Peter Fountain Named 1st Team All-America

The Golf Coaches Association of America has named University of North Carolina freshman Peter Fountain a PING first-team All-America.

The Raleigh native is UNC's first men's golfer to earn first-team All-America honors since Dustin Bray in 2003. Fountain also becomes the first Tar Heel freshman golfer to ever earn first-team All-America honors.

Fountain is one of 12 players named to the coaches' All-America team, joining Ludvig Åberg, Texas Tech; Sam Bennett, Texas A&M; Eugenio Chacarra, Oklahoma State; Pierceson Coody, Texas; Alex Fitzpatrick, Wake Forest; Nick Gabrelcik, North Florida; Noah Goodwin, SMU; Ryan Hall, South Carolina; John Pak, Florida State; Turk Pettit, Clemson; and Davis Thompson, Georgia.

Fountain and Gabrelcik are the only freshmen on the PING All-America team.

"Peter was tremendous this year," says UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "Being named a first team All-America is incredible and something Peter absolutely earned with stellar play the entire season. The best part is he is young and still has parts of his game that can and will improve."

Fountain won the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship and tied for 13th at the NCAA Championship, leading the Tar Heels to an eighth-place finish in stroke play and the No. 8 seed in the quarterfinals of match play against Arizona State. Fountain had the second-highest finish in the NCAA Championship by a freshman behind Oklahoma State's Bo Jin, who finished second.

Fountain won his NCAA quarterfinal match today, defeating Arizona State's David Puig 2&1.

Fountain's 13th-place finish in stroke play was Carolina's best in an NCAA Championship since Ben Griffin tied for 11th in 2017 and UNC's best by a freshman since Rob Bradley and Lee McIntee tied for seventh in 1993. It was the sixth time in nine tournaments Fountain had UNC's best finish. He was the first Tar Heel to shoot two rounds in the 60s in an NCAA Championship since 2007.

Fountain won the ACC Championship in April, shooting 71-63-66 for a 10-under 200. He edged Benjamin Shipp of NC State by one stroke, becoming the first Tar Heel medalist in an ACC Championship since Richard Treis in 2003, the first UNC freshman to win ACCs and 10th freshman in league history (first since Cameron Tringale of Georgia Tech in 2006). His second-round 63 included a 28 on the back nine and tied the all-time ACC Tournament 18-hole record with Clemson's Brad Clark in 1985 and his 200 total tied Virginia's Thomas Walsh in 2018.

In addition to earning All-America honors, Fountain was named the ACC Freshman of the Year, member of the All-ACC team and was selected to PING's All-East Region team.

He set the UNC single-season record and is the ACC's leader in scoring average at 69.68, just ahead of FSU's Pak (69.71), the No. 1-ranked player in the country.

Fountain's tournament finishes included two wins, two seconds, four top 5s, five top 10s and eight top 25s in nine starts. He was 39 under par in 28 rounds. In addition to leading Carolina in scoring average, he led the Tar Heels in rounds under par (16), rounds in the 60s (13), low round (63), eagles (34), birdies (117), rounds counted (27 of 28) and overall record (608-90-28). He shot multiple rounds in the 60s in five of nine starts.

Players Mentioned

Peter Fountain

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