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UNC golfer Austin Greaser rides momentum to second-place finish at U.S. Amateur Open

Greaser at Duke 2019 (Mead).02.JPG

UNC men's golf player Austin Greaser at Duke in 2019.
Photo Courtesy of Ike Bryant.

Coming out of high school, Austin Greaser wasn’t thought to be the next golf prodigy like Tiger Woods, but there was still something that caught UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto's eye. 

For a men's golf program that was looking for improvements from its previous campaigns, DiBitetto believed Greaser's relentless work ethic would fit right in with the new culture.

The rest — as they say — is history.

On Aug. 15, Greaser made national headlines with his second-place finish at the U.S. Amateur Open at the renowned Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. 

Greaser came into the tournament as an underdog, receiving the No. 24 seed, but it was not unfamiliar territory for the Vandalia, Ohio, native. 

“He was not a highly ranked player when we first started recruiting him,” DiBitetto said. “I'm pretty sure when we started recruiting him, the only offer that he had was from Cincinnati.” 

Although he wasn’t the most highly sought-after prospect coming into UNC, it didn’t take long for Greaser to get acclimated to Chapel Hill. In his first year of collegiate competition, he started all eight events and posted the third-lowest scoring average for the Tar Heels at 72.08, along with finishing second at his first tournament.

“He’s been trending in the right direction for a long time,” teammate Ryan Gerard said. “As soon as he got here, he worked extremely hard and he hasn’t stopped the grind. He comes out with a plan every day and he’s very motivated and focused.”

Greaser's grit is needed to achieve greatness in golf. Hard work and focus are key while navigating the fairways and greens, and luckily, he has the intangibles needed to succeed. 

Greaser knows each course requires a different approach, and just when you think you are comfortable, you can be brought right back down to earth if you aren’t prepared. 

“The tough thing about golf is how many different kinds of shots you have to have and just how much of a mental game that it is — every hole requires something different,” Greaser said. “You have to master 14 different clubs in your bag, and if you want to be good, you have to be good at all of them.”

Since his arrival at UNC, Greaser has made it his mission to master all 14.

But in the world of collegiate golf, you have to bring your best every day, and sometimes, even that isn't enough to vault you to the top of the leaderboard. 

“You’re surrounded by great coaches and great players that are pushing you every day,” Greaser said. “If you're not bringing your best stuff to the table every day, you’re going to get beat so you just have to get better at all aspects of your game.” 

That is one mission Greaser has committed to since his arrival to campus, which is one of the main reasons the once undervalued prospect is on the stage he is today.

“With our program, we love getting better,” DiBitetto said. “We have done a really good job of that the past four years — just finding ways to keep getting better, and that is exactly what Austin Greaser’s story is.”

As a blue-collar kid, Greaser tends to roll up his sleeves and get to work instead of letting the doubters get to him, and you could see it pay off last weekend on one of the biggest stages in collegiate golf. 

Greaser had to knock off four higher seeds to get to the finals, and although he came up short of first place, he wouldn't have it any other way.  

“The goal was to win, and that’s what I was there for," Greaser said. "But it doesn’t always work out like that, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ll take it the way it is and it will just make me work harder.”

@austinb_unc

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com