The University of North Carolina’s David Ford is the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year, Andrew DiBitetto is the ACC Men’s Golf Coach of the Year and Ford, Ryan Gerard and Austin Greaser earned first-team All-ACC honors, the conference announced on Wednesday.
Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Yale Regional, which begins play May 16, and is ranked No. 5 in the country (Golfstat). The Tar Heels have won three tournaments this season and finished first in stroke play in the ACC Championship, shooting 35 under par, the second-best result to par in ACC Championship history.
Ford is the second-highest ranked freshman in the country at No. 31 (Golfstat) and No. 35 (Golfweek). The Peachtree Corners, Ga., native tied for seventh place at ACCs at 8-under 208, the sixth time he shot below par in his last seven tournaments, and won his match in the ACC semifinals. He finished second in the Williams Cup at Eagle Point, tied for sixth at the Amer Ari Invitational and was seventh at Duke.
“David has played consistently great all year,” says DiBitetto. “He works exceptionally hard on his game and his body to be as successful as possible every time we tee it up. It’s nice to see his hard work pay off in winning ACC Freshman of the Year. He’s an even better person off the course and has been such a positive addition to our team this year.”
Ford’s stroke average of 70.63 is currently the fourth-best ever by a Tar Heel and the lowest in history by a UNC freshman. He is a cumulative 29 under par in 10 tournaments and leads the team with 20 rounds under par.
This is the second consecutive year and third time overall a Tar Heel won ACC Freshman-of-the-Year honors. Peter Fountain was the recipient in 2021 and Kevin O’Connell in 2008.
Gerard, a fifth-year senior from Raleigh, N.C., is averaging 70.47 strokes per round this season, third lowest in UNC history. He won the Rod Myers Invitational at Duke with a 15-under 201, tied for sixth at The Blessings, seventh at Olympia Fields and seventh at the ACC Championship.
Gerard leads Carolina in scoring, score to par (34 under) and rounds in the 60s (14). He is third all-time in stroke average by a Tar Heel (71.73).
“Ryan has really grown during his time at Carolina,” says DiBitetto. “He’s comfortable in his own skin, is always prepared, he fully understands his own golf game and has a high golf IQ. He’s all in on reaching his goals and puts in the effort and hard work to be successful. We’re very thankful ‘G’ came back for a fifth year.”
Greaser is a member of the All-ACC team for the second consecutive season. He won the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational and finished in the top 10 three other times this season. The junior from Vandalia, Ohio, is second on the team in round under par (18) and rounds in the 60s (13) and third in stroke average (71.15).
Greaser is Carolina’s all-time leader in scoring at 71.49 per round. He’s the first Tar Heel to earn multiple All-ACC honors prior to his senior season since O’Connell was honored as a freshman and sophomore in 2008 and 2009.
“The ACC is always loaded with exceptional players and teams so it says a lot about Austin, the way he prepares, his work ethic, and his competitive nature, to be named All ACC for a second consecutive year,” says DiBitetto. “Austin’s walk-off win when he holed out from the fairway on 18 at Olympia Fields is a moment in Carolina Golf that will always be remembered.”
This is the fifth time three Tar Heels earned All-ACC honors and the first time they accomplished that in consecutive seasons. UNC has placed three players on the All-ACC men’s golf team in 1977, 1986, 2003, 2021 and 2022. The Tar Heels have earned eight All-ACC accolades in DiBitetto’s five seasons as head coach (no All-ACC team was selected in 2020 due to the pandemic).
DiBitetto is in his fifth season as head coach of the Tar Heels. He is the first UNC head coach to win ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors since Devon Brouse in 1981, 1991 and 1995.
Five different Tar Heels have won medalist honors this season and the Tar Heels won team titles this season at Duke (Rod Myers Invitational), Illinois (Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational) and Eagle Point in Wilmington (Williams Cup).
Under DiBitetto’s and assistant coach Matt Clark‘s direction Carolina has won 10 team titles in the past five seasons and finished in the top 20 in each of the last three NCAA Championships.
“I greatly appreciate the award, particularly because it’s voted on by the other outstanding coaches in our conference,” says DiBitetto. “However, this honor is about our program. It’s about Coach Clark, the people in our athletic department who support our guys and most importantly, it’s about our student-athletes. They choose to work hard on their games as well as academically, they are the ones that hit the shots and make putts under pressure. This reflects the young men we have in our program and I appreciate all they do for Carolina Golf.”