Some of the most heart-warming stories in sports come from athletes winning a championship with their hometown team, or just in their hometown in general. Just as an example, LeBron James’ NBA title with the 2016 Cavaliers will be far more remembered than any of those he has with the Heat or Lakers. As far as winning in their hometown, Jerome Bettis’ helping the Steelers to a Super Bowl in Detroit, where he grew up, was the biggest story of that game, which is quite a feat considering how much attention
a Super Bowl gets anyway.
Over the weekend, an incoming North Carolina Tar Heels’ athlete nearly completed one of those stories, and also showed some potential very good signs ahead of their UNC career.
Over the course of last week, the US Amateur Golf Championship was held at the Olympic Club golf course in San Francisco, California. While Mason Howell, a Georgia golf commit, took home the title, incoming Tar Heel Niall Shiels Donegan advanced all the way to the semifinals, at a course near his hometown of Mill Valley, which is just across the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
After finishing tied for 48th in the stroke play portion of the tournament, Shiels Donegan survived a playoff and then received the #49 seed in the match play bracket of the tournament. He then beat three higher seeded player on his road to the semifinals, including besting Preston Stout, who got the #1 seed in the bracket. All of Shiels Donegan’s wins went right down to the last hole, including his eventual semifinal loss to tournament runner up Jackson Herrington.
The US Amateur is the biggest event in the US for non-professional players. While there are some older golfers who don’t play in the pro ranks who compete, most of the competitors tend to be college and up-and-coming golfers. Back in the day before the professionalization of the game, the US Am was considered one of the majors. Even since those days ended, the list of winners includes names you would know even as a casual golf knower. For example, some guy named Tiger Woods won it thrice.
While he was born in Scotland, the son of a golf journalist, Lawrence, Shiels Donegan has lived most of his life in the Bay Area, and became a good enough golfer to receive a scholarship to Northwestern. However after a couple seasons there, he transferred, and is set to begin playing for UNC this season.
Between Ben Griffin winning a couple PGA Tour tournaments this year and David Ford being named the winner of the PGA Tour University college competition, plus some other notable wins, Carolina golfers have had a very nice 2025. Shiels Donegan’s deep run at the US Amateur continues that, but hopefully is also a sign that UNC has another very good golfer coming in to Chapel Hill, both in his college career and whatever comes after that.
