North Carolina, Ludvig Aberg take Valspar Collegiate titles
- UNC Men's Golf photo
Behind a season-best 6-under 65 by Dylan Menante, the third-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels rolled to a six-shot victory on Tuesday at the Valspar Collegiate at the Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, Fla.
North Carolina, which began the day three shots back of 36-hole leader Texas Tech, blitzed The Floridian layout with a 12-under 272 over the final 18 holes to notch its fourth win of the season.
Ludvig Aberg Led by medalist Ludvig Aberg, Texas Tech finished six back at 21-under followed by Texas, which fired a final round 10-under 274 to jump into third place. Ohio State and Florida State tied for fourth at 13-under.
The Tar Heels were firing on all cylinders on Tuesday. Menante and sophomore David Ford led the comeback effort, turning in rounds of 65 and 68 respectively. Ryan Burnett (69) and Austin Greaser (70) also finished under par for the day.
Menante was 8-under on his round through 14 holes before finishing with a 65, tying his season-best. Ford, ranked as high as fifth in the world rankings, closed with his second consecutive round of 68 (-3) to finish tied with Georgia Southern's Ben Carr for second place at 10-under, one shot behind Aberg.
"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," said UNC head coach Andrew DiBitetto. "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."
North Carolina's fourth win of the season 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.
Aberg, the world's top-ranked male amateur by Golfweek/Sagarin, strung together rounds of 65-67-70 to complete a wire-to-wire victory. It marked the second win this season for Aberg and his sixth career individual title, setting the all-time individual victory mark in program history.
The native of Eslov, Sweden had built a four-shot lead, which proved to be just enough of a cushion to survive a triple bogey on the final hole.
North Carolina and Texas Tech will return to action at the Calusa Cup, which gets underway on Sunday in Naples, Fla.
ABOUT THE
Valspar Collegiate Invitational
54-hole collegiate invitational hosted at The
Floridian. Team (best four scores out of five players
each round) and individual competitions. Began in
2014
and is already one of the elite college events on the
schedule.
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