Dylan Menante tied his season best with a 65 and David Ford played bogey-free for a final-round 68 to lead the University of North Carolina to a six-stroke victory Tuesday in the Valspar Collegiate at the Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, Fla.
The win is the UNC men’s golf team’s fourth of the season, which equals the most by the Tar Heels in a season since 1997-98. It is the 14th team title in six seasons under head coach Andrew DiBitetto and associate head coach Matt Clark.
“Coach Clark and I are very proud of our group,” says DiBitetto. “Golf is challenging and you have to play the complete 54 holes to win, especially when competing against so many of the best teams in the country. You also to close out the final round. We let an opportunity slip in Las Vegas (at the Southern Highlands) a few weeks ago. Today, our guys were exceptional, tough and earned a great win on a demanding golf course against a phenomenal field. We got back this week to our standard and how we compete.”
The Tar Heels, ranked No. 4 in the nation (Golfstat) shot 12-under-par 272 today to surge past overnight leader and third-ranked Texas Tech for the win. The Red Raiders led UNC by three strokes after Monday’s 36 holes, but Carolina got off a fast start to pull ahead. Ryan Burnett and Peter Fountain both were 2 under after five holes and Menante, the 2022 Valspar individual champion, made two birdies and an eagle in his first three holes.
Carolina finished the 54-hole event at 27-under 825 with rounds of 9-under 275, 6-under 278 and 12-under 272. Texas Tech was 21 under, No. 10 Texas was third (-15), No. 7 Florida State and Ohio State tied for fourth (-13), and No. 2 Arizona State and No. 14 Texas A&M tied for sixth (-9).
In addition to Menante’s 65 and Ford’s 68, Burnett closed today with a third-round 2-under 69, Austin Greaser shot 1-under 70 and Fountain shot 72.
Ford, the No. 5-ranked amateur in the world, shot 67-68-68 for a 54-hole total of 10-under 203 to finish in a tie for second place, a single shot behind Texas Tech’s Ludwig Aberg, who is No. 2- in the world. The runner-up finish is Ford’s fourth top 2 this season. This was Ford’s first collegiate tournament in which he shot in the 60s in all three rounds. He is the first Tar Heel to do that since Greaser in the 2022 NCAA Yale Regional.
Greaser placed eighth…
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