 70.83 through the first two tournaments.

Poole, a freshman from Raleigh, shot even par over the second and third rounds to tie for 14^th place in his collegiate debut at Turning Stone. He is making his first start this week.

"We all look forward to playing this tournament," says UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "Illinois, Coach Mike Small, Olympia Fields and their members are extremely welcoming to all the teams; it's a major championship golf course and we get to compete against the best teams in the country. It's a great test early in the year and we will learn a lot about our team. The course will highlight strengths of our game and it will let you know what areas of your game need to develop. This is everything we want in a golf tournament."

Oklahoma State won the event last fall by 18 strokes over Southern California, shooting 11-under-829. OSU's Matthew Wolff and Cal's Collin Morikawa, who both won on the PGA Tour as rookies this year, finished one-two and -6 and -5, respectively.

Olympia Fields Country Club's North Course, a par-70, 7,205 layout, will host a PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoff in 2020. The course has previously hosted two U.S. Opens, three PGA Championships, five Western Opens, a U.S. Senior Open and the 2015 U.S. Amateur.

Players Mentioned

Ryan Burnett

Ryan Gerard

Austin Greaser

Austin Hitt

Joshua Martin

Kenan Poole

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