There are several NCAA sports that are currently in or will being their NCAA Tournaments soon, and one of those is golf. Later today, the women’s golf championship will begin in Carlsbad, California, with the men’s following next week, starting on May 29th.
Both of UNC’s golf teams will compete in the championship rounds, having advanced out of their particular regionals. With both sets of Tar Heels now vying for national titles, let’s take a look at their paths here.
The Carolina women’s golf team
got to host a regional at their home course, and finished second to advance on to nationals. They finished the three-day regional by collectively finishing at +6 over par, which was only behind Texas, who is ranked #5 in the country. Individually, Marie Prats-Rigual led the Heels by shooting an even par 210, which was good to tie for 10th in the 75 player field in the Chapel Hill Regional. The top five teams in the regional got to advance to nationals, and UNC quite easily cleared that, finish 12 shots ahead of a three-team group that tied for fourth.
As you would expect, nationals will likely be much more difficult, as Carolina will have to take on the Texas team that beat them and several other of the best teams in the country. UNC themselves are ranked #12, so it wouldn’t be out of the question for them to make a nice run, but they won’t be among the favorites. Also, they did have a bit of a home course advantage in Chapel Hill. However, they’ll have a chance, and individual players will also have a shot at the individual national title, which is all you can ask for.
As for the men, they had to go on the road to Bryan, Texas for their regional, but they also came through it to advance to nationals. UNC finished fourth in their regional, which was also won by Texas. They had a bit closer of a call than the women, but their -19 under for the three days ended up being six shots ahead of sixth-place TCU.
Carson Bertagnole led the Carolina men on an individual level, finished the regional tied for fifth at -10 under. (The winner, Luke Porter of Texas, was -17 for the three days.) However, it was a pretty good team effort, as three Tar Heels finished in the top 25 out of the 89 who took part.
Like the women, the UNC men won’t go into nationals among the favorite, but they’ll have a chance, ranked #10 in the country. On the men’s side, the Tar Heels have made some deep runs in recent years, advancing into the match play portion of nationals. We’ll see if they can pull off that feat again this year.
Best of luck to both of the Tar Heel golf teams, as they look to make some noise at nationals over the next couple days!
