UNC women's golf wins Cougar Classic after six-year drought

The North Carolina women’s golf team won last week’s Cougar Classic the day after “The Social Network” debuted at the Student Union.

Coincidentally, the last time the Tar Heels managed a tournament win, Facebook was just a month-old experiment at Harvard University.

With standout play from freshmen Jackie Chang and Casey Grice — who tied for runner-up honors individually —UNC scored its first tournament victory since the Lady Gamecock Classic in March 2004.

“We hadn’t thought about how long it had been since we had won, we were just excited to have the win under our belts and to start the season as we did,” UNC coach Jan Mann said.

Senior Sarah Thead, who placed 42nd individually with a tournament total of 225, was one of three seniors who finally enjoyed a win at North Carolina.

“We always want to win,” said Thead. “But I think in golf that’s one of the challenges — to not be thinking about it and not be putting that pressure on yourself.”

In terms of scheduling, golf is unlike many other sports. There are less than ten tournaments per season, each of which fields 15 teams or more. Last week’s Cougar Classic, for example, featured 21.

Wins are not as common as they are in basketball or soccer, but a six-year drought is still significant.

“Six years is a long time to go without a win,” Thead said.

The Tar Heels have come close in recent years, taking third place in last season’s Cougar Classic and second in the 2009 ACC Championships.

“I had no idea about (the drought),” Grice said. “I was actually very shocked when I heard it after we won, so it even made it that much more special.”

Grice, who earned her second-place finish with a three-under- par 213 for the tournament, sees the win as the standard rather than a blip on the radar.

“I think we are expecting it now,” Grice said. “We’ve been through it now, we’ve shown that we can play with all these good players. I think we are going to be expecting… to keep winning and to keep competing as well as we did this first time.”

Thead echoed her teammate’s optimism.

“When you remember what it feels like to win, it definitely provides a lot of motivation going forward,” she said.

The Tar Heels head to Vanderbilt this weekend for the Mason Rudolph Women’s Championship, then return to Chapel Hill for the Tar Heel Invitational on Oct. 8.

Despite the confidence boost to the team, Mann wouldn’t make any predictions as to when the next tournament win might be.

“Well we’re certainly shooting for next week.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.