UNC One Off The Lead After Rd 1 NCAA Men's Golf Championship

Friday, May 24

Carlsbad, Calif. (North Course at the Omni LaCosta Resort & Spa)

All Day

North Carolina

NCAA Championship Stroke Play Day One

Photo by: Todd Drexler

May 24, 2024 | Men's Golf

NCAA Rd 1 Results

By: Steve Kirschner

NCAA Men's Golf Championship Round One
Friday, May 24, 2024

Carlsbad, Calif. – University of North Carolina junior David Ford made four straight birdies after a lost ball led to a triple bogey on his eighth hole and finished 1-under-par 71 Friday in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Men's Golf Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa's North Course.

The No. 3 seeded Tar Heels shot 3-over 291, good for third place in the 30-team field. Arizona and Virginia are tied atop the leaderboard at 2 over par, one stroke ahead of UNC. Georgia Tech is fourth at 4 over and Auburn and Illinois are tied for fifth at 5 over.

Four ACC teams are in the top 10 with six among the top 17 teams after day one, when the average team score was 11 over par.

Ford was one of 12 players in the field of 156 to shoot below par. The three-time All-ACC honoree was even par through seven (UNC began on the 10^th) but drove into high grass on the eighth. That led to a seven on the par-4 17^th, but he made birdie on next hole, a 605-yard par 5, and made birdies on four, six and seven to finish 1 under.

"I thought I played really good," says David Ford. "The course fits me really well.
I made two or three bad swings all day and made a triple, but other than that, it was a really solid round. Probably the best I've played in a few months and my game feels really good. My confidence is high heading into tomorrow.

"I knew how well I was swinging it and used that as confidence and fuel to play well the last 10 holes (after the triple). I just told myself to keep fighting. It's the national championship so you just can't give up. It's a golf course where you're going to make some bad swings and those bad swings will probably cost you. That's golf but I just told myself to keep fighting, and I was pretty happy with how I battled."

Senior Peter Fountain (two birdies, two bogeys) and junior Maxwell Ford both shot even-par 72. Fountain led UNC with just two bogeys, while Maxwell Ford tied his brother for the team lead with five birdies.

Austin Greaser shot 76 and Dylan Menante had a 78 for UNC.

Carolina counted three double-bogeys and a triple, demonstrating how difficult the North Course played, especially in the afternoon when the greens became firm and the wind kicked up.

"The wind was blowing," says head coach Andrew DiBitetto, who earlier today was named a finalist for the GCAA National Coach-of-the-Year award. "Not crazy hard, but hard enough on a golf course that's already pretty difficult. The greens were getting more firm in the afternoon. So overall a really solid day, especially for three guys to shoot even par or better.

"They hung tough. Maxwell made two doubles and David made a triple. They had composure on a really difficult golf course. When you make mistakes, you could start chasing, but they didn't, they just stayed patient. It speaks to the mental makeup of our guys to stick with it and not get rattled."

The Tar Heels begin second-round action Saturday at 6:40 a.m. local time, paired again with top-seed Vanderbilt and No. 2 Auburn.