The Hayt: North Carolina and Deven Patel of Virginia secure wins

March 11, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

North Carolina Men's Golf team (UNC Athletics Photo)

David Ford of UNC played in the tournament after spending Thursday and Friday playing on the PGA Tour

North Carolina won the team competition at the 2024 John Hayt Collegiate Invitational at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., hosted by the University of North Florida.

The No. 2 ranked Tar Heels shot team rounds of 289-283-289 to shoot 3-under and win by four shots. They entered the final round with a three-shot lead over Alabama, and a final round 1-over 289 gave them the cushion they needed to win by four shots.

This is North Carolina's fifth win in eight starts this season.

Alabama finished in solo second place at 1-over, Virginia finished in solo third place at 4-over, and Ohio State finished in solo fourth place at 12-over. Duke finished in solo fifth place at 18-over, and Louisville finished in solo sixth place at 19-over.

Deven Patel of Virginia won the individual competition at 3-under. Patel shot rounds of 74-68-71 to win by one shot over Ethan Evans of Duke and 36-hole leader Canon Claycomb of Alabama, who finished T2 at 2-under.

Neal Shipley of Ohio State and Jack Neill of Jacksonville finished T4 at 1-under.

Patel has finished T30 at the Puerto Rico Classic and T18 at the Watersound Invitational this year.

For North Carolina, Dylan Menante and Austin Greaser finished T6 at even par, Peter Fountain finished T15 at 2-over, and Maxwell Ford finished T20 at 4-over.

David Ford of North Carolina finished T32 at 7-over. Ford played in the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour on Thursday and Friday.

Ford earned a spot in the Arnold Palmer through the 2023 Palmer Cup. Each year, one player from the men's team is voted upon by their peers to receive exemptions into the API, and they voted for Ford.

Ford finished 10-over and missed the cut. He shot an impressive 1-under 71 in the first round but an 11-over 83 in the second round, which made him miss out on playing the weekend.

Due to that, he joined his team just two hours down the road at Sawgrass Country Club to play in the John Hayt this weekend. He was the highest-ranked player in the field, ranked No. 3 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.

Results: The Hayt

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Deven Patel	Johns Creek, GA	600	74-68-71=213
T2	Ethan Evans	Mercer Island, WA	400	73-68-73=214
T2	Canon Claycomb	Bowling Green, KY	400	69-71-74=214
T4	Jack Neill	, England	300	73-70-72=215
T4	Neal Shipley	Pittsburgh, PA	300	69-73-73=215

View full results for The Hayt

About the The Hayt

The Hayt: North Carolina and Deven Patel of Virginia secure wins

54 hole men's college tournament hosted by the University of North Florida. Team (best four scores of five players each round) and individual competitions.