Fountain's 72 Leads UNC In NCAA Round Three

Sunday, May 26

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

All Day

North Carolina

NCAA Championship Stroke Play Day Three

May 26, 2024 | Men's Golf

NCAA Championship Rd 3 Results

By: Steve Kirschner

NCAA Men's Golf Championship
Round Three
Sunday, May 26, 2024

Carlsbad, Calif. – David Ford birdied the final three holes and Peter Fountain made key par-saving putts on his 17^th and 18^th holes to highlight round three for the University of North Carolina Sunday in the 2024 NCAA Men's Golf Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa's North Course.

Fountain made three birdies on the outward nine to lead the Tar Heels with an even-par 72. David Ford and Maxwell Ford both shot 73, Austin Greaser made an eagle en route to a 74 and Dylan Menante posted 75.

Greaser holed his second shot on the par-4 15^th hole with a lob wedge from 86 yards.

Carolina shot 4-over 292 Sunday and will enter the fourth round of stroke play tied with Auburn for sixth place at 15-over 879.

The top 15 teams in the 30-team field qualify for the fourth and final round of stroke play on Monday. The top eight after Monday's round advance to match play with the quarterfinals and semifinal matches on Tuesday.

Illinois shot 6 under par Sunday, the best round of the day, to move into the lead in the team standings at 2-under 862. Virginia dropped to second at 4 over, Vanderbilt is third (+9), Florida State is fourth (+10), Ohio State is fifth (+13) and the Tar Heels and Auburn are currently sixth at 15 over.

Carolina will enter the final round five strokes ahead of eighth-place Florida and six ahead of Arizona and Georgia Tech. The Tar Heels are one of three teams that advanced to match play in each of the last three NCAA Championships.

"It was another difficult test," says UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "The wind was actually down the majority of our round and then kicked up with three or four holes to play. It was another gritty round by our guys; not super clean, not our A-plus game or anything like that, but they found a way. They fought really hard, especially at the end. Peter (Fountain) had two massive up-and-downs to save par on eight and nine. And then David Ford finishing birdie-birdie-birdie on that stretch when the wind started blowing. That's a great thing going into tomorrow."

Ohio State's Adam Wallin (68-74-69) is the leader in the individual standings at 5-under 211. He has a two-shot advantage over Virginia's Ben James and Stanford's Karl Vilips.

Fountain (72-73-72) is 1-over 217, David Ford (71-75-73) is 3-over 219, Maxwell Ford (72-79-73) is 8-over 224, Dylan Menante (78-72-75) is 9-over 225 and Austin Greaser (76-76-74) is 10-over 226.

"It was one of those rounds I really had to grind it out," says Fountain. "I didn't hit it great, but I scored it pretty well. I didn't ever have it in many bad spots other than 14 (when he made double) but I was able to make a lot of putts inside of 10 feet and chipped pretty well."

Fountain birdied 15 and 16 after the double bogey on 14.

"This course is so tough, sometimes you try to push too much after a big score. You can make more big numbers, but you just got to stay patient. You're going to have birdie opportunities and, thankfully, I was able to have two good looks after the double and made them both."