Column: Reflecting on covering UNC men’s golf after NCAA quarterfinals loss

CARLSBAD, Calif. — I will remember what David Ford did for a long time. 

I will not remember the golf shots — some good, but a lot of them not. I will not remember that he lost the final two holes of his quarterfinal match, a 3-and-2 defeat to Florida State’s Tyler Weaver, ending UNC’s hopes of winning its first men’s golf national championship. 

But I will not forget a five-second moment shortly after it was all over.

The Seminoles celebrated on the seventh green of Omni La Costa Resort’s North Course. Ford removed his hat and shook all of their hands. He then put his hat on backwards and tilted his head skyward. 

Ford, senior Peter Fountain and graduate student Austin Greaser led in their respective matches. Florida State came back to win all three. 

A golden chance had slipped away. 

Ford is a junior. He will have another opportunity to win a national championship. But this was the year. 

Greaser's college career is now over. The four-time All-ACC selection returned to UNC for this season when he could have turned professional last summer. A big reason why was the vision of sharing a national championship with the team he loves. 

“I’m a fifth year, we’ve gotten closer each year, so it would mean a ton,” he said in January. “I would argue this program this year [is] at least tied for the best opportunity it’s ever had to do it just in terms of the guys we have.”

Greaser could picture it.

“It’s fun to try to think about what it might feel like to do that,” he 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.”

After seven team titles and the first ACC Championship since 2006, the big one still eludes them. Dreams don't always come true, even when they should. 

I asked Ford after the dream had collapsed what he will remember.

“I think the first thing is just how good everybody is,” he said. “And even though we didn’t win this week, I think we still feel like we’re the best team in the country. And I think we’ll go down as one of the best teams ever no matter what happens this week.”

This was the year.

Ford walked off the seventh green back up the fairway with his coach, Andrew DiBitetto. He shared many hugs. 

Then those five seconds.

Left of the seventh fairway was the stop for the shuttle back to the clubhouse. I was walking up the hill to the road when I saw Ford walking the opposite direction. He saw me and offered a smile.

“Thank you for being here.”

One of the best amateur golfers in the world, fresh after a heartbreaking, season-ending loss, had it in his mind to speak to a student journalist, whom he barely knows, and express genuine gratitude.

Ford and his coach frequently talk about staying in their own bubble. The Tar Heels feel they are at their best when they focus on themselves, control what they can control and block out the rest. It would have been so easy for Ford to remain there. Instead, he looked outward. He was selfless.

In that moment, Ford was not the great golfer that he is. He was simply a great person.

“I think it's just an understanding that it's just golf,” Ford said. “There's more tournaments to win. And as bad as we wanted to win, there's more to this world than just me. And I'm not the only one on the golf course trying to win.

“We have an amazing support system that was out here the whole week, so I think just being appreciative of that is a good way to fight the hard times. If I'm just out here keeping my head down and being upset and being disappointed about what happened, that's not going to grow me, and I'm not going to learn anything from it. But if I could just be gracious with what the Lord's given me and be appreciative of those around me, I feel like it teaches me more than just walking around with my head down.”

Ford's profound graciousness represents what the UNC men’s golf team is. It is so much more than just golf. DiBitetto recruits golf scores, but more so, he said he tries to recruit good human beings.

“What’ll stay with me, and I think what is most important, is the memories that we have — especially off the golf course — and the growth that we’ve seen in all of them as young men,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s why we do what we do. The wins and losses are a part of it, and it’s certainly nice to win. But we care way more about the human beings than the scores that they shoot.”

The culture is family oriented. Everyone involved with UNC men’s golf — from DiBitetto to parents Karen Ford, Lisa Menante and Richard and Emily Fountain — has been kind to me and generous with their time. 

The culture is also based in just having fun by playing a sport they love. 

Late in Fountain’s quarterfinal match, he faced a difficult short shot. He decided to take fairway wood and putt his ball through short grass down a slope. The ball kept going. It stopped right before a massive falloff. Fountain immediately went into a trot to mark his ball. He looked at DiBitetto and the two shared a laugh.

The DTH's Nate Skvoretz captured so many great pictures in Carlsbad. One of my favorites is a shot of Greaser and Dylan Menante standing on the back of a tee filled with laughter and joy. 

Through it all, they loved playing the game with each other. 

“We're going to have a ton of fun and have a positive outlook on everything,” Ford said. “That doesn't mean that things can't suck and we can't get upset and we can't get angry. But in that, we have to learn, we have to grow from it. There's no situation that's going to push us over the edge of too much discouragement. And [DiBitetto] sets that precedent really well. No matter what the situation is, no matter how far back we are, how far down we are, we always feel like we're going to win.

“Even sitting here now, we lost, and I still felt like we were going to win.”

As I sit on a plane back to North Carolina from San Diego, writing while listening to "Time" by Hans Zimmer, I cannot help but be heartbroken. Not because I am a fan. The human in me wishes a really great thing could have happened to a really great group of people.

To the entire UNC men's golf family, it has been a joy. 

I’ll end by writing what Ford said to me.

Thank you. I was glad to be here.

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