Better than beating Duke? UNC golfer gets chance for one shining moment at Masters

National semifinals in March Madness. North Carolina 81, Duke 77. Putting an end to Coach K’s legendary career. What could be finer for the Tar Heels?

Dyed-in-light-blue Austin Greaser might be the only member of the Tar Heels’ fraternity to find a sporting event to cherish more than Saturday night’s NCAA tournament basketball game in New Orleans.

But he gets a pass, thanks to a dream come true.

Greaser, a junior on the UNC golf team, made his debut in the Masters on Thursday.

“I loved every second,” he said after posting a 2-over-par 74 that left him in the middle of the pack after the opening round of the year’s first men’s major championship. “It’s everything I expected and more.”

Nerves on the first tee? Oh, yeah.

“But you do your homework. I came out here a few times before this week,” said Greaser, one of six amateurs in the field. “I’m happy with the way it went. I played really well. I hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in, burned the edges.

“I’d like to have a couple of them back, but that’s golf.”

One of those he would like to have again came on the par-5 13th. One-over par at the time, his second shot found the green, and his eagle putt from 84 feet looked golden.

But the ball raced past the hole and he missed the birdie putt coming back.

“A little too much pace,” he said. “That’s one I’d like again. I kinda misjudged the speed. But I learned something there.”

Greaser made the turn at 1-under-par 35 after birdies at the eighth and ninth holes and recalled: “That was fun. One-under at Augusta National? How fun is that?”

He bogeyed 10, 11 and 16 on the back nine, the latter on the par-3 after his tee ball to the back right hole came up a bit short, caught the ridge and rolled back to the left front. His first putt came up short and again rolled backward.

“Another learning experience,” he said.

He capped his round by salvaging par after a wayward drive at No. 18. He played his second shot from the first cut on the 10th fairway.

A native of Ohio, Greaser earned his spot in the Masters with a runner-up finish in the 2021 U.S. Amateur. Seeded 24th after two rounds of stroke play, he defeated four higher-ranked players en route to the final. He also reached the semifinals of the 2021 Western Amateur and came into the college spring season UNC’s career leader in stroke average.

After heavy rains Tuesday and Wednesday, Greaser predictably found the course “very soft” and said: “I thought the first nine was very gettable. You could fly the ball to the pin and stop it.”

But the wind picked up, and he predicted the back nine “would play tougher” for players in the afternoon.

Overall?

“A great experience, especially playing with two major champions (Mike Weir and Padraig Harrington),” he said.

Better than beating Duke in basketball?

“I enjoyed today more because I wasn’t on the floor, but hats off to those guys,” Greaser said. “We sure enjoyed watching them.”

If he can get those putts to fall in Friday’s second round, the Tar Heels will have more reasons to cheer.

Masters tournament amateurs for 2022

Listed with how they qualified

• Austin Greaser, runner-up U.S. Amateur
• Stewart Hagestad, U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
• Aaron Jarvis, Latin-American Amateur champion
• Keita Nakajima, Asian-Pacific Amateur champion
• James Piot, U.S. Amateur champion
• Laird Shepherd, British Amateur champion

This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 3:55 PM.