Sept. 13, 2005
Ten Questions for Bruce Heppler
ATLANTA – Coming off a runner-up finish in last year’s national championship, Georgia Tech’s golf team begins its 2005-06 campaign looking at the first significant changes to its lineup in more than two years in its quest to maintain the Yellow Jackets’ consistently high level of success in the last half-dozen years.
When national players of the year Matt Kuchar and Bryce Molder graduated in consecutive years, head coach Bruce Heppler turned to fresh faces in Troy Matteson, Nicholas Thompson and Chan Song, who kept alive the Yellow Jackets’ string of top-five finishes in NCAA Championship events and became All-Americans themselves.
But now Thompson and Song, who were integral parts of four NCAA championship contenders, including two national runner-up teams, have themselves graduated. Along with All-American Roberto Castro and all-Atlantic Coast Conference performer Michael Barbosa, they gave the Yellow Jackets a solid and consistent lineup for nearly every tournament during the last two years.
Castro, a first-team All-American last year who finished third individually at Caves Valley, and Barbosa, who earned all-ACC honors in 2005 and played in every event, return to anchor a team that will likely feature a different starting five each time out in the fall.
“We qualify a lot and let them make those decisions for the most part,” said Heppler, in his 11th season with the Yellow Jackets, who are ranked No. 12 in the first poll released by Golfweek magazine. “It’s a game where you have to earn everything you get. You get into the U.S. Amateur by earning it. You get on tour by earning it. There’s no draft. I don’t think we’ve ever tried to get very far from the nature of the game, so when our players leave here, they understand you play for spots.”
Castro and Barbosa each have played in two NCAA Championships and enjoyed success on the amateur circuit, and head coach Bruce Heppler will count on them to be regulars. But the 11th-year coach will make them earn it through team qualifying, and there will be more competition for spots on the travel squad this year than has been the case in a while.
“Over 72 or 90 holes (of qualifying), those guys have shown that they can beat these other guys and be successful in the tournaments they played in, or events this summer,” said Heppler. “Those guys have enough experience and wisdom that, no matter how many spots we play for, they should be able to make it.”
Castro, a junior from Alpharetta, Ga., finished last spring ranked No. 4 among collegiate players in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and could be in line for national and conference player of the year honors this season. He finished among the top 20 in 10 of 12 events last year, including eight top-10 showings, while posting a 70.86 stroke average that ranked 10th in the nation.
Time and again he has been Tech’s leader, last year tying for seventh at the Preview, fourth at the ACC Championship and 10th at the NCAA East Regional. Over the summer, he captained the United States Palmer Cup team to victory over Great Britain and Ireland, and finished the summer ranked 26th among amateur players.
“He made first-team All-American by trying to be the best player on our team,” said Heppler. “But he didn’t do that by trying to carry the whole load. The one thing he needs to guard against it trying to do too much. He needs to be Roberto Castro. He doesn’t need to try and be the team. It’s not unlike the situation Bryce Molder was in here after Matt Kuchar left. He’s efficient with his school work and efficient with his golf. He has incredible passion for what he does.”
Barbosa, a senior from St. Petersburg, Fla., emerged as a consistent contributor in Tech’s top five in the spring of 2004 and continued his solid play last year, averaging 72.84 strokes per round, ninth-best in the ACC, while typically playing as the Yellow Jackets’ No. 4 competitor. He finished in the top 20 five times, and in the top 10 twice. He rose to the occasion in the championship events, tying for 27th at the NCAA and 10th at the ACC, and earned all-conference honors for the first time.
Also returning are Kevin Larsen and Thomas Jordan, veteran players who have essentially shared the No. 5 spot in Tech’s lineup over the last two seasons. Neither played much amateur golf over the summer, but both have posted strong showings in Tech events over the past two years.
Larsen, a junior from Santa Barbara, Calif., has filled that spot in all of Tech’s spring events the last two years, including the NCAA Championship each year, earning five top-20 finishes and posting a 74.75 stroke average overall in 21 career events. His best showings were a tie for sixth at last year’s Carpet Capital Collegiate and a tie for ninth at the Gary Koch/Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate during his freshman year.
Most of Jordan’s work the last two years has come in fall events. The senior from Sea Island, Ga., had a solid freshman year in 2002-03 with two top-20 finishes and a 74.97 stroke average in 11 tournaments. In nine events over the last two years, he has one top-20 showing, a tie for third at the 2003 Ping/Golfweek Preview.
“They both seem energized and enthusiastic,” said Heppler. “It would be wonderful if the older guys can play like I know they can, and it would make our team a lot better. You’ve got Kevin with two NCAA’s and Thomas with one, and that experience factor at the end of the year would be huge if they can earn the right to be back there. They’re both talented, and that’s why this team can be very, very good.”
The four veterans will get a challenge from four freshmen competing for playing time, including a trio of red-shirts in Adam Cohan, David Dragoo and Taylor Hall, and first-year freshman Cameron Tringale.
“Based on their golf this summer and based on qualifying, they’re better,” Heppler said of his three red-shirts. “You just watch the way they walk around school. There’s no comparison in their maturity now and 365 days ago. They are much more equipped to deal with school, golf and Georgia Tech. Cameron had a wonderful summer, a very talented guy, and I would not be surprised if he comes in and plays a lot this year.”
Cohan, from Wayne, Pa., and Tringale, from Laguna Niguel, Calif., have logged the most success in junior and amateur events coming in. Cohan, a three-time all-state high school player, made it through sectional qualifying for this year’s U.S. Amateur, tied for 29th at the Southern Amateur and 31st at the Eastern Amateur. Tringale, twice a prep all-county choice in the Los Angeles area, was an alternate for the U.S. Amateur, finished ninth at the U.S. Junior Amateur and earned two other top-10 finishes.
Dragoo, from Scottsdale, Ariz., was the top-ranked junior player in Arizona and rose as high as 17th nationally while earning all-state honors twice on the high school level. Hall, from LaGrange, Ga., was an honorable mention junior All-American and state player of the year in 2001, twice was a Georgia state high school runner-up in class AAA and logged three high finishes in amateur events this summer, including a tie for 10th at the American Amateur Classic.
For the fall at least, despite not knowing quite what to expect, Heppler is enthusiastic about watching the four newcomers compete for spots and see how they perform in events.
“I’m not worried about who goes, because it will be the guys who have played the best in qualifying,” he said. “They will have earned the right to go. It’s a double-edged sword. You’re nervous, you’re dealing with the unknown. But the great thing about coaching, at least in this situation, you’re going to get some guys who have never played before get to play some, maybe a lot, and this is what they’ve dreamed of. That’s a rewarding experience regardless of what they shoot.”
