Fountain Shoots Season-Low, Menante 2nd In NCAA M-Golf Championship

Peter Fountain and Dylan Menante both shot 3-under-par 67s and Austin Greaser had a 69 to lead the University of North Carolina men’s golf team to a 5-under-par finish in the third round of the 2023 NCAA Championship Sunday at the Grayhawk Golf Course in Scottsdale, Ariz.
 
The Tar Heels posted the third-best team score of day behind Pepperdine’s 11-under 269, the best team round of the first three days, and Stanford’s 7-under 273.
 
Carolina (282-284-275) shot its best round of the championship on Sunday. The Tar Heels were 10 under par midway through the round but shot 4 over par the last four holes.
 
Fountain’s 67 is his low round of the season and his best 18-hole score in 11 rounds of competitive stroke play at Grayhawk in the last three NCAA Championships. The junior from Raleigh was 4 under through 13 and his only blemish on the scorecard was a bogey on the 17^th hole. It was his fourth round in the 60s this season and was his low round since he shot 67 in the second round of the 2022 ACC Championship.
 
Menante led or shared the best round of the day by a Tar Heel for third time in as many days. The Carlsbad, Calif., native made three straight birdies on 9, 10 and 11, and finished the day with five birdies and two bogeys to shoot 67.
 
Menante (68-70-67) is 5-under 205 through 54 holes and is second in the individual standings, four strokes behind Georgia Tech’s Ross Steelman (64-69-68), who is 9 under par.
 
The Tar Heels are 1 over par and in fourth place with 15 teams still on the course. The top 15 teams after this afternoon’s wave advance to Monday’s fourth and final round of stroke play. The top eight after Monday’s action advance to the quarterfinals of match play, which begins Tuesday morning.
 
Carolina advanced to match play in the 2021 and 2022 NCAA Championships at Grayhawk. UNC was eighth after stroke play two seasons ago and tied Oklahoma and Vanderbilt atop the team standings after 72 holes in 2022.
 
Illinois has the 54-hole lead at 6-under 834. Pepperdine is second at 3 under, Florida is third at 1 under, UNC is fourth at 1 over and Georgia Tech is fifth at 2 over.