April 1, 2014
THE FLATS – The Capital City Club Crabapple Course and Georgia Tech will host a unique event in the college golf world, the Capital City Club College Match Play Championship, involving Auburn, Florida State and Georgia as well as the Yellow Jackets, on Saturday, April 19 at the Crabapple Course in Milton, Ga.
The one-day event features the four teams playing each other at match play with semifinal matches beginning at 7:30 a.m., followed by the consolation and championship matches at 1:30 p.m. The matches are structured similar to those at the NCAA Championship, with each team’s No. 5 player facing each other, followed by their No. 4 players and so on. Scoring will also be the same, with each individual match counting one point toward the team score.
A trophy will be presented to the team champion following the championship match, and each match in the event will count toward the teams’ head-to-head records for NCAA championship qualification. Admission for the event is free.
“We’re thrilled to have four of the best teams in the country coming to the Capital City Club for this inaugural event,” said Bob Covington of the Capital City Club, who served as tournament chairman for the NCAA Championship last spring and is organizing this event. “We hope this will become an annual event.”
The semifinal matches will feature the team ranked highest among the four in that week’s Golfstat rankings against the team ranked lowest. The other semifinal would pit the team ranked second-highest against the team ranked third-highest. Current rankings (as of April 1) would pit Georgia Tech (No. 4) against Auburn (No. 26). No. 5 Georgia would face No. 12 Florida State in the other semifinal, but the semifinal matchups are subject to change.
“We’re excited about this event for a couple of reasons,” said Tech coach Bruce Heppler. “We wanted to have a chance to compete between the tournament in Ohio and the ACC Championship, and we don’t get an opportunity to compete at match play very often. So the four teams will have a chance to play two matches that day, and the club would love for golf fans to come out and take in a full day of college golf.”
Eighteen players on the four teams are currently ranked among the nation’s top 200 individuals by Golfstat, nine of those in the top 100.
The Capital City Club Crabapple Course hosted last year’s NCAA Division I Championship, won by Alabama, and has also hosted the 2009 NCAA East Regional and the 2012 PING/Golfweek Preview Invitational. The course plays to a par of 72 and is 7,319 yards long.
About Georgia Tech Golf
Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 19th year under head coach Bruce Heppler. The Yellow Jackets have won 14 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 26 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up four times. Connect with Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on Twitter (@GT_Golf). For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
