April 6, 2018
Georgia Tech Golf Heads to N.C. for Irish Creek Collegiate April 6, 2018
THE FLATS – Aiming to firm up its postseason lineup and go into the Atlantic Coast Conference championship with some momentum, Georgia Tech’s No. 3/4 golf team returns to action this weekend at the Cabarrus County Irish Creek Collegiate, which runs Saturday and Sunday at The Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, N.C.
Pairings and Live Scoring via Golfstat
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION — Georgia Tech is making its first appearance in the Cabarrus County Irish Creek Collegiate, which is in its ninth year. The two-day 54-hole event will begin with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start Saturday morning on the par-71, 7,099-yard layout. Following 36 holes on the opening day, Sunday’s final round will also tee off at 8:30 a.m.
In addition to the co-hosts Charlotte and Davidson, the 15-team field will feature Akron, Clemson (No. 15), Dartmouth, Dayton, Georgia Tech (No. 4), Indiana, James Madison, Kansas (No. 35, Middle Tennessee State, UNCG, North Florida (No. 29), West Virginia and VCU. Four of the participating teams are ranked in the top-50 of the current Golfstat rankings, while six competitors sit inside the top-100 individually.
TEAM UPDATE — Georgia Tech remains No. 3 in the latest Golfstat rankings and No. 4 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Index after finishing fourth in its last outing at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational in Palm City, Fla., an event which attracted 13 teams from the nation’s top 50. The Yellow Jackets have a victory at the General James Hackler Championship, a fifth-place finish at the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawai’i and a fourth-place finish at the Puerto Rico Classic this spring after posting a pair of wins and a runner-up finish in four fall events.
Tech owns a 90-14-4 overall win-loss record this year, including a 50-14-4 mark against top-50 teams. The Yellow Jackets have been remarkably consistent and balanced in its lineup, ranking second nationally in lowest dropped score (74.81), and only three individuals have finished outside the top 50 in eight tournaments in 2017-18.
TECH LINEUP — Georgia Tech’s top six players are ranked between No. 36 and No. 115 in the latest Golfstat rankings — (36), (51), (57), (82), (88) and (115). Among those, Petefish has the lone individual victory this year, that coming at the General Hackler Championship. They have 12 combined top-10 finishes and all six average between 71.29 and 73.00 strokes per round.
All five Tech individuals at the Valspar finished between 13th (Norton, Ogletree) and 31st place, four of the five placed between first and 22nd at the Hackler (Petefish, Norton, Ogletree, Schniederjans), and Norton, Petefish and Strafaci all tied for seventh at Puerto Rico.
All six will travel this weekend to the Irish Creek Intercollegiate, with Joiner competing as an individual.
COACH SAYS — “We’ve been playing and qualifying since Jan. 15, and this team performed well in Florida and in Myrtle Beach. We have an individual spot this weekend, so we added Jacob for this trip. It will be a challenging situation. We’ve got guys who played great in the fall, guys who played great in the spring, and others who have been more consistent. It’s another chance for someone to shake things up or firm up their spot. The better the team you have, sometimes the process takes longer because the difference between the fifth and sixth guy is almost immeasurable.”
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
