UNC men's golf finishes sixth in Linger Longer Invitational

The No. 4 North Carolina men’s golf team finished sixth overall in the Linger Longer Invitational tournament in the Great Waters Golf Course on Tuesday.

What happened?

The UNC men’s golf team was in Eatonton, Georgia the past three days to play the three-day tournament. North Carolina was the highest-ranked school out of the 15 universities that were competing. The event began on Sunday and ended on Tuesday.

North Carolina finished with a +1 score and were 12 shots behind fifth place Charlotte, but only scored two shots lower than seventh place South Florida. Georgia won the tournament with a -28 score.

The best rounds for the Tar Heels were rounds one and three, scoring 286 as a team in each round. Round two was the dimmest of the three with a 293 score as a team. 

North Carolina played its best golf in the par fives of the course. They finished within the top four teams in par fives, scoring an average of 4.63 for the entire tournament. 

In spite of the good performance in the par fives, the par fours and threes saw more room for improvement, with the team averaging 4.15 and 3.20, respectively. 

Who stood out? 

UNC saw a smaller range of scores from its best-scoring to worst-scoring players when compared to the other teams. North Carolina’s players all played at similar levels throughout the tournament.

Ryan Burnett had an excellent tournament, finishing in 16th place overall. He finished in first place for the Tar Heels, even though he was North Carolina’s fifth player on the roster. He shot 213 in 54 holes, averaging 71 for every 18 holes. 

Slightly behind Burnett with one more shot was No. 28 David Ford, who finished in 19th place. He was third on North Carolina’s roster for the tournament. 

When was it decided?

The fight for the top of the leaderboard was alive until the final round. Georgia and Vanderbilt were tied at first place after round two ended. Georgia had a slightly better third round, giving the Bulldogs the victory. 

For North Carolina, hopes for finishing the tournament with a win were slim yet possible after round one ended. With Sunday’s high scoring round, however, those hopes were gone.

Why does it matter?

This event was important because it allowed North Carolina to see the competition it has in the Atlantic Coast Conference and beyond. Some ACC rivals that competed in the tournament were Georgia, Clemson and Virginia. There were also other out of conference teams who competed with the Tar Heels.

The Linger Longer Invitational also reminds the Tar Heels that there is much room for improvement for what remains in the season. With only two more tournaments remaining in the regular season, the team still has opportunities to ascend in the rankings before the ACC and NCAA tournaments come along. 

When do they play next?

North Carolina men’s golf will be in Palm City, Florida next week to play the Valspar Intercollegiate. Play will take place on Monday, March 28 and Tuesday, March 29 at the Floridian National Golf Course.

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com