Men's Golf Clinches Berth in NCAA Championship

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NCAA Regionals Day Three

May 19, 2021 | Men's Golf

NCAA Noblesville Final Results

Tar Heels Tie for Second at NCAA Noblesville Regional

By: Steve Kirschner

Atlantic Coast Conference champion Peter Fountain shot a 5-under-par 67 Wednesday at the Sagamore Club to lead the University of North Carolina to a tie for second place in the 2021 NCAA Men's Golf Noblesville Regional.

With the tie for second, which equals UNC's best finish in an NCAA regional, the Tar Heels are one of 30 teams to advance to the NCAA Championship round, which begins May 28 at the Grayhawk Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Carolina is advancing to the NCAA Championship round for the fourth time in as many regionals. UNC advanced out of the Stanford Regional in 2017, Kissimmee, Fla., in 2018, and Stanford in 2019 (there was no NCAA Tournament in 2020 due to the pandemic). It is the first time UNC has advanced out of regional play four straight times since 2000.

UNC and Clemson are the only ACC men's golf programs to advance out of a regional to the NCAA Championship round in the last four NCAA Tournaments. The Tar Heels and Tigers are among seven ACC teams that will be competing in Scottsdale.

The Tar Heels tied their best-ever finish today in an NCAA regional. UNC was also second in 1995 and tied for second in its previous regional in 2019.

Carolina shot 8-under 280 in Wednesday's final round, the second-best team score of the day, to climb one spot into a tie for second with Tennessee at a 54-hole total of 15-under 849. The Tar Heels and Volunteers finished five strokes behind Texas, which shot a third-round 283 to finish at 20-under 844.

Louisville was fourth at -10 and UAB, which shot 13 under par for the best round of the day, was fifth at -5. The top five teams from the Noblesville Regional and five other regionals advance to Scottsdale. The Blazers beat out North Florida by four strokes for the fifth spot.

"Collectively, we didn't have our A game this week," says UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "But our guys fought really hard. It shows where our guys are and where we are as a program that we didn't have our best stuff this week, but we still had a chance to win an NCAA regional with a handful of holes to play and we advanced by a wide margin.

"We absolutely love our group. They are talented, gritty, smart, mentally tough and extremely competitive. We can't wait to get to Grayhawk."

UNC began the day at 7 under par and got to 21 under through 14 holes, just one shot behind the Longhorns, before closing at 15 under. Carolina's five players were 5 under on the front nine, 11 under par on holes 10-14 and 9 over on the final four holes.

Fountain, a freshman from Raleigh, came into the day tied for 34th place in the individual standings. He was 1 under on the front nine, then birdied 13, 14, 15 and 18 to finish with a 5-under 67, his 11th round this spring in the 60s. Fountain finished the tournament tied for 10th at 3-under 213. It is the fifth time in eight starts the ACC Freshman of the Year has led outright or tied for UNC's best finish in an event.

Sophomore Austin Greaser also tied for 10th at 213 after a final-round 72. He was at 6 under through 14 holes before a double bogey on 15 and bogey on 18 dropped him to 3 under for the tournament. It was his fifth top-10 finish in his last six tournaments and the second time this spring he led or tied for UNC's best result.

Junior Ryan Burnett shot 3-under 69 today to tie for 18th place at 1-under 215. He made six pars on the round, which included an eagle on the par-5 14th hole, six birdies and five bogeys. For the tournament, Burnett tied for third in par-3 scoring at 1 under.

This was the first time UNC had three players finish in the top 20 in an NCAA regional since 2007.

Senior Ryan Gerard shot even-par 72 for the third consecutive day to tie for 23rd at 216. Fifth-year senior Austin Hitt made eagle at the second and was 3 under through 15 holes but finished at 3 over 75. Hitt, who will be competing in the NCAA Championship round for the fourth time, tied for 35th place at 3-over 219.

The Tar Heels led the 13-team field in the regional in scoring on the par 4s (6 under), tied for the lead in birdies with Texas (67) and tied for second in scoring on the par 3s (16 over, four strokes behind Texas).

Purdue's Cole Bradley tied the competitive course record with a 65 to win the individual title at 10-under 206.