Sept. 11, 2011
Rocky Face, Ga. – Seth Reeves fired a 7-under-par 65, and freshmen Anders Albertson and Ollie Schniederjans each carded 5-under 67s in the final round Sunday, lifting 4th-ranked Georgia Tech to a third-place finish at the Carpet Capital Collegiate golf tournament.
The Yellow Jackets made a 23-shot turnaround from their Saturday performance, posting a tournament-low score of 274, 14 shots under par for the day and a team record for this event. Tech, which started the round on the 10th tee and 14 strokes behind leader Auburn, played the back nine in 16-under-par and briefly took a 3-shot lead before the Tigers recovered.
Auburn shot 6-under-par 282 for the day and finished 54 holes at 13-under 851. Tennessee also posted a 6-under-par score Sunday and finished the tournament at 8-under 856. Tech finished another stroke back at 7-under 857. Alabama was fourth at 2-under 862, followed by Clemson at 1-under 863, and Chattanooga at even-par 864. Georgia, LSU, Kennesaw State, Wake Forest, South Carolina and Middle Tennessee State finished seventh through 12th.
“Those low rounds are hard to shoot,” said Tech coach Bruce Heppler, whose team also counted a 75 from sophomore Bo Andrews. “But once you do, no matter where you stand in a tournament, the benefit is that those guys know they can do it. It’s a big deal to have one this early in the year. Seth had a huge turnaround. It just points up the concept that the tournament is 54 holes, not 36. We made some mistakes yesterday, which we talked about last night. We worked through those, and the way they played some of those holes on the back nine was just phenomenal, maybe some of the best golf we’ve ever played.
“They turned around on the front – the back nine here is easier – and hung in there pretty well. We would have had to make a few more birdies to catch them, but we were too far behind.”
Reeves, a sophomore from Duluth, Ga., alone made a 19-shot improvement from Saturday’s 83, kick-starting his round with a pair of eagles on the par-5 12th and 15th holes after beginning with a bogey at 10. He needed but a four-foot putt to get the first eagle, then rolled in a mud-caked ball from the fringe for the second.
“It was really the last few holes that I blew up yesterday, making bad decisions,” said Reeves. “(Assistant) Coach (Christian) Newton walked with me today and we talked about that all the way around, helping me make smart decisions. It was a good confidence booster. It’s good to know that it’s nothing physically with my game, it’s just course management.”
Albertson, a freshman from Woodstock, Ga., birdied his first four holes and had six total in his round. He tied for third individually with a 5-under-par total of 211, five shots off the pace of Alabama’s Justin Thomas, who closed with a 65 and posted a 10-under-par total of 206.
Schniederjans played his first seven holes 6-under-par, including an eagle at 15. The Powder Springs, Ga., freshman also eagled the par-5 9th, his finishing hole, by chipping in from the rough to match Albertson’s score and finish in a tie for 11th overall at 2-under 214.
“They were fantastic,” said Heppler. “(Sitting out) last spring helped them. Both of them are talented, and they’ve both succeeded on the national level. They do that in their first tournament, and hopefully they’ll come back and say, `I think I can do this.'”
While the results of Saturday and Sunday indicated both the potential triumphs and pitfalls a young, but talented team can produce, both Heppler and Reeves came away from the event with high hopes.
“If you’ve got guys who haven’t competed, then you have to compete at home before you can come out here,” said Heppler. “When you’re preparing a team, then you’ve got to compete. It’s something we’ve done here for 17 years, and it’s produced pretty good results.”
Reeves said, “This shows our potential. Yesterday was a learning experience, but today shows the talent we have on our team. I feel like we can win with anybody on this team, whoever qualifies and plays on any given week.”
Tech is off until Sept. 25, when it competes in the Golfweek Conference Challenge at Burlington, Iowa.
CARPET CAPITAL COLLEGIATE
The Farm Golf Club, Rocky Face, Ga.
Final Results
TEAM STANDINGS
1 Auburn 290 279 282 851 -13
2 Tennessee 293 281 282 856 -8
3 Georgia Tech 286 297 274 857 -7
4 Alabama 291 284 287 862 -2
5 Clemson 287 287 289 863 -1
6 Chattanooga 287 287 290 864 E
7 Georgia 289 293 290 872 +8
8 LSU 294 291 288 873 +9
9 Kennesaw State 301 288 290 879 +15
10 Wake Forest 298 291 298 887 +23
T11 South Carolina 295 295 300 890 +26
T11 Middle Tennessee St. 297 298 295 890 +26
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
1 Justin Thomas Alabama 71 70 65 206 -10
2 Benjamin Weilguni Chattanooga 72 67 71 210 -6
T3 Anders Albertson Georgia Tech 74 70 67 211 -5
T3 Bryden Macpherson Georgia 72 67 72 211 -5
T3 Garrick Porteous Tennessee 72 68 71 211 -5
T3 Sang Yi LSU 72 69 70 211 -5
7 Jay Vandeventer Tennessee 73 69 70 212 -4
T8 Dominic Bozzelli Auburn 74 70 69 213 -3
T8 McCuen Elmore Clemson 70 71 72 213 -3
T8 Will McCurdy Auburn 70 72 71 213 -3
T11 Hunter Green Middle Tennessee St. 70 73 71 214 -2
T11 Corbin Mills Clemson 70 76 68 214 -2
T11 Ollie Schniederjans Georgia Tech 70 77 67 214 -2
T14 Stephan Jaeger Chattanooga 68 72 75 215 -1
T14 Danny Keddie Tennessee 72 71 72 215 -1
T14 Cory Whitsett Alabama 75 70 70 215 -1
T17 Niclas Carlsson Auburn 74 67 75 216 E
T17 Matt Nagy Kennesaw State 75 70 71 216 E
T19 Jacob Burger Clemson 71 70 76 217 +1
GEORGIA TECH PLAYERS
T3 Anders Albertson -5 74 70 67 211
T11 Ollie Schniederjans -2 70 77 67 214
T27 Bo Andrews +4 73 72 75 220
T33 Seth Reeves +6 74 83 65 222
T47 Drew Czuchry +10 69 78 79 226
