Tuesday, January 19
Watersound, Fla. (Camp Creek GC)
All Day
North Carolina
vs
Camp Creek Seminole Invitational Day Three
Fountain 2nd, Tar Heels 5th at Camp Creek
January 19, 2021 | Men's Golf
Freshman Shines Against ACC Field
University of North Carolina freshman Peter Fountain placed second in his college golf debut after a third-round 70 on Tuesday at the Camp Creek Seminole Invitational. The Raleigh native finished five shots behind medalist Jacob Bridgeman of Clemson and three shots better than Connor Futrell of Florida State and Mark Power of Wake Forest in the 10-team, all-Atlantic Coast Conference field.
Carolina was 1 over par for the final round and 1 over par for the 54-hole tournament, which Florida State, the host school, won on the second playoff hole against Wake Forest at the Camp Creek Golf Club. The Seminoles and Deacons tied at 22 under, three strokes ahead of Clemson.
Duke was fourth at 10 under, UNC fifth at 1 over, Notre Dame sixth (+3), Georgia Tech seventh (+7), Louisville eighth (+8), Virginia ninth (+21) and Virginia Tech 10th (+45).
"It was great to be back playing in a college golf tournament," says head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "Our guys have played on their own during the pandemic, but we all appreciated and enjoyed competing together again."
Fountain's second-place finish marks the second consecutive year a Tar Heel finished second in his first college event (Austin Greaser was runnerup at the Turning Stone Invitational a year ago and Ryan Burnett was third at Duke in his debut in 2018).
Fountain, who enrolled at UNC in January 2020 but did not compete before Covid ended the season in March, entered the final round six shots behind Bridgeman before shooting 4 under on the front nine to pull within two shots of the lead. Bridgeman was 1 under on the back, while Fountain bogeyed the 12th, his first on a par 5 in the tournament, and the 18th hole to finish 2 under for the day and five shots back of the winner.
"I hit a lot of fairways and greens and putted well which leads to birdies and few bogeys," says Fountain. "This definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season because it proves to myself that I can compete with any player in the country and I can help my team succeed."
"It feels like Peter's been a part of our program forever and it's hard to believe this was his first tournament as a Tar Heel," says DiBitetto. "He was very impressive the whole way and fun to watch. He has a great balance of smiling, having fun and keeping things light hearted but also being focused, intense, confident and very committed on every shot. It was another outstanding Tar Heel debut."
Greaser had Carolina's next best round today at even-par 72 to finish tied for 26th place at 3-over 219. Ryan Gerard tied for 15th at 1 under (72-73-70–215).
"Overall, each player did some great things during the tournament or had some bright spots but, collectively, we weren't consistent enough," says DiBitetto. "It's great to see things in practice, but it's even better to see aspects of everyone's game in tournaments. We learned a lot this week."
Carolina returns to competition February 15-17 at The Prestige in La Quinta Calif.
Carolina was 1 over par for the final round and 1 over par for the 54-hole tournament, which Florida State, the host school, won on the second playoff hole against Wake Forest at the Camp Creek Golf Club. The Seminoles and Deacons tied at 22 under, three strokes ahead of Clemson.
Duke was fourth at 10 under, UNC fifth at 1 over, Notre Dame sixth (+3), Georgia Tech seventh (+7), Louisville eighth (+8), Virginia ninth (+21) and Virginia Tech 10th (+45).
"It was great to be back playing in a college golf tournament," says head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "Our guys have played on their own during the pandemic, but we all appreciated and enjoyed competing together again."
Fountain's second-place finish marks the second consecutive year a Tar Heel finished second in his first college event (Austin Greaser was runnerup at the Turning Stone Invitational a year ago and Ryan Burnett was third at Duke in his debut in 2018).
Fountain, who enrolled at UNC in January 2020 but did not compete before Covid ended the season in March, entered the final round six shots behind Bridgeman before shooting 4 under on the front nine to pull within two shots of the lead. Bridgeman was 1 under on the back, while Fountain bogeyed the 12th, his first on a par 5 in the tournament, and the 18th hole to finish 2 under for the day and five shots back of the winner.
"I hit a lot of fairways and greens and putted well which leads to birdies and few bogeys," says Fountain. "This definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season because it proves to myself that I can compete with any player in the country and I can help my team succeed."
"It feels like Peter's been a part of our program forever and it's hard to believe this was his first tournament as a Tar Heel," says DiBitetto. "He was very impressive the whole way and fun to watch. He has a great balance of smiling, having fun and keeping things light hearted but also being focused, intense, confident and very committed on every shot. It was another outstanding Tar Heel debut."
Greaser had Carolina's next best round today at even-par 72 to finish tied for 26th place at 3-over 219. Ryan Gerard tied for 15th at 1 under (72-73-70–215).
"Overall, each player did some great things during the tournament or had some bright spots but, collectively, we weren't consistent enough," says DiBitetto. "It's great to see things in practice, but it's even better to see aspects of everyone's game in tournaments. We learned a lot this week."
Carolina returns to competition February 15-17 at The Prestige in La Quinta Calif.
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