The North Carolina men’s golf team finished fourth in the NCAA Kissimmee Regional on Wednesday, advancing to the NCAA Championship for the second year in a row.
What happened?
North Carolina entered the Regional as the No. 3 seed and faced three other teams ranked in the Golfstat top 25.
The Tar Heel golfers for the tournament were Austin Hitt, Jose Montaño, William Register, Joshua Martin and Ben Griffin. After the first round the team combined for a score of five-under-par, good enough to tie the Tar Heels for fifth place. In the second round, the Tar Heels shot six-under-par, which left them tied in fifth place with Vanderbilt and Colorado State.
Only the top-five teams advance to the NCAA Championship, in Stillwater, Okla., so the third round was its last chance to break the tie and advance.
In the third round, North Carolina shot 10-under-par. For the tournament, the team shot a combined 21-under-par to finish in fourth place.
Who stood out?
Hitt stood out as the highest finishing Tar Heel in a three-way tie for 3rd place. After he shot four-under-par in both the first and second round, he had a two-under-par in the third round for a strong finish. On Tuesday, Hitt became the second Tar Heel in as many days to shoot in the 60s in three straight NCAA regional rounds. His teammate Montaño was the first Tar Heel to accomplish that feat on Monday.
Martin also stood out for his play as he climbed up the leaderboard over the course of each round. He shot an four-over-par the first round, which landed him in a tie for 61st place. In the next round, he shot three-under-par and moved him up into a tie for 42nd place. In the third round, he shot five-under-par including six birdies which landed him in a nine-way tie for 14th place.
