Georgia Tech Edges UNC In NCAA Men's Golf Semifinal

Tuesday, May 30

Scottsdale, Ariz. (Grayhawk G.C.)

4:35 PM

North Carolina

NCAA Championship Match Play Semifinal vs. Georgia Tech

Photo by: TIM COWIE

May 30, 2023 | Men's Golf

Menante, Ford Earn Points In Narrow 3-2 Loss

By: Steve Kirschner

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. – Georgia Tech senior Ross Steelman sank two critical putts on the 16^th and 17^th holes and went on to win his match on the final hole to secure the decisive point for the Yellow Jackets in a 3-2 win over the University of North Carolina in the NCAA men's golf national semifinal Tuesday at Grayhawk Golf Course.

The Tar Heels finish the NCAA Championship tied for third, its best since finishing third in 1993. UNC has three straight top-five finishes for the only time in school history and the Tar Heels, Arizona State and Pepperdine are the only teams to finish in the top five in each of the past three NCAA Championships.

Carolina got a dominant 6&5 win by Dylan Menante, and a second come-from-behind win today by David Ford to put two points on the board, but Steelman's win combined with 4&2 victories by Bartley Forrester over Ryan Burnett and Connor Howe over Austin Greaser allowed the Yellow Jackets to advance to Wednesday's national championship match vs. Florida. The Gators eliminated Florida State, 3-2.

Steelman led UNC's Peter Fountain by three holes with six to play, but Fountain won the 13^th and 14^th holes and lipped out a birdie putt on 15 that would have evened the match.

On the par-3 16^th, Fountain found the front bunker and Steelman's tee shot went over the back of the green. Fountain blasted out to a foot for par, but Steelman sank a 12-footer for par to halve the hole and stay 1 up.

Steelman then made a 20-footer for birdie on the 17^th, which forced Fountain to make a six-footer for birdie to extend that individual match as well as the overall semifinal match. Fountain drained the putt to send it to 18, where Steelman closed out the match.

Menante put on an impressive display in both the quarterfinal this morning (a 5&3 win) and the semifinal. He needed only 13 holes to defeat Georgia Tech's Christo Lamprecht, the sixth-ranked player in the nation. Menante won the second and third holes, lost the fourth, then won the next six holes. For the day, the senior from Carlsbad, Calif., played 28 holes, winning 14 and losing only three.

Menante is now 4-2-1 in seven matches over the last three seasons at Grayhawk in the NCAA Championships.

Ford trailed Hiroshi Tai by two holes through six, but tied the match on the ninth and led until he made bogey on 15. The ACC Player of the Year won the 16^th hole with a par and made par 4s on the final two holes for the victory.

Georgia Tech 3, UNC 2

Dylan Menante def. Christo Lamprecht (GT), 6&5

Bartley Forrester (GT) def. Ryan Burnett, 4&2

Connor Howe (GT) def. Austin Greaser, 4&2

David Ford def. Hiroshi Tai (GT), 1 up

Ross Steelman (GT) def. Peter Fountain, 1 up

North Carolina Head Coach Andrew DiBitetto after NCAA semifinal match vs. Georgia Tech
May 30, 2023

"I'm incredibly proud of our guys because they play the game the right way. They have so much grit, so much heart, they never gave up. Even going back to the quarterfinal match this morning,
with three, four holes to go, it didn't look like it was going to go our way. They just hung in there and kept hitting shots and kept marching along and executing. All of a sudden, we come out on top and then the same thing happens in the semifinal. It looked like that match might end pretty early. David Ford starts to flip it on the back nine and ends up winning his match. Peter Fountain was three down with six holes to play and gets it all the way to 18.

"But credit to a really good Georgia Tech team. Especially Ross Steelman coming down the stretch. I didn't see it, but I heard he made a clutch 12 footer on 16 and a 20 footer on 17. A big tip of the cap to them. They're an incredible team.

Q: You won five team titles this year, some of the biggest tournaments in the country, and won stroke play and a match here. How hard is it to win a national championship?
"It's very hard. First, it's all the best teams in the country on a very demanding golf course. And just the week itself. It's a really long week with a lot of wakeup calls between 3:30 and 4:15 a.m. to start playing at six in the morning. Some nights you get back to the hotel at eight o'clock at night and you got to do it all over again. So, it certainly feels like a marathon. But again, that shows how proud I am of the fight and the heart and the grit that our guys continue to show."

Q: Dylan Menante won 14 of the 28 holes he played today and only lost three. How well did he play today?
"I don't know what else to say about him other than he's an absolute beast. Especially in match play. He's a tremendous player, super talented, but he just has it inside him. When we get to match play, he just gets to a whole different level."

Q: What does it say about David Ford that he was able to rally twice today from multiple holes down to win two points?
"David is another super-talented player but more than that he has tremendous heart. An incredibly scrappy player who just never ever gives up. No matter what is thrown his way– whether it's the golf course or the opponent. He just continues to kind of be-bop down the fairway and do his thing. He scratches and claws for every shot."