Greaser is a graduate student. The Tar Heels have gotten closer to the ultimate goal each year he’s been in Chapel Hill. Work ethic and recruiting have fostered elite talent, and Greaser knows the time is now.
Four Tar Heels reached match play in the United States Amateur. David Ford helped Team USA win the World Amateur Team Championship in Abu Dhabi. Dylan Menante won bronze at the Pan Am Games in Chile. Maxwell Ford made his PGA Tour debut alongside his brother and UNC legend Davis Love III at the RSM Classic.
Burgeoning.
“I would argue,” Greaser said, “this program this year has got at least tied for the best opportunity it’s ever had to do it.”
But what makes this group so special? You don’t have to look back too far to find the answers.
September — St. Andrews, Scotland
David Ford was on hallowed turf. As he walked up the fairway toward his golf ball, he could look left and see the town. He could see the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse. Left of the clubhouse and the shared fairway between the first and 18th holes — a fairway titans of the sport and ordinary dreamers alike have ambled up and down for centuries, taking in all the history and all the locals’ greetings from the city streets — is the beach and then the North Sea. He could have looked back, past Hell bunker and the Elysian Fields, all the way to the Eden Estuary.
Instead he was focused. On the 16th hole at the Old Course at St. Andrews, David had a putt to win the Walker Cup.
The Walker Cup is one of golf’s most unique events — the pinnacle of amateur golf. David Ford, Greaser and Dylan Menante wanted to be a part of that history.
“The thing that stands out to me is how rare that is, that opportunity, and how badly our guys wanted it,” UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto said. “You have the desire to be a part of that team and then you have the stress that goes along with trying to earn your spot on that team. Something that will stick with me is how excited each guy was when they got the phone call saying they were going to be a part of Team USA at the Walker Cup at St. Andrews.”
After losing his two matches on Saturday and sitting out the morning session on Sunday, U.S. Captain Mike McCoy told David Ford he was going to play the anchor match. The Americans trailed Great Britain and Ireland 8.5-7.5 entering the Sunday singles. They needed him to come through on the 16th green.
But Ford was sick. He was the sickest he had been all week. Bad fever. Couldn’t eat.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
“[My] anxiety was really high,” he said. “But I had people around me — my dad texted me, my mom was with me on the range and my coach saw me before the putting green, DiBitetto. Everybody poured into me in a really good way and calmed me down.”
David and professional golfer Alex Maguire were tied at the turn. But then David started winning holes. The home crowd following the match and rooting for Maguire started to thin. David won 10 and 11 and made three consecutive birdies at 13, 14 and 15.
On 16, he stood behind his golf ball as though nothing else existed — feet together, arms by his side and putter an extension of his left. Ford stalked the putt. About 20 feet, moving from his right to left.
“I knew it was to win,” he said. “And then yeah, kind of just exploded.”
He rolled it, the ball dropped, and he roared. An eruption of pure joy. He had just made a putt to win the Walker Cup at St. Andrews.
Ahead of Ford, Greaser won his match on the 17th hole. As the celebrations ensued on the most famous fairway in golf, the two ran up to each other, Greaser carrying an American flag, and shared a euphoric chest bump. Both would tell you the experience — representing their country, winning such a historic tournament at such a historic place, and sharing the moment with fellow Tar Heels — was the coolest of their golfing lives.
“I get chills just thinking about it,” Greaser said. “I don’t feel like my dreams ever got that far, but once I got there it was everything you could ever dream of. Even if you try to dream that up, it would be hard to dream up a scenario as perfect as that.”
October — Wilmington, North Carolina
Unlike that Sunday in St. Andrews, David Ford was in control. Complete control. He led the Williams Cup at Eagle Point Golf Club by five strokes entering the final round. Greaser postulated Ford was striking the golf ball as well as he ever has. It was a dominant display through his first 43 holes.
But then things unraveled. He played his final 11 holes of the tournament in five-over-par and fell back into a playoff for the individual title.
“I know he didn’t have the back nine he wanted there on the third day,” Greaser said. “But he stayed in the present. He stayed in the moment. And when he stepped on the tee for the playoff, none of it bothered him.”
With a smile on his face, he executed every shot in the playoff to perfection. Eight feet to win. He stalked the putt much like he did on the 16th green at the Old Course and drained it for his second collegiate title. Double fist pump, then a sigh of relief, then a smile and then the hugs with his coach and his teammates.
“He’s very resilient, very strong willed,” Greaser said. “The kid’s amazing to watch and amazing to be around.”
Austin Greaser's hotel room
Amidst all the birdies and all the wins, the Tar Heels have a lot of fun together. David Ford has the proof. He has countless videos of his teammates just being themselves.
“Me having all those videos on my phone,” he said, “prove to me how close we are as a team and how much we love each other.”
The videos aren’t just silly memories, they are indicative of the team’s chemistry — which Greaser said is the best it’s been in his five years on the team. The Tar Heels share the same competitive mindset. They’re all dedicated to getting better and helping each other get better too.
The unity even extends away from golf. The team shares similar spiritual beliefs. When the Tar Heels were practicing in Florida ahead of the spring season, they held a Bible study one night in Austin’s room.
“We had seven or eight guys show up,” Ford said. “It was just really sweet to be around guys who want the same things. And it’s really cool the passion we have for those things.”
Put it all together, and Greaser believes the Tar Heels’ togetherness will go a long way.
“I’ve not been a part of a team that’s won a national championship yet, but it feels like your team chemistry has gotta be strong to get there,” Greaser said. “So I think it’s going in the right direction for us this year.”
While the weather was nice in September for the Walker Cup, it was not pleasant in October when the Tar Heels — alongside the women’s program — competed in the inaugural St. Andrews Links Collegiate.
Frigid cold. Wind blowing upwards of 50. Rain.
Their first full day, the Tar Heels decided to go hit balls at the St. Andrews Golf Academy, Greaser said, “just for the heck of it.” Greaser said he and his teammates have never seen golf balls fly like they did that day.
“It was nuts,” Greaser said. “There were guys hitting flop shots that would probably go 50 or 60 yards with no wind, and they were landing literally at their feet.”
The team did not get to play a practice round on the Old Course, but walked it instead. It was miserable. Everyone was bundled up head to toe. Some dawned ski masks, but all were squinting as their pants whipped in the wind.
But rather than detest the elements, the Tar Heels embraced them.
Some guys were jumping off tee boxes to see if they could float. They stopped to pet dogs who were also out for a walk on the Old Course. If the weather didn’t worry the pups, why should it bother the Tar Heels?
“It was just something that you don’t ever see in golf,” Greaser said. “You’d obviously never go play in those conditions. But we just had fun with it. I feel like this team does a really good job of, whatever situation we’re in, we’re having fun, we’re laughing and smiling.”
October — Atlanta, Georgia
When the team van rolled through the gates of the Atlanta Athletic Club, the Tar Heels were surrounded by wide-eyed junior golfers.
Two of their heroes were home.
David and Maxwell grew up at the Atlanta Athletic Club. They were once those junior golfers, and now they’re inspiring the next generation. Boys and girls swarmed around them as they put on a junior clinic with other players ahead of the East Lake Cup.
Standing on a rise above the driving range, DiBitetto took a second to soak it all in.
“Watching them go through this clinic and seeing the joy, the excitement, of hundreds of little boys and girls watching the two of them,” DiBitetto said. “It was a really cool moment.”
The clinic, being around junior golfers whose shoes he once wore, made David reflect on where he was then, how he’s grown and where he is now.
For Ford, the experience reminded him of the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup at his home course. He caddied for now-pro Harry Hall, who was in college at the time.
“It’s really special to see kids in my shoes where I was,” he said. “And to know that with a few simple steps, you can play golf at Carolina."
October — Atlanta, Georgia (a few days later)
The Tar Heels needed some magic, and Maxwell Ford delivered.
The context here is important. The Tar Heels were in a heated battle with Georgia Tech in the semifinals of the East Lake Cup. They needed one more point to reach the finals. Maxwell Ford trailed his opponent, Kale Fontenot, by two with two to play.
Then Ford won the 17th. One down, one to play.
The 18th hole at the Atlanta Athletic Club is a lengthy par five with water guarding the front and right side of the green. Water was a no-go, so with three wood in hand, Maxwell hit his second shot too long and too left.
He left himself in what looked like an impossible spot. David said neither he nor his brother had played from there before.
The ball was below Maxwell’s feet in the rough. He had to carry a bunker and stop the ball before it could trickle into the water. Everything was on the table.
What he did have working in his favor was the lie. It was good. He had ample green to work with — the pin was on the far right, close to the water. So he had a chance. Maybe not a great chance. But a chance.
“The greens were super fast,” David said. “He could’ve gone straight under it. He could’ve bladed it into the water. But with the lie he was given, I think it worked out well. And he hit it sweet. I can’t even imagine myself being in that situation.”
Contact, club twirl, smile. His ball settled to near gimme range. Maxwell knew he had outdone himself.
David, meanwhile, was losing it.
“I remember letting out a few screams that were just like war cries,” he said. “But it was really fun.”
Maxwell made birdie and won the hole. But the job wasn’t done. The match was on to extra holes. He kept battling and won on the 22nd hole, sending the Tar Heels to the finals.
UNC went on to defeat Florida State to win the tournament the next day. But that doesn’t happen without Maxwell’s sweet shot, or as his brother described it, “absolutely wild.”
Carlsbad, California
When David was a first-year, UNC took a trip to U.S. Open venue Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, NY. During one of his rounds, David Ford was struggling. He was frustrated. He hadn’t slept well and was exhausted. Shinnecock is ridiculously hard, and Ford was losing.
“I was looking around like, ‘Man I wish I was playing better,’” he said. “‘I’m not feeling good. I wish I was playing better.’”
But then he stopped himself.
“‘This should be an amazing experience,’” Ford recalls telling himself. “When you get away from being grateful, it’s crazy the effect it has on where you are and the experience you’re having. I think [gratitude] is really powerful.”
College golf is truly special. The people the Tar Heels have met and the places they’ve been are just absurd.
Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Rory McIlroy.
St. Andrews, Augusta National, Shinnecock, Seminole.
With all these larger-than-life experiences, the UNC men’s golf team has great perspective and profound gratitude. But one experience still eludes them — the one that would mean more than all the others: a national championship.
After the team won the East Lake Cup in Atlanta, the Tar Heels were pleased but not satisfied. Greaser told Golf Channel’s John Cook “this isn’t the week we want to get it done.”
Translation: Carlsbad is on their minds.
The idea — the vision of celebrating with each other after doing something the program has never done before — is on their minds. How could it not be?
“It’s fun to try to think about what it might feel like to do that,” Greaser said. “Those thoughts are what motivate us every single day. Those thoughts are what get us out here earlier and keep us out here later. So I think it’s actually kind of good to have that in the back of your mind, that thought about the future, because that’s what drives us.”
When the opportunity comes in May under the California sun, David Ford said the Tar Heels just need to appreciate the moment.
“We need to remember that the reason we’re there is because we’ve done all the things to get there,” he said. “We need to enjoy the national championship rather than focusing on the negatives of the chaos that could ensue. I think it’s really easy to do that. But when you show gratitude and you’re grateful for those things, it’s crazy how much better your mindset is.”
The UNC men’s golf team has accomplished so much, played in and won many golf tournaments. They’ve been around the block — really the world. But they haven’t won the big one. In that way they are innocent. Nothing would compare to hoisting a national championship trophy together.
“We want to win stuff individually, but to be able to share a national championship trophy with these guys, these coaches and then this University — it’s the University of National Champions for a reason,” Greaser said. “That’s what we want to do.”
@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com
