Sept. 25, 2001
ATLANTA — The Georgia Tech golf team will begin its quest for an eighth ACC Championship and another top-tier finish at the NCAA Championships this weekend when the Yellow Jackets travel to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the Ping/Golfweek Preview Inviational, September 28-30. The 54-hole event will be contested at 7,221-yard, par-72 Scarlet Course on the campus of Ohio State University. The course will also be the site of the 2002 NCAA Championships, May 29-June 1. The Yellow Jackets return three All-Americans in junior Troy Matteson and seniors Kris Mikkelsen and Matt Weibring, and welcome a talented rookie class to the roster this season. Tech will be looking to make up for the loss of Bryce Molder, who graduated from Tech last spring as one of the most successful collegiate golfers in Georgia Tech and NCAA history. Despite the loss of Molder, the Jackets have been ranked as high as third in the nation by the preseason polls and will once again be among the favorites for the ACC and NCAA title. Competing in the Preview for Tech will be Matteson, Mikkelsen and Weibring, all of whom have experience playing in the event, with Mikkelsen and Weibring competing last year and Matteson playing in 1999. Matteson was second on the team a year ago in scoring average, finishing the year with a 72.45 average to earn third-team All-America honors, while Mikkelsen was third at 73.54, and Weibring was fourth at 73.74. Joining that trio in the Tech contingent will be junior Adam Cranford, who was the Jackets’ second individual finisher in the Preview a year ago, tying for 42nd place at 77-74-151. The final Yellow Jacket in the field will be freshman Chan Wongluekiet, who qualified for his first tournament at Tech and will bring with him an extensive list of junior golf credentials along with the experience of being one of four Yellow Jackets to compete in the U.S. Amateur this past summer. The tournament will feature one of the top fields that Tech will see all season, as all of the nation’s top 11 teams will be competing. Included in that list will be defending national champion Florida and Georgia, which spent much of the 2001 season as the nation’s top-ranked team. Also in the field will be perennial NCAA contenders Arizona, Arizona State, Clemson and Oklahoma State. Live scoring of the event will be available at live.golfstat.com, beginning on Friday morning. Georgia Tech results will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com at the conclusion of each round.
