The North Carolina men’s golf team finished in sixth place at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate in Carrollton, Texas, on Monday and Tuesday.
The Tar Heels’ final tournament of 2018 was highly competitive. It featured three of the top 10 teams in the country, including No. 1 Oklahoma State. The Maridoe Golf Club, with a par of 70, proved challenging. Oklahoma State was the only team to finish the tournament below par despite the abundance of talented teams present.
What happened?
North Carolina struggled through this tough course, finishing 35-over-par. Things looked like they might take a positive turn for the Tar Heels when they shot 2-over-par in the second round, but a costly 20-over-par final round cemented their sixth-place finish.
Oklahoma State dominated the tournament, finishing a full 32 strokes ahead of second place N.C. State. The Cowboys shot only one round above par. No. 7 SMU finished third with a 23-over-par performance. No team ever posed a real threat to Oklahoma State.
Who stood out?
The Tar Heels were led by first-year Ryan Burnett and senior Josh Martin, who both shot 217 (7-over-par) in the tournament, including Burnett’s back-to-back rounds at par. Sophomore Ryan Gerard was the only Tar Heel who shot a round under par, finishing his second round 1-under-par.
Martin and Burnett both finished 14th overall at the tournament. This was Martin’s first top-20 finish since May of 2017 when the Tar Heels competed in NCAA Regionals. Burnett has now finished in the top-20 three times this season as part of his explosive first year at North Carolina.
Senior Preyer Fountain had an unusually rough outing, shooting 239 and finishing 29-over-par. His season average prior to Monday was 216 strokes per tournament, but his sudden deviation away from his normally solid play may be more of a testament to the extreme difficulty of the course. Three of the other four Tar Heel golfers also had higher stroke counts compared to their season averages.
