University of North Carolina Athletics
2025-26 Men's Golf Roster
Niall Sheils Donegan
- Height:
- 6-2
- Class:
- Junior
- Hometown:
- Mill Valley, Calif.
- High School:
- Tamalpais High School
Scoring Average: 71.57 in 93 rounds
Wins (1), Top 5s (3), Top 10s (8)
Best Finish: 1, 2025-26 Tar Heel Intercollegiate, UNC Finley GC, Chapel Hill
Match Play: 2-1 with one unfinished
Low Round (strokes): 62, 3rd round, 2025-26 Valspar Collegiate Invitational, Floridian National Golf Club, Palm City, Fla.; 2nd round, 2026 Final U.S. Open Qualifier, Gaston Country Club, Gastonia, N.C.
Low Round (to par): 9-under 62, 3rd round, 2025-26 Valspar Collegiate Invitational
Low 54 Holes (strokes): 198, 2025-26 Tar Heel Intercollegiate
Low 54 Holes (to par): 14-under 202, 2025-26 Augusta Haskins Award Invitational, Forest Hills GC, Augusta, Ga.
Career: Played in 2025-26 at Carolina after two seasons at Northwestern • Won two of his three matches for Team Great Britain and Ireland in the 2025 Walker Cup at Cypress Point • Third-round 69 to lead Scotland to a seventh-place finish in the 2025 World Amateur Team Championship in Singapore • Selected to play for Team Europe in the 2026 Palmer Cup • Advanced to the semifinals in the 2025 United States Amateur by defeating three All-Americas and the 2025 ACC champion • Has one collegiate win, three top fives and eight top 10s • Averaged 71.57 in 93 rounds with 46 rounds at par or better and 25 in the 60s • Low competitive rounds were 62 in the final round as a Tar Heel in the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at the Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, Fla., and 62 in the second round of the final U.S. Open Qualifier on 6/8/26 at Gaston Country Club in Gastonia, N.C.
2025-26 at UNC: All-ACC, PING All-East Region and second-team All-America • Led UNC in scoring at 69.91, the fourth-best in UNC history • Combined 48 under par in 33 rounds … Score to par per round (-1.45) was the second-best ever by a Tar Heel behind only David Ford in 2025, when he won multiple National Player-of-the-Year honors • Final NCAA ranking No. 16, the fourth-highest by an ACC player • Earned PING All-East Region honors • Led Carolina with 14 rounds in the 60s, including seven rounds in a row (averaged 66.0 over those seven rounds) • Finished under par in seven of 10 tournaments • Won the Tar Heel Intercollegiate, carding rounds of 64-67-67 for a total 12-under 198 • That was one of five top-10 and eight top-20 performances • Made eight consecutive birdies and shot a career-best 62 in the final round at Valspar • Tied for fifth in the Williams Cup at Eagle Point at 4-under 212 • Tied for third in the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational at 14-under 202 (69-68-65) • Opened with a 3-under 69 and shot 2-over 290 in the NCAA Championship.
2024-25 at Northwestern: Second-team All-Big Ten • Third on the team in scoring average at 71.87 in 33 rounds • Played in every round for the Wildcats • Low round was a collegiate-best 64 in the third round in the The Prestige at Greg Norman’s Course in La Quinta, Calif. • Four top-10 finishes – T6 at Virginia’s Birdwood Course in the Lewis Chitenga Memorial, T7 at The Prestige, T8 at the Jubilee in the St Andrews Links Collegiate and T9 at The Clerico in Oklahoma • Seven rounds in the 60s • Final-round 67 at the Windon Memorial Classic at Conway Farms in Illinois • Shot 69 to win his medal match at the Old Course in the St Andrews Links Collegiate • Opening-round 69 in the 2025 Big Ten Championship and 71 in the final round of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
2023-24 at Northwestern: Averaged 73.22 over 27 rounds in nine tournaments • Low round of 69 three times, including the final round of the Wake Forest Invitational to finish 25th • Best finish was T19 in the Big Ten Championship • Helped the Wildcats win their first Big Ten title in 18 seasons • Best 54-hole total was 1-under 212 (73-69-70) at The Prestige • Shot 73-70-70 for a 3-over 213 at Finley in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.
Amateur: Semifinalist in the 2025 U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco • Made match play by advancing out of a 20 players-for-17 spots playoff, then won his first four matches, all on the last hole • Beat the No. 1 seed from stroke play, first-team All-America Preston Stout of Oklahoma State, 1 up in the round of 16 with wins on the 15th and 16th holes • Beat All-America Luke Poulter (Florida) 1 up in the round of 64 with wins on 17 and 18 • Beat All-America Christiaan Maas (Texas) 1 up in the round of 32 with wins on 15 and 17 • Beat ACC champion Jacob Modleski (Notre Dame) 1 up in 19 holes in the quarterfinals, winning four of the final nine holes • Lost 1 up to Jackson Herrington (Tennessee) in the semifinals after pulling even with wins on the 16th and 17th holes • Tied for fourth in the 2025 St Andrews Links Trophy, shooting in the 60s in three of four rounds (with a second-round 66) at the Old Course • Missed qualifying for the 2025 Open Championship by a single stroke at a Scottish qualifier • Captain for the Great Britain & Ireland team in the 2022 Jacques Leglise Trophy • Competed for Scotland in the 2022 Home Internationals (went 6-0) and the European Boys Championship • Won the Hawai’i Amateur in 2022 and 2023 • Semifinalist in the 2021 British Boys Amateur • Finished second in the England U18 2022 Carris Trophy (the English Boys U18 Open Amateur Stroke-Play Championship) at Silloth on Solway Golf Club.
Personal: Born Niall Francisco Sheils Donegan in Glasgow, Scotland • Son of Lawrence Donegan and Maggie Sheils • Attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, Calif. • Played for Coach Derry Ryan • Played baseball as a freshman and volleyball as a sophomore • Enjoys playing ping pong, pickleball, basketball and soccer • Hobbies include writing and walking • Favorite food is sushi • Favorite vacation spot is Melbourne, Australia • Listens to Indie music • Favorite non-golf athlete is Kobe Bryant • Top golf achievement was winning four matches and advancing to the semifinals in the 2025 U.S. Amateur • Low competitive round was a 64 at the Bend (Ore.) Country Club in a U.S. Amateur qualifier • Favorite course is the Kingston Heath Golf Club in Heatherton, Australia • Favorite player is Rory McIlroy • Go-to club under pressure is his driver • Best shot was a 310-yard ace on the par-4 eighth hole at the Leilehua Golf Course in Oahu in the first round of the 2023 Hawai’i Amateur • Dream pairing would be with McIlroy, Bryant and Andy Murray.
