Men's Golf Edged By Defending Champion Pepperdine

Tuesday, May 31

Scottsdale, Ariz. (Grayhawk G.C.)

All Day

North Carolina

NCAA Championship Match Play QF & SF

Photo by: TIM COWIE

May 31, 2022 | Men's Golf

Tar Heels Tie For 5th For Second Straight NCAA Championship

By: Steve Kirschner

Derek Hitchner won the final two holes of the fifth and decisive match to lift defending national champion Pepperdine to a 3-2 win over the University of North Carolina Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the 2022 NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Carolina freshman David Ford won the 17^th and 18^th holes to beat Joe Highsmith 1 up and junior Austin Greaser won four of the final six holes to defeat William Mouw, 2&1, to give the Tar Heels their two points.

UNC senior Ryan Burnett lost on the 19^th hole to Dylan Menante, Joey Vrzich beat Peter Fountain 2&1 and Hitchner edged fifth-year senior Ryan Gerard 2&1 for Pepperdine's three points.

Burnett tied for second in the stroke play portion of the championship which was contested Friday through Monday.

Carolina finishes its season tied for fifth place in the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive year, the first time in school history the Tar Heels have ever had two straight top-five finishes.

Head Coach Andrew DiBitetto
"It was an incredible match. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of it but the parts I saw and following the scores online looked like unbelievable golf. (Both teams) made a whole lot of birdies. Obviously, there are some bogeys out here. It's still a really good golf course but it seemed like there are a lot of holes being won with birdies, which is exactly what you want. The way the championship worked out you got the top eight teams in the country that all advanced into match play, so that's what you're going to get, a heck of a match. Three-two, it looked like every single match was super close. We probably just needed a couple more months to fall here and there. I wish it would have went our way but it didn't. There's a lot to learn from and a lot to be proud of and we'll be back next year."

Austin Greaser, who defeated William Mouw 2&1
"I got to stick to my game plan the whole time. I try to not to let the other guy play and control what I do. I try to just stick to my game plan, execute and I feel like if I do that then it's going to be really hard to beat me. I lost a few holes there in the middle but he was making birdies. It wasn't like I was giving those away; he made three straight birdies. I just kind of kept my head down and kept doing what I'm doing and finished it off with a birdie which made it feel that much sweeter. That was a really, really good feeling. It stings that the team came a little bit short. But I think it's going to give us all the fire and fuel we need for next year and will make us work that much harder the next 365 days. I'm excited to see what this team can bring next year and we'll get it rolling."

David Ford, who defeated Joe Highsmith, 1 up, on his freshman season
"The experience this year was amazing. Whether it was the trip up to New York the first week of school or everything out here in Arizona, everything was kind of better than I expected. I made a lot of friends and we had a great week out here, but we'll be back next year. It was really fun. And that was our main goal to have fun, but we want something bigger and we'll be back next year."