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The Tar Heels failed to perform well as a team Monday and Tuesday, finishing in seventh place out of nine teams with an overall score of 15 under par. Register finished at 17 under par, and won the tournament individually. Meanwhile, he did it in record-breaking fashion.

His combined score of 199 (66-65-68) is now the lowest individual tournament score in UNC history. His 17-under-par mark ties the all-time individual tournament score vs. par record, set by Brad Hyler in 1998 and tied by Kevin O’Connell in 2007.

“It was an awesome feeling. I’ve been playing very well for the past year and have failed to win anything,” Register said. “It felt great to finally finish off a tournament win.”

Coach Andrew Sapp was thrilled with the performances of Register and fellow freshman Ben Griffin, who’ve both captured tournament victories early in the season.

Griffin, who got his first collegiate victory earlier in the year at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate Tournament hosted by UNC, also had a strong tournament in Virginia finishing tied for 10th at nine under par (69-69-69).

“They add a lot to the team — that goes without saying,” Sapp said, “We expected them to contribute, but I’m really excited for them to win as early as they did.”

Despite Register and Griffin’s performances, the Tar Heels failed to capitalize as a team, finishing 23 shots off the winning Demon Deacons.

UNC finished the par-5s at 15 under par for the tournament, 16 shots worse than Wake Forest which ended up going 31 under par.

“We were coming off of a win and we expected to come in and compete for the title,” Sapp said. “We had too many big numbers on our scorecards as a team on par-5s. Those bogeys will really hurt your momentum in the middle of a round.”

Wake Forest won the tournament behind all five of its golfers finishing under par. UNC only had Register and Griffin finish in red numbers though Griffin struggled to close his rounds.

In three rounds on the ninth and 10th holes, Griffin was five over par after blazing through the first six for a total of 14 under par.

“I hit the ball really well and got off to a good start every day, but had a couple of hiccups that cost me a low score coming in,” Griffin said. “Keeping it in play and keeping the big numbers off the score card are (key).”

Sapp felt there was a myriad of individual mistakes that cost UNC in the tournament.

“For some guys we need to improve on mid-range putts for birdies, and at the same time for other guys it’s driving accuracy,” Sapp said.

“So we will approach our training and improvement from an individual standpoint.”

sports@dailytarheel.com

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