Panama City, Fla. – No. 21 Georgia Tech recorded a strong finish in the final round of stroke play on Saturday, battling wind and rain for half the round, to finish 54 holes tied for third and advance to match play at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. As been reminiscent this season, the Yellow Jackets saved the best for last, carding one of the lowest team rounds of the day with a 3-under-par 285 to finish with a three-round total of 862 (-2).
Tech, who has now advanced to match play the past five ACC Championships, will start the Sunday quarterfinals as the No. 4 seed against five-seed Florida State at 7:30 a.m. CT. The winner of that match will face the winner of No. 1 Stanford and No. 8 Duke in one semifinal afternoon match. On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 Virginia will face No. 7 Louisville, while No. 3 seed North Carolina will take on No. 6 Clemson. Those winners will face off in the other semifinal.
The semifinal winners square off in the championship match at 9 a.m. CT Monday.
The Jackets got off to a slow start on the back nine (Tech’s opening nine), but gained momentum as they approached the turn. Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) finished the back nine birdie-birdie-birdie, while both Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden) and Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) birdied two of the final three holes heading into the front nine. Tech carried momentum into the remainder of the round to secure a five-stroke improvement from round two and finished stroke play tied for third.
Fifteen teams are competing for the prestigious ACC title, which includes 54 holes of stroke play to determine eight teams that qualify for match play. Twelve teams entered the tournament ranked among the top 50 in the Scoreboard NCAA Rankings, with five of those, including the Yellow Jackets, ranked in the top 25.
The ACC Championship returned to the state of Florida for the third time in the history of the championship, and will be played at the Shark’s Tooth Golf Club (par 72, 7,199 yards) for the second time in five seasons. Georgia Tech has had success in ACC Championships played in Florida, capturing the title in 2001 and finishing runner-up in 2022.
Hiroshi Tai finished tied for 10th with a 54-hole total of 3-under-par 213.
TECH LINEUP – Finishing stroke play with consecutive rounds of 70, Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) remained steady all Saturday, playing a nearly flawless round. The senior recorded four birdies with bogeys on holes 18 and 9 to finish 2-under-par and climb into a tie for 10th with a 54-hole total of 3-under-par 213, just five strokes off the individual leader.
Making the largest individual improvement of the Jackets, Fontenot recorded a 2-under-par 70 for his best showing of the tournament. After opening with a pair of bogeys in the first six holes, Fontenot played the final 12 holes at 4-under, including three-straight birdies to close out the back nine, and played the front nine 1-under with a birdie on hole No. 3. With the round, Fontenot finished 54 holes at even (216) and tied for 20th.
Tran opened the tournament with a 2-over showing before recording back-to-back even-par rounds on Friday and Saturday. The senior posted five birdies on the day to finish tied for 22nd (218, +2) alongside teammate Hansson, who recorded two birdies over the final four holes to post a strong conclusion to the tournament. Georgia Tech had four top-25 individual finishes with Tai (t-10), Fontenot (t-20), Tran (t-22) and Hansson (t-22).
Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands) was 5-over on the day and did not count for the team score. Reuter tied for 62nd (226, +10).
LEADERBOARD SUMMARY – The top three teams after 36 holes maintained their positions on Saturday as No. 18 Stanford topped the team leaderboard at 20-under-par 844. No. 2 Virginia took second (860, -4), while No. 9 North Carolina and No. 21 Georgia Tech tied for third (862, -2). No. 24 Florida State finished fifth (863, -1) and was the final of five teams to finish 54 holes under par.
No. 32 Clemson was sixth (+1), followed by No. 35 Louisville (+2), while No. 31 Wake Forest and No. 27 Duke tied for eighth. Duke won the final spot in match play in a playoff against the Demon Deacons and will continue play on Sunday.
California’s Ziqin Zhou won a two-hole playoff to win individual honors as three golfers finished stroke play at 8-under-par 208. Duke’s Ethan Evans and Stanford’s Edan Cui all finished tied atop the individual leaderboard.
Kale Fontenot recorded his best round of stroke play on Saturday with a 2-under-par 70.
TECH’S ACC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Georgia Tech has won 19 ACC men’s golf championships, tying the Yellow Jackets with Wake Forest for the most titles in conference history. Tech’s titles have all come from 1985 to the present. Before the Demon Deacons outlasted the Jackets in the championship match in 2022, Wake Forest’s most recent title had occurred in 1989.
Tech has won the ACC Championship 11 times in the last 19 years, most recently in 2023. The 2020 ACC Tournament was not held after the 2020 spring season was cut short due to Covid-19.
Fourteen of Tech’s conference titles have come under head coach Bruce Heppler, 12 of those outright (1999, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2023) and two shared (2006, 2007).The Yellow Jackets have won five championships (1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994) under previous head coach Puggy Blackmon.
Twelve of Tech’s ACC titles have been won at the Old North State Club in New London, N.C., site of the event 22 of the last 28 years. The others took place at Bryan Park Golf Course in Greensboro, N.C. (1985), Northgreen Country Club in Rocky Mount, N.C. (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994), Disney’s Magnolia Course in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (2001) and the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C. (2023).
Georgia Tech has produced 11 ACC individual champions, including Bob McDonnell (1985), David Duval (1991, 1993), Mikko Rantanen (1994), Bryce Molder (2000), Cameron Tringale (2006), Chesson Hadley (2010), Paul Haley II (2011), Anders Albertson (2013, 2015) and Ollie Schniederjans (2014). Albertson and Duval are among five ACC players to have won two championships.
EVENT DETAILS
Atlantic Coast Conference Championship
- Dates: April 23-27 (54 holes of stroke play, low 4 of 5 scores count for team score each day, top 8 teams advance to match play)
- Venue: Shark’s Tooth Golf Club, Panama City, Fla. (par 72, 7,199 yards)
- Participating teams (15): Boston College, California (50), Clemson (32), Duke (27), Florida State (24), Georgia Tech (21), Louisville (35), NC State, North Carolina (9), Notre Dame (29), SMU (46), Stanford (18), Virginia (2), Virginia Tech, Wake Forest (31)
- Tech appearances (appearances): 47th (last in 2025)
- Best finish: 19 titles (most recent in 2023)
- Individual titles: 10 (most recent, Anders Alberton in 2015)
- Schedule (all times Central Daylight Time):
- Thursday – Stroke play round 1 (8 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
- Friday – Stroke play round 2 (8 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
- Saturday – Stroke play round 3 (8 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
- Sunday – Quarterfinal matches (7:30 a.m.) and semifinal matches (following quarterfinals)
- Monday – Championship match (9 a.m.)
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of the development of Yellow Jackets that thrive academically at the Institute and compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 31st year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 73 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 19 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 34 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up five times. Follow Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on X (@GTGolf) and Instagram. For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
