Men's Golf Earns Top Seed In Match Play With Record Performance

Monday, May 29

Scottsdale, Ariz. (Grayhawk G.C.)

All Day

North Carolina

NCAA Championship Day Four

Photo by: TIM COWIE

Men's Golf Earns Top Seed In Match Play With Record Performance

May 29, 2023 | Men's Golf

Dylan Menante Ties 4th, Austin Greaser Shoots 66 Today

By: Steve Kirschner

Austin Greaser made an ace and shot 4-under-par 66, one of three Tar Heels to shoot in the 60s in the final round, to lead the University of North Carolina to a first-place finish in the team standings after 72 holes of stroke play at the 2023 NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Course in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Tar Heels will play No. 8 seed Arizona State in the quarterfinals Tuesday morning. The Sun Devils advanced in a two-hole playoff against Stanford.

No. 2 Florida plays No. 7 Virginia, No. 3 Illinois plays No. 6 Florida State and No. 4 Pepperdine plays No. 5 Georgia Tech. The four winners meet in the semifinals in the afternoon.

Carolina shot 7-under-par 273 today, which equaled the best round of the day by Florida State. It was the second day in a row UNC shot its lowest round ever in an NCAA Championship (275 yesterday in the third round, 278 twice before).

The Tar Heels shot 12 under over the final 36 holes to earn the top seed in match play, which begins Tuesday morning. UNC came into the tournament as the No. 2 seed and are the highest-seeded team remaining for match play.

Carolina's four-day total of 1,114 broke the UNC record for lowest 72-hole total in an NCAA Championship by 20 strokes (1,134 at Grayhawk in 2022). The 6-under-par team finish is the second-best by UNC in an NCAA Championship (-9 in 2000).

The Tar Heels finished 6 under, four strokes ahead of Florida and Illinois. Pepperdine was fourth at even par, Georgia Tech and Florida State tied for sixth at 6 over, Virginia was seventh at 11 over and Arizona State was tied with Stanford for eighth at 12 over.

Florida's Fred Biondi shot 67 today to win medalist honors at 7 under, one ahead of Georgia Tech's Ross Steelman.

Greaser made a hole-in-one today on the par-3 fifth hole. In addition to his 66, David Ford shot 68, Ryan Burnett 69, Dylan Menante 70 and Peter Fountain 72.

Greaser's 66 equaled the second-lowest round by a Tar Heel in NCAA Championship play and is the lowest since Max Harris shot 66 in the second round in 2000.

Menante shot 68-70-67-70 to finish tied for fourth place with a 5-under 275 total. It is the second-straight year a Tar Heel finished in the top five at the NCAA Championship.

Menante's 275 is the second-lowest total by a Tar Heel in an NCAA Championship (Inman shot 271 in 1984). His 5-under-par total equals the third-best in school history in an NCAA Championship behind Inman's 17 under and Brad Hyler (-7 in 2000). Harris also was 5 under in 2000.

It is the second consecutive NCAA Championship the Tar Heels earned at least a share of the top spot in the team standings through four rounds of stroke play. Last season, Carolina tied for first with Oklahoma and Vanderbilt at 14 over par (UNC was 20 strokes better in 2023).

UNC is the first team to finish first in stroke play since Oklahoma State in 2018 and 2019.

The Tar Heels advance to match play for the third straight season. Pepperdine and Arizona State are the only teams to advance to match in each of the last three seasons.

Greaser tied for 11^th at even-par 280 (71-74-69-66), Ford tied for 22^nd at 2-over 282 (70-71-73-68) and Burnett (73-71-72-69) and Fountain (74-72-67-72) tied for 36^th at 5-over 285.

Carolina is assured of at least its third-consecutive top-five finish at the NCAA Championship. Last season marked the first time UNC men's golf had accomplished that in consecutive seasons.

UNC is one of only four programs to finish in the top 20 in the six NCAA Championships with Arizona State, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.

North Carolina Head Coach Andrew DiBitetto:

"I'm just really proud of our guys, most proud of the process they've gone through that has created the success so far this week and all season. Grayhawk is a very difficult, demanding golf course. Our guys have done a really nice job just trying to be smart and keep it as simple as possible. They've also done a good job of staying composed. When you play here there are going to be some bad bounces, and there's going to be some shots that when they are in the air, you think they're really good, and just maybe they don't end up where you think they were going to end up. So again, our guys have done a really nice job staying composed. And they've also done an amazing job of staying patient to be 20 strokes better than a year ago and earn a top seed again.

"We love our guys for a lot of reasons. But this is certainly one of them – no matter what they do, wherever they are on the leaderboard, they're always hungry, they always want more, they want to keep working. They just want to be the absolute best versions of themselves. It's probably fair to say that we just had a successful four rounds and we finished atop the leaderboard. But our guys are still hungry. They went right to the range and they're still there working, and we have a lot more work to do this week.

I don't know that we necessarily learned anything (from match play the last two seasons). I know that we love our guys in stroke play and we love our guys in match play. One thing we can look back to is the Stephens Cup at Seminole in the fall. That comes to mind because it was a world-class golf course and our guys did an amazing job with their process, their strategy and their execution against a really good Florida State team. That was another tournament we played really well in stroke play and then the format changed to match play. They kept their process and their minds the same and ended up being successful in match play as well. And that's what we hope to do the next few days here."