Men's Golf Ranked No. 4 by Coaches

The University of North Carolina men's golf team is No. 4 in the 2021-22 Bushnell/Golfweek preseason national coaches' rankings released by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Defending NCAA champion Pepperdine is No. 1, followed by Oklahoma State, Arizona State, UNC, Texas, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, Wake Forest, Texas Tech and Illinois.

Carolina is led by fifth-year coaches Andrew DiBitetto and Matt Clark. UNC plays its second tournament of the season September 17-19 at Illinois and its final regular-season event in April at Arizona State.

UNC tied for fifth place in the 2021 NCAA Championship. The Tar Heels were one of eight teams to advance to match play after 72 holes of stroke play. UNC lost to Arizona State, 3-1-1, in the quarterfinals to tie for fifth place.

The Tar Heels return four starters, including 2021 first-team All-America and ACC champion Peter Fountain; 2021 honorable mention All-America, All-ACC and U.S. Amateur finalist Austin Greaser; 2020 second-team All-America Ryan Burnett and 2020 honorable mention All-America Ryan Gerard.

Burnett and Gerard rank first and third, respectively, in career scoring at Carolina. Fountain set the single-season scoring record by a Tar Heel last season (69.68) and Greaser is on pace for the second-best career average in school history (he needs to play in three more tournaments to qualify).

Senior Dougie Ergood, who has played in 26 tournaments as a Tar Heel, also returns.

David Ford, a freshman from Peachtree Corners, Ga., is the number one-ranked junior in the country. He was undefeated in four matches in the AJGA Wyndham Cup this summer.

Clemson (11), Florida State (12), Georgia Tech (T17) and Notre Dame (24) are also ranked in the top 25, giving the ACC six of the top 25 heading into the season.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ryan Burnett

Dougie Ergood

David Ford

Peter Fountain

Ryan Gerard

Austin Greaser

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