Men's Golf Heads West to Play at Greg Norman Course

The Carolina men's golf team returns to competition for the second time this season on February 15-17 at The Prestige, a 24-team event on the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif.

Carolina is one of 24 teams in the field with Arizona, Arizona State, California, Cal Poly, Colorado, Denver, Iowa State, Long Beach State, Marquette, Nevada, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, SMU, Stanford, TCU, Texas Tech, UC Davis, UCLA, USC and Wyoming.

Golfweek ranks four of the teams among the top 11 in the country, including No. 3 San Diego State, No. 7 Arizona, No. 10 Arizona State and No. 11 Pepperdine.

The Tar Heels were fifth in an all-ACC field at the Camp Creek Seminole Invitational in mid-January, shooting two rounds at even par and a 1-over-par final round. Freshman Peter Fountain (Raleigh, N.C.) finished second in his collegiate debut with rounds of 68-68-70 for a 10-under 206.

Fountain, who earned him a No. 4 ranking in the country with his performance at Camp Creek, is one of seven players in Golfweek's top 15 that will be playing in The Prestige.

Ryan Gerard, a senior from Raleigh, tied for 15^th place at 1 under par, and sophomore Austin Greaser (Vandalia, Ohio) tied for 26^th at 3 over.

Ryan Burnett (Lafayette, Calif.), who earned All-America honors last season, did not play at Camp Creek but will make his 2021 debut at The Prestige. The junior is Carolina's all-time stroke average leader (71.45) and had a win, two runner-up finishes and a third in eight events last season.

Carolina's lineup at The Prestige includes Fountain, Gerard, Greaser, fifth-year senior Austin Hitt (Longwood, Fla.) and Burnett.

"Competing in top tournaments in different parts of the country is an important part of developing our program," says head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "We want our guys to experience different climates, courses, conditions and types of grass and compete against as many different teams as possible. That's exactly what we are doing this week. The Norman Course at PGA West is desert golf, and we are the only team here from the east coast in a field that strong and very large. Our guys are excited to be here and look forward to the challenge."

Dougie Ergood (Mt. Laurel, N,.J.), Ryan Smith (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Kenan Poole (Raleigh, N.C.) will be competing in the Prestige's individual tournament at the Coral Mountain Golf Club also in La Quinta.

Texas won the team title at the 2020 Prestige at 20 under par, six strokes ahead of No. 1-ranked Pepperdine. Lee Oyo of San Diego State was the medalist at 10 under after a final-round 66.

Players Mentioned

Ryan Burnett

Peter Fountain

Austin Greaser

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