Tar Heel fifth-year senior Kayla Smith was the medalist in the women’s tournament and both the University of North Carolina’s men’s and women’s golf teams advanced to the championship matches in the inaugural St Andrews Links Collegiate Tuesday at the Jubilee Course in St Andrews, Scotland.
The Carolina women finished first in the four-team field, shooting 19-over 739 over the two days, 10 strokes ahead of Vanderbilt. The Tar Heels will play the Commodores in medal match play at the Old Course on Wednesday. Notre Dame and Georgetown tied for third at 35 over par and will compete for third place.
UNC’s men finished second in stroke play. The Tar Heels shot 18-under 682, five strokes behind Vanderbilt. Like the women, UNC and Vanderbilt play Wednesday for the men’s team title and the Irish and Hoyas will compete for third place.
Smith shot 69-72 for a 2-under-par 142 and was the only player in the 24-player field to finish under par over the two days. Smith edged Vanderbilt’s Ava Merrill by two strokes. The win is Smith’s second as a Tar Heel; she won the Texas A&M “Mo”Morial last season.
Ing Iadpluem shot the low round of the day on the women’s side with a course-record 68. The Tar Heel freshman from Thailand was 5 under through 13 and made seven birdies in the round, including the 16th and 18th holes, which came after her only bogeys on the day.
Iadpluem (80-68) and senior Crista Izuzquiza (73-75) tied for fourth place at 4-over 148. Vilde Nystrom (75-75) tied for eighth at 6 over and Reagan Southerland (75-76) tied for 11th at 7 over.
Senior Peter Fountain led the Carolina men, tying for third place at 5-under 135. Fountain shot 68-67 for his best finish since he tied for first place in stroke play then finished second in a playoff as a sophomore in the 2022 ACC Championship. Fountain was 3 under today through eight holes, bogeyed nine and 10, but shot 2 under without a bogey over the final eight holes. He hit his drive on the 201-yard, par-3 17th hole to within a foot and tapped in for birdie.
Fountain was four strokes behind Vanderbilt’s Jackson Van Paris, who shot 64-67…
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