The end of last week through the beginning of this week saw the NCAA hold the finals of the men’s golf championships out in Carlsbad, California. The North Carolina Tar Heels’ men’s golf team has been regular contenders for the national title in recent years, and they made an appearance at the championships again this year.
While the Heels ended up coming up short, they did record a top ten national finish, coming in ninth at this year’s event.
After the first three stroke play rounds, the Tar Heels
as a team were at -6, which was good enough for seventh place, with the top 15 finish advancing them onto the fourth and final stroke play round. Unfortunately there, UNC collectively went +4 for the day. They stayed in seventh, but several other teams ended up finishing on the same score, requiring a playoff. Had UNC been successful in the playoff, they would’ve finish in the top eight and advanced to the match play bracket that decides the national champion.
The four-team playoff was going to decide the final two spots in the bracket, and unfortunately the Tar Heels came up one stroke short of the second of those two spots. That meant that UNC officially finished the championships in ninth place.
In the individual portion of the tournament, UNC’s top finisher was Carson Bertagnole. His final round -1 score took him to -4 for the tournament, which put him in a tie for 19th. The individual national champion was Oklahoma State’s Preston Stout, who finished at -14 over the four rounds. Sihan Sandu ended up tied for 32nd at even par, while Niall Shiels Donegan and Grant Roscich were t-42nd at +2. Andrew Riley was UNC’s other player to make the individual cut, finishing in 79th.
As mentioned, UNC is a program that has had national championship aspirations in recent years. While they came close to at least competing for one this year, the Tar Heels did not quite make it as far as they likely could have. Even though they were not among the favorites, as a team, they almost certainly would’ve been hoping for more out of their week in California. Still, when the program has been in as many good positions as they have in recent years, you’d like to think that eventually they’ll be able to break through and win the tournament. Here’s to that maybe happening in 2027.
