Men's Golf Opens Season Saturday at Duke

The North Carolina men's golf team opens the 2021-22 season at the Duke University Golf Club on Saturday, Sept. 11, and Sunday, Sept. 12 in the Rod Myers Invitational.

The Tar Heels are paired initially with ECU and UNCW in a shotgun start that begins play Saturday at 9 a.m.

Carolina is ranked in the top six in three different preseason polls – No. 4 in the Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches poll, No. 5 by Golfweek and No. 6 by Golf Channel.

Last season, the Tar Heels won the stroke play portion of the ACC Championship, tied for second at the NCAA Regional and tied for fifth at the NCAA Championship.

"We're proud of what we accomplished last season and the rankings are nice, but you don't hit quality shots under pressure and you don't win tournaments on paper or by what you did a year ago," says Andrew DiBitetto, who begins his fifth season as head coach and 11^th with the program. "Our guys have a lot to accomplish and they still feel they have a lot to prove, which is the kind of edge we want them to play with.

"We've had a great and challenging preseason, playing Duke twice and also taking the team to New York to play Shinnecock, one of the great U.S. Open courses, and Quail Hollow in Charlotte, another difficult and championship-level test."

Three of Carolina's starters in the '21 postseason – fifth-year senior Ryan Gerard (Raleigh, N.C.), junior Austin Greaser (Vandalia, Ohio) and sophomore Peter Fountain (Raleigh, N.C.) – will be in the lineup in Durham, joined by junior George McNeely of Carmel, Calif., and freshman David Ford of Peachtree Corners, Ga.

Gerard was an honorable mention All-America in 2019. His 61 in the final round at Notre Dame in 2018 is still the school record. He is third in UNC history in stroke average at 72.04.

Greaser earned All-ACC honors and was an honorable mention All-America last year. He excelled this past summer, reaching the semifinals of the Western Amateur and the finals of the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont, which will earn him invitations to the 2022 Masters and U.S. Open. His 71.32 last year was the eighth-best average in UNC history.

Fountain had an exceptional freshman circuit, becoming the most decorated first-year player in Carolina history. His 68.69 stroke average was a school record, he won the ACC Championship and the Tar Heel Invitational, finished 13^th at NCAAs and earned first-team All-America (the first Tar Heel freshman to accomplish that), All-ACC, ACC Freshman of the Year and All-Nicklaus team honors.

McNeely, who played in one tournament as a sophomore and competed four times as a Tar Heel, earned his way into the opening day lineup by shooting 72-68-67 over the final three rounds of qualifying earlier this week.

Qualifying was won by Ford, who came to UNC as the No. 1 ranked junior player in the country. He shot 67-68-66 over the final three of five rounds leading into the Rod Myers. Ford went 4-0 in the summer in the AJGA Wyndham Cup, tied for second in stroke play at the Western and teamed with Duke freshman Kelly Chinn to secure medalist honors at the USGA Four-Ball Amateur.

Senior Dougie Ergood (Mount Laurel, N.J.) and sophomore Ryan Smith (Leesburg, Va.) will also compete as individual entries.

Joining Carolina and Duke in the field are Charlotte, ECU, Elon, Loyola (Md.), Nebraska, North Florida, UNCG, NC State, UNCW, Penn State, Princeton and Virginia Tech.

"The Rod Myers Invitational is always a tough test for a first tournament," says DiBitetto. "It will be the closest to Chapel Hill we play all season so hopefully a lot of Tar Heel fans will come out over the weekend and support the guys."

Follow live action at Golfstat at https://bit.ly/38TF1Ji

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Players Mentioned

Dougie Ergood

David Ford

Peter Fountain

Ryan Gerard

Austin Greaser

George McNeely

Ryan Smith

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