Monday, September 2
Verona, N.Y.
All Day
North Carolina
vs
Turning Stone Intercollegiate Day Two
Men's Golf Cruises to Victory in New York
September 2, 2019 | Men's Golf
Burnett Ties Course Record to Post 1st Collegiate Title
Sophomore Ryan Burnett (Lafayette, Calif.) tied the course record to win his first collegiate title and the University of North Carolina compiled its second-lowest score to par in school history to win the Turning Stone Tiger Intercollegiate by 35 strokes on Monday at the Kaluhyat Course at Turning Stone Resorts in upstate New York.
Burnett shot 64 in today's third and final round to tie the course record that UNC freshman Austin Greaser set on Sunday. Burnett won the tournament shooting 69-65-64, an 18-under-par total of 198. His total strokes and score to par are the second lowest for a 54-hole tournament in Carolina men's golf history (behind Ben Griffin's 19-under-197 at the 2017 Tar Heel Intercollegiate). He's just the third Tar Heel (with William Register and Griffin) to shoot under 200 for a 54-hole tournament.
"I hit the ball incredibly well all tournament, missing only three greens," says Burnett. "It definitely helped to keep the stress off and things came pretty easy. With the whole team going low, there is definitely an energy you feed off with birdies being made all over the place."
Burnett's 64 tied the seventh-best round ever by a Tar Heel (Greaser also shot 64 in the second round) and 8 under par equaled the fourth best in UNC history (same for Greaser).
Burnett led the field in birdies for the tournament with 22. He was a tourney-best 10 under on the par 4s (four better than any other player) and was second best on the par 3s at 3 under.
"Ryan (Burnett) was fantastic the entire tournament, particularly his ball striking," says head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "Winning in golf is hard and Burney became the first guy on our current roster to win a tournament in college. This will motivate other guys and the hope is there will be more wins coming from our group."
Greaser placed second at 11 under for the tournament, eight shots behind Burnett for a 1-2 Tar Heel finish. It's the highest-recorded finish by a freshman in his college debut in UNC history (Burnett was third a year ago at Duke in the season opener). The Vandalia, Ohio, native led the field in scoring on par 3 holes at 4 under and was second to Burnett in par-4 scoring at 6 under.
"The first time Coach (Matt) Clark and I saw Austin play, we believed he would be an impact player for us," says DiBitetto. "He has areas of his game where he must improve, but this was a very impressive start for him. It's good for him and it's really good for the competition within our team."
Carolina shot 18-under-270 in Sunday's afternoon round, then bettered that mark by a stroke in Monday's final round. Today's 19-under-269 is the second lowest in UNC history, just one stroke off the record set at the Bridgestone in Greensboro in 2010.
Tournament host and runner-up Missouri finished 7 under. Boston College and Delaware tied for third (+27) and Valparaiso was fifth (+38).
Carolina shot 283-270-269–822. The 822 total strokes are the third fewest over 54 holes in school history and 42 under par is the second-best score ever to par.
"Our first round (5 under as a team) was just about getting our feet under us and settling into the season," says Burnett. "With a lot of young guys in the lineup there are a lot of emotions starting off your college career. I remember being there a year ago. From that point we just felt extremely comfortable and attacked the course."
The Tar Heels placed four members of the starting lineup in the top seven and with four players also competing as individual entrants had seven finish in the top 14 and eight in the top 25.
Junior Ryan Gerard (Raleigh) posted a 4-under-68 for the second round in a row and finished fourth at 7 under; senior Austin Hitt (Longwood, Fla.) was seventh after a final-round 67; and freshman George McNeely (Carmel, Calif.) was 23rd.
Dougie Ergood (Mount Laurel, N.J.) was 11th at even par, Luis Castro (Sta. Rosa, Philippines) was 12th and freshman Kenan Poole (Raleigh) finished 14th.
Gerard and Ergood led all players in the event with two eagles apiece. Gerard was second among all players on the par 5s at 5 under par.
Carolina dominated the par 3s and par 4s – the Tar Heels were a dozen shots better than the field on the par 3s and 36 strokes better than the next closest team on the par 4s.
Burnett (22), Greaser (21) and Hitt (18) were one-two-three in birdies over the three rounds.
Turning Stone is the fourth team title in the last three seasons for UNC under DiBitetto. It's the first since the Tar Heel Intercollegiate in March 2019 and the first on an away course since the 2018 Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz, Calif.
"We could talk for a long time about all the positives this week," says DiBitetto. "Starting the year with a team win and an individual title is incredible. But this tournament was about so much more than just winning. It's a great opportunity to have all nine of our guys travel together and compete. We saw all kinds of weather conditions – warm temperatures, wind, and today we saw some heavy rain at times. All of this will benefit us in the future. Finally, we want Carolina Golf to have an identity and our guys executed that identity to perfection, especially today. In the heaviest rain today, three of our starters made three straight birdies, and overall, our entire group was relentless. This was a phenomenal tournament, but we know it's just one tournament. We have more work to do."
Carolina returns to action Sept. 14-15 at Duke at the Rod Myers Invitational.
Burnett shot 64 in today's third and final round to tie the course record that UNC freshman Austin Greaser set on Sunday. Burnett won the tournament shooting 69-65-64, an 18-under-par total of 198. His total strokes and score to par are the second lowest for a 54-hole tournament in Carolina men's golf history (behind Ben Griffin's 19-under-197 at the 2017 Tar Heel Intercollegiate). He's just the third Tar Heel (with William Register and Griffin) to shoot under 200 for a 54-hole tournament.
"I hit the ball incredibly well all tournament, missing only three greens," says Burnett. "It definitely helped to keep the stress off and things came pretty easy. With the whole team going low, there is definitely an energy you feed off with birdies being made all over the place."
Burnett's 64 tied the seventh-best round ever by a Tar Heel (Greaser also shot 64 in the second round) and 8 under par equaled the fourth best in UNC history (same for Greaser).
Burnett led the field in birdies for the tournament with 22. He was a tourney-best 10 under on the par 4s (four better than any other player) and was second best on the par 3s at 3 under.
"Ryan (Burnett) was fantastic the entire tournament, particularly his ball striking," says head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "Winning in golf is hard and Burney became the first guy on our current roster to win a tournament in college. This will motivate other guys and the hope is there will be more wins coming from our group."
Greaser placed second at 11 under for the tournament, eight shots behind Burnett for a 1-2 Tar Heel finish. It's the highest-recorded finish by a freshman in his college debut in UNC history (Burnett was third a year ago at Duke in the season opener). The Vandalia, Ohio, native led the field in scoring on par 3 holes at 4 under and was second to Burnett in par-4 scoring at 6 under.
"The first time Coach (Matt) Clark and I saw Austin play, we believed he would be an impact player for us," says DiBitetto. "He has areas of his game where he must improve, but this was a very impressive start for him. It's good for him and it's really good for the competition within our team."
Carolina shot 18-under-270 in Sunday's afternoon round, then bettered that mark by a stroke in Monday's final round. Today's 19-under-269 is the second lowest in UNC history, just one stroke off the record set at the Bridgestone in Greensboro in 2010.
Tournament host and runner-up Missouri finished 7 under. Boston College and Delaware tied for third (+27) and Valparaiso was fifth (+38).
Carolina shot 283-270-269–822. The 822 total strokes are the third fewest over 54 holes in school history and 42 under par is the second-best score ever to par.
"Our first round (5 under as a team) was just about getting our feet under us and settling into the season," says Burnett. "With a lot of young guys in the lineup there are a lot of emotions starting off your college career. I remember being there a year ago. From that point we just felt extremely comfortable and attacked the course."
The Tar Heels placed four members of the starting lineup in the top seven and with four players also competing as individual entrants had seven finish in the top 14 and eight in the top 25.
Junior Ryan Gerard (Raleigh) posted a 4-under-68 for the second round in a row and finished fourth at 7 under; senior Austin Hitt (Longwood, Fla.) was seventh after a final-round 67; and freshman George McNeely (Carmel, Calif.) was 23rd.
Dougie Ergood (Mount Laurel, N.J.) was 11th at even par, Luis Castro (Sta. Rosa, Philippines) was 12th and freshman Kenan Poole (Raleigh) finished 14th.
Gerard and Ergood led all players in the event with two eagles apiece. Gerard was second among all players on the par 5s at 5 under par.
Carolina dominated the par 3s and par 4s – the Tar Heels were a dozen shots better than the field on the par 3s and 36 strokes better than the next closest team on the par 4s.
Burnett (22), Greaser (21) and Hitt (18) were one-two-three in birdies over the three rounds.
Turning Stone is the fourth team title in the last three seasons for UNC under DiBitetto. It's the first since the Tar Heel Intercollegiate in March 2019 and the first on an away course since the 2018 Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz, Calif.
"We could talk for a long time about all the positives this week," says DiBitetto. "Starting the year with a team win and an individual title is incredible. But this tournament was about so much more than just winning. It's a great opportunity to have all nine of our guys travel together and compete. We saw all kinds of weather conditions – warm temperatures, wind, and today we saw some heavy rain at times. All of this will benefit us in the future. Finally, we want Carolina Golf to have an identity and our guys executed that identity to perfection, especially today. In the heaviest rain today, three of our starters made three straight birdies, and overall, our entire group was relentless. This was a phenomenal tournament, but we know it's just one tournament. We have more work to do."
Carolina returns to action Sept. 14-15 at Duke at the Rod Myers Invitational.
Players Mentioned
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