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University of North Carolina Athletics
Ford ACC Player Of The Year, 4 Earn All-ACC Honors
May 11, 2023 | Men's Golf
For the first time in program history four North Carolina men's golfers have earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors and David Ford is the first Tar Heel named ACC Player of the Year, the conference announced today.
UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto is the ACC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Ford, Austin Greaser, Ryan Burnett and Dylan Menante each earned spots on the 15-player All-ACC team. Golfstat ranks all four Tar Heels and 12 of this year's 15 All-ACC selections in the top 50 in the country, including Ford, who is No. 5.
Ford is the first sophomore to win ACC Player-of-the Year honors since 2010 when Florida State's Brooks Koepka and Virginia's Ben Kohles both won the award as sophomores. The conference began awarding an ACC Player of the Year in 1992.
The Peachtree Corners, Ga., native leads the Tar Heels in stroke average at 69.67 and is 46 under par in 30 rounds, both of which are the best figures in UNC single-season history. He also is UNC's career leader in stroke average (70.15) and scores to par (74 under). He won the Jackson T. Stephens Cup at Seminole Golf Club and was second at the Fighting Irish Classic, Williams Cup and Valspar Collegiate Invitational among his eight top-10 finishes in 10 tournaments this season.
"David is very process oriented," says DiBitetto. "He's disciplined, driven, confident and humble. He practices and plays with joy. It's a great formula and one that allows him to be an elite player but also someone who continues to improve. David is also an incredible teammate and I know everyone is our program is excited for him to be named ACC Player of the Year."
Ford and Greaser are both candidates for the Ben Hogan Award and Haskins Trophy and were named to the 2023 Palmer Cup team for the United States.
Greaser, a senior from Vandalia, Ohio, also earned All-ACC honors in 2021 and 2022 and is Carolina's first three-time recipient since Dustin Bray, who was a four-time honoree from 2001-04.
Second in UNC history in scoring average (71.32), Greaser is the ninth Tar Heel to make the All-ACC team at least three times, joining Bray, John McGough, Frank Fuhrer, John Inman, Davis Love III, Tee Burton, Pat Moore and Max Harris.
Burnett has earned a spot on the All-ACC team for the first time, although he would have likely made the team in 2020, when he was named second-team All-America, but no All-ACC teams were chosen due to the pandemic. The fifth-year senior from Lafayette, Calif., is second on the team this season in stroke average at 70.97 and won his second collegiate title when he was medalist at the Calusa Cup, ranked the fourth-toughest tournament of the season, in Naples in early April. Burnett is third in UNC history in career stroke average.
Menante, a senior from Carlsbad, Calif., has earned his third all-conference honor as a collegiate player and his first ACC honor. He was the West Coast Conference Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022 while playing at Pepperdine. He helped the Waves win the 2021 NCAA title and competed in match play against UNC in the NCAA Quarterfinals a year ago. Menante led the Tar Heels with a seventh-place showing last week at the ACC Championship, his fifth top 10 of the season. Menante has finished under par in three of his last four starts and is 2-0 in match play this season.
"David, Austin, Ryan and Dylan all play the game differently but they all work very hard and are committed to their pursuits to be great and get better," says DiBitetto. "The ACC is loaded with exceptional players and teams. To have four earn All-ACC honors is a tremendous accomplishment with all the credit going to these guys who put in the necessary work each day."
Florida State also has four players on the All-ACC team. Those are the 10th and 11th times one team had four All-ACC players in a season and the first since Georgia Tech in 2018 and 2019. This is the third consecutive season at least three Tar Heels made the squad.
DiBitetto is the fourth individual in ACC men's golf history to earn Coach-of-the-Year honors in consecutive seasons with Georgia Tech's Puggy Blackmon and Bruce Heppler and Clemson's Larry Penley.
DiBitetto and associate head coach Matt Clark have led Carolina to five team titles this season, most by the Tar Heels since winning six times in 1984-85. In six seasons under DiBitetto's and Clark's direction UNC has won 15 team titles, produced 12 All-ACC selections, two ACC Freshmen of the Year, an ACC Player of the Year and top-five finishes at the past two NCAA Championships.
Carolina is the top seed and ranked No. 2 in the nation heading into the 2023 NCAA Salem Regional May 15-17 at The Cliffs at Keowee Falls in Salem, S.C.
Nine of the ACC's 12 teams qualified for NCAA regional play and six are ranked in the top 30.
UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto is the ACC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Ford, Austin Greaser, Ryan Burnett and Dylan Menante each earned spots on the 15-player All-ACC team. Golfstat ranks all four Tar Heels and 12 of this year's 15 All-ACC selections in the top 50 in the country, including Ford, who is No. 5.
Ford is the first sophomore to win ACC Player-of-the Year honors since 2010 when Florida State's Brooks Koepka and Virginia's Ben Kohles both won the award as sophomores. The conference began awarding an ACC Player of the Year in 1992.
The Peachtree Corners, Ga., native leads the Tar Heels in stroke average at 69.67 and is 46 under par in 30 rounds, both of which are the best figures in UNC single-season history. He also is UNC's career leader in stroke average (70.15) and scores to par (74 under). He won the Jackson T. Stephens Cup at Seminole Golf Club and was second at the Fighting Irish Classic, Williams Cup and Valspar Collegiate Invitational among his eight top-10 finishes in 10 tournaments this season.
"David is very process oriented," says DiBitetto. "He's disciplined, driven, confident and humble. He practices and plays with joy. It's a great formula and one that allows him to be an elite player but also someone who continues to improve. David is also an incredible teammate and I know everyone is our program is excited for him to be named ACC Player of the Year."
Ford and Greaser are both candidates for the Ben Hogan Award and Haskins Trophy and were named to the 2023 Palmer Cup team for the United States.
Greaser, a senior from Vandalia, Ohio, also earned All-ACC honors in 2021 and 2022 and is Carolina's first three-time recipient since Dustin Bray, who was a four-time honoree from 2001-04.
Second in UNC history in scoring average (71.32), Greaser is the ninth Tar Heel to make the All-ACC team at least three times, joining Bray, John McGough, Frank Fuhrer, John Inman, Davis Love III, Tee Burton, Pat Moore and Max Harris.
Burnett has earned a spot on the All-ACC team for the first time, although he would have likely made the team in 2020, when he was named second-team All-America, but no All-ACC teams were chosen due to the pandemic. The fifth-year senior from Lafayette, Calif., is second on the team this season in stroke average at 70.97 and won his second collegiate title when he was medalist at the Calusa Cup, ranked the fourth-toughest tournament of the season, in Naples in early April. Burnett is third in UNC history in career stroke average.
Menante, a senior from Carlsbad, Calif., has earned his third all-conference honor as a collegiate player and his first ACC honor. He was the West Coast Conference Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022 while playing at Pepperdine. He helped the Waves win the 2021 NCAA title and competed in match play against UNC in the NCAA Quarterfinals a year ago. Menante led the Tar Heels with a seventh-place showing last week at the ACC Championship, his fifth top 10 of the season. Menante has finished under par in three of his last four starts and is 2-0 in match play this season.
"David, Austin, Ryan and Dylan all play the game differently but they all work very hard and are committed to their pursuits to be great and get better," says DiBitetto. "The ACC is loaded with exceptional players and teams. To have four earn All-ACC honors is a tremendous accomplishment with all the credit going to these guys who put in the necessary work each day."
Florida State also has four players on the All-ACC team. Those are the 10th and 11th times one team had four All-ACC players in a season and the first since Georgia Tech in 2018 and 2019. This is the third consecutive season at least three Tar Heels made the squad.
DiBitetto is the fourth individual in ACC men's golf history to earn Coach-of-the-Year honors in consecutive seasons with Georgia Tech's Puggy Blackmon and Bruce Heppler and Clemson's Larry Penley.
DiBitetto and associate head coach Matt Clark have led Carolina to five team titles this season, most by the Tar Heels since winning six times in 1984-85. In six seasons under DiBitetto's and Clark's direction UNC has won 15 team titles, produced 12 All-ACC selections, two ACC Freshmen of the Year, an ACC Player of the Year and top-five finishes at the past two NCAA Championships.
Carolina is the top seed and ranked No. 2 in the nation heading into the 2023 NCAA Salem Regional May 15-17 at The Cliffs at Keowee Falls in Salem, S.C.
Nine of the ACC's 12 teams qualified for NCAA regional play and six are ranked in the top 30.
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