With their fall events canceled, UNC men's golfers move to amateur competition

Most students at UNC had their fall plans upended due to COVID-19, and the University's athletes are no exception. Men's and women's golf, rowing, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's lacrosse, baseball and softball all had their respective fall events canceled. However, some members of the North Carolina men's golf team have continued to play in amateur tournaments across the country. 

Austin Greaser, a sophomore from Vandalia, Ohio, not only competed in the Golf Club of Georgia Amateur Invitational on Oct. 26, but placed seventh among 78 total competitors.

“A lot of positives to take from this weekend,” Greaser said. “I finished pretty highly in a stacked field and to get a top 10 finish was pretty good. There are a lot of things to build on.”

Greaser said he was disappointed with the lack of a fall season for the UNC golf teams, but appreciates the ability to compete in other individual events.

“It has not been fun,” Greaser said. “I think I can speak for us in saying that we all miss it. I miss the bus rides, the airport excursions and the whole nine yards, (that's) really where you build a lot of that team camaraderie. I’m really looking forward to getting back in the spring."

Despite the absence of a team dynamic, Greaser said he was thankful for the individual nature of the sport allowing him to still compete with the ACC's decision to move the collegiate season to the spring. 

"Golf’s nature anyway is individual, just by the way the game is played," Greaser said. "So I don’t think there was too much of an adjustment for us, I think it was more disappointment that we weren’t going to give what we thought we were going to get by going to college and playing.”

Dougie Ergood, a junior from Mount Laurel, New Jersey, said he was similarly frustrated about missing this season, and reminisced on his two prior seasons with the team. Ergood tied for 34th out of 78 at the invitational.

“It’s been difficult not being able to compete in tournaments,” Ergood said. “I know exactly what it’s like being a Carolina student-athlete, and it is so much fun competing in Carolina Blue. It is so much fun going out with the boys and giving it our all, week in and week out. And we’ve progressed so much as a team.”

Head coach Andrew DiBitetto, who has led the Tar Heels to three consecutive top-20 NCAA Championship finishes in his three years at the helm, said he has been disappointed with the change, but understands why the decision was made to cancel the fall season. 

“It’s been certainly frustrating at times, especially when you look around the country and see other golf teams competing,” DiBitetto said. “But at the same time, you try and put that in perspective with everything going on in the world today. We’re fortunate that we do play a sport that is, number one, outdoors and number two, we were already socially distanced just based on the etiquette of our game before we even knew what socially distanced was." 

Despite not being able to coach the Tar Heels in quite the same way, DiBitetto said he is still happy that his players are able to get their reps in on the amateur circuit. 

"Even though we’re not able to compete as a team, we’re lucky that our guys are still able to compete as individuals," DiBitetto said. 

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