The No. 2 North Carolina men’s golf team beat the Arizona State Sun Devils, 3-1, to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona, behind match wins by Dylan Menante, Ryan Burnett and David Ford.
What happened?
As the top seed in matchplay, the Tar Heels took on No.8 seed Arizona State in the quarterfinals to decide who would be continuing on to the semifinals. Senior Dylan Menante and fifth-year Ryan Burnett were the first two Tar Heels to tee off at Grayhawk Golf Club and both found themselves adding a point for UNC.
Menatae was playing his fast-paced game and won his match over Arizona's Luke Potter handily, not even needing to play the final three holes.
Burnett won his match by one hole, dropping from a two hole lead on 17 that he would take to victory on the 18th. His opponent, ASU’s Ryggs Johnston, had defeated the Tar Heel two years prior in the NCAA quarterfinals. This year, however, Burnett found a one hole victory with an 8-foot birdie on 16 that would cement his victory.
However, while the first two Tar Heels made their way to early victories, the other three UNC golfers – Peter Fountain, David Ford and Austin Greaser – were all down in their matches entering the back nine.
Greaser ultimately lost his match, having difficulty on holes 11, 12 and 18, giving ASU’s Josele Ballester a chance to take the match by two holes.
Both Ford and Fountain battled back from being down two holes and both took a one hole lead heading into the 17th hole.
Ford, the ACC Player of the Year, battled back from being two holes down and won three straight — 15, 16 and 17 — and had a one up lead heading into the 18th hole.
