Men’s Golf Picked No. 1 In Preseason

The University of North Carolina men’s golf team is ranked No. 1 in the nation in both the Bushnell/Golfweek Golf Coaches Association and Golf Channel pre-season polls.
 
The Tar Heels open the 2023-24 season September 15-17 at Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course, which was the site of the PGA Tour’s first leg of the Fed Ex Cup Playoff in August.
 
The Golf Coaches picked UNC No. 1 followed by Arizona State, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Auburn, Stanford, Florida, Illinois and Oklahoma.
 
NBC/Golf Channel’s top 10 includes North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Florida State, Auburn, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech and Tennessee.
 
Carolina returns four players who have previously earned collegiate All-America honors, including junior David Ford, who Golfweek has named a preseason first-team All-America. Golfweek also tabbed graduate student Austin Greaser and fifth-year senior Dylan Menante as second-team All-Americas.
 
David Ford was the ACC Player of the Year and a first-team All-America last season; Greaser was a third-team All-America last year and is a three-time All-ACC honoree; Menante was a third-team pick in 2021 and 2023 and has earned all-conference honors three times; and senior Peter Fountain was a first-team All-America in 2021.
 
The Tar Heels lost one starter off the 2022-23 squad that won five tournaments and finished third in the NCAA Championship. Ryan Burnett finished his five-year career No. 3 in UNC scoring average and was a two-time medalist last year, including a victory in the NCAA Salem (S.C.) Regional.
 
Junior Maxwell Ford transferred to UNC after finishing 18^th in the NCAA Championship last spring while playing for Georgia.
 
Fifth-year senior Kenan Poole, red-shirt junior Ryan Smith, red-shirt sophomore Nanu Mohan and freshman Hampton Roberts round out the squad, whose depth will be needed this fall as some starters will miss certain tournaments due to international competitions.