Peter Fountain's putt clinches first ACC title for UNC men's golf in 18 years

CHARLOTTE —  As Emily Fountain walked down the 18th fairway towards the clubhouse, emotion poured out of her — she leaped with her arms in the air and her fists clenched. 

Moments earlier, Emily was beyond nervous. She was praying.

“The past four years probably flashed in front of me,” she told The Daily Tar Heel. “My children all laugh at me, but I was just praying, 'Somehow, please help him make this putt.’ And I literally could barely watch.”

Emily’s son, UNC senior Peter Fountain, had a 5-foot putt. Left to right, just outside the hole. A type of putt he’s hit countless times. But this one carried an added weight —  an ACC Championship on the line. 

Fountain rolled it true.

“It was as thrilling as if we’d won the national basketball championship,” Emily told The DTH. “Probably more so because it was my child.”

Fountain’s putt on the 17th hole at Charlotte Country Club clinched North Carolina’s first ACC men’s golf team championship since 2006. He defeated Florida State’s Brett Roberts to help the Tar Heels to a hard-fought 3-1 victory over the Seminoles in the championship match on Monday. 

The win is UNC's seventh team title this season, tying a program record previously set in 1982-83. The Tar Heels are now 12-time ACC champions.

“We’ve wanted this really bad,” Fountain said. “[There's] still a lot of work to do in the postseason. We want to win a national championship. But I feel like this is a good step, and every single person that’s here has worked their butt off for it and deserves it."

Fountain in particular has worked his butt off. The former first-team All-American and ACC individual champion struggled in the fall. He wasn't in the North Carolina lineup for the first three events of the fall season. In the Williams Cup, which he entered as an individual back in October, he carded his worst ever collegiate round: an 85.

He was back in the lineup in the next tournament: the St Andrews Links Collegiate in Scotland. There, he finished third in the individual competition with two rounds in the 60s. Since St Andrews, he’s been in the Tar Heels' lineup for every tournament and has recorded three top 10 finishes.

"The year that he’s had — he was kind of fighting it a little in the fall, wasn’t really in our lineup," head coach Andrew DiBitetto said. “[He] just decided that he was going to get in the dirt, and he was going to work.”

All the work paid off in a big way this past weekend. Fountain led the ACC individual competition after two rounds at 8-under with back-to-back 67s. In round two on Saturday, his ball striking was near perfect. He hit 13 out of 15 fairways and only missed one green in regulation.

But on Sunday, he faltered with a 77 and fell back into a tie for eighth.

Then on Monday morning in the semifinals, he fought back late but wasn’t able to catch Wake Forest’s Scotty Kennon, losing 2 and 1.

“After he lost, when I walked to shake his hand, literally the first thing he said to me was, ‘I want anchor this afternoon,’” DiBitetto said.

So, DiBitetto made the switch from junior Maxwell Ford to Fountain for the last match in the team championship. Fountain wanted the moment, and he was ready for it.

“I didn’t make a bogey in the afternoon,” Fountain said. “I felt like I just kept the ball in front of me. Hit it really well, drove it really well.”

But Roberts played well, too, and led after two. Fountain tied it after four and went one up on six. Roberts came right back to square it again on seven. And on and on. 

The match was tense on the back nine. The title hung on a knife’s edge. Fountain won the par-5 12th with a birdie to go back one up. He had a golden opportunity to extend his lead to two but his birdie effort lipped out.

He stayed calm. He handled the pressure. 

“You gotta realize that every stroke does mean the exact same,” Fountain said. “Obviously some are in bigger moments, but really focusing on, especially on the last couple holes, that I’ve hit those shots a million times.”

Still one up on 16 tee, he hit a mammoth drive around the corner on the dogleg-right par-4. But a poor shot with a 51-degree wedge from about 130 yards left him short and left. 

DiBitetto said Fountain had worked hard on his short game. Well, it was about to be tested.

Roberts hit a good approach after flaring a drive well to the right. Fountain was in danger of seeing his narrow lead evaporate. 

The UNC senior hit a great pitch shot, traversing ripples in the middle of the green to the back section where the hole was cut. After Roberts missed his birdie effort, Fountain drained his par putt from about 6 feet and gave a measured fist pump.

One up. Two to play. One point away.

Fountain hit the green on the par-3 17th, while Roberts missed short. A solid pitch left Roberts about 10 feet for par. Fountain’s birdie effort came up short, but Roberts missed the par putt. The stage was set for Fountain.

“I didn’t want anybody else but him there,” graduate Austin Greaser said. “I had full confidence, and it means so much for him to be able to do it.”

Left of the green was Fountain's mom. Cue the match-winning putt and ensuing jubilation.

This fist pump from Fountain was a little more emphatic, paired with a roar. After celebrating on the green with his teammates, Fountain walked off, handed his mom the scorecard and gave her a big hug.

“There was no one more nervous over that putt than my mom,” Fountain said. “I think she was probably a lot more nervous than I was. I’m sure she was very relieved the thing went in.”

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