Co-champion Ludvig Aberg also won The Jones Cup last week
Arizona Men's Golf used an up-and-down par save by Trevor Werbylo on the final hole of to clinch a share of the team title with North Carolina at The Prestige Intercollegiate at PGA West.
The par save gave The Wildcats (who at one point in the day were 8-under) a share of the team title at 4-under par after North Carolina posted that number almost an hour earlier. And the "not so easy" par also gave Werbylo (who also finished 4-under par) a share of the individual title with Ludvig Aberg (Texas Tech) and Jacob Skov Olesen (Texas Christian).
Aberg, coming off a major amateur victory at the Jones Cup at Sea Island, is moving up the world rankings like a rocket ship. The Swede posted rounds of 69 and 67 to take the 36-hole lead, but had to settle for a share of first after slipping to a 73 in the final round today.
But the real story of the day might be the play of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Ryan Burnett and Austin Hitt combined to shoot 6-under-par in the final round, but it wasn't until an hour had passed that they knew how well they had faired against the highly ranked 24-team field.
UNC entered the final round on Wednesday eight shots behind Pepperdine and five behind ASU and Arizona. The Tar Heels shot 4-under-par as a team in the final round, including a closing run of 3-under over the final three holes to climb into a tie for the lead.
Hitt birdied the 16th and 18th holes, Burnett also birdied the par-4 18th and Austin Greaser made a birdie 2 on the 17th hole to pull Carolina even. Hitt sank a 25-foot putt for a birdie 3 on the final hole.
UNC then had to sit and wait about as Pepperdine, Arizona State and Arizona finished play. At one point, UNC had the lead to itself, then Pepperdine got to 5-under before falling back. Finally, Arizona moved into a tie with the Tar Heels and stayed there with Werbylo's clutch save.
The title is Carolina's sixth in four seasons under head coach Andrew DiBitetto and assistant coach Matt Clark. UNC's last team win was at the General Hackler Championship in Myrtle Beach in the final event of the 2019-20 season last March.
"This is a significant win for our program against some of the best teams in the country,' says DiBitetto. "To go toe-to-toe with them and come out with a victory speaks to the hard work our guys put in. It means a lot to all of us. We didn't like where we were in the preseason polls and our guys played with a chip on their shoulders.
For the Arizona Wildcats, the co-championship was also a significant one for the program. They last won two team events in 2006.
-- Arizona and North Carolina Athletics contributed to this story
ABOUT THE The Prestige at PGA West
54 hole men's college tournament played in
California's Coachella Valley which features an all-
star field of many of major college golf's top teams
and players. The Prestige is co-hosted
by eight time NCAA Champion Stanford University of
the Pac 12 Conference and UC Davis of the Big West
Conference.
There is a college/am
tournament fund raiser the day before the
tournament proper begins which is a great way to
see first hand how these players (many of whom will
go on to PGA Tour careers) go about their business.
View Complete Tournament Information