THE FLATS – No. 19 Georgia Tech golf heads to the Georgia Lowcountry for its final spring tune-up this week before conference championships, making a repeat appearance in The Ford Collegiate. The two-day, 54-hole event will be played at The Ford Field & River Club on Monday and Tuesday.
The tournament, which is not open to the public, brings 12 teams and 12 individuals to Richmond Hill for the competitive tournament that features nine squads ranked in the top 25 of the latest Scoreboard Clipped Top-25 rankings. Headlining the field will be No. 1 Auburn, No. 4 Texas, No. 7 LSU, No. 16 Oklahoma, No. 19 Georgia Tech, No. 23 Georgia, No. 26 Notre Dame, No. 33 Wake Forest and No. 37 South Carolina. Rounding out the field are Army West Point, Augusta, and host, No. 54 Georgia Southern.
The Yellow Jackets are making their second consecutive appearance in the tournament after finishing seventh last year. Albert Hansson and Kale Fontenot both posted top-50 finishes in the tournament with Hansson tying for 33rd and Fontenot finishing in a tie for 37th. As a team, Tech posted a 2-over-par score of 282 and finished 19 strokes off team champion, Texas (277, -3).
Head coach Bruce Heppler’s team, which picked up a victory this season at the Pauma Valley Invitational last month, is coming off a 14th-place finish at The Goodwin to close the month of March. The Yellow Jackets made significant improvement on the final day, carding the lowest round of the day to make the biggest leap on the team leaderboard for a top-15 finish.
The Ford Collegiate will utilize a split-tee start format each day, playing 36 holes Monday and 18 holes Tuesday, with competition beginning at 7:45 am ET both days. The individual champion of the 2026 Ford Collegiate will receive an exemption into the 2027 Club Car Championship at The Landings & Athletic Club in Savannah, Ga. The Club Car Championship is one of the premier events on the Korn Ferry Tour each year.
TECH LINEUP – Georgia Tech will travel the same starting five lineup to the Georgia coast: Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.), Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden), Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands) and Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.). Brady Rackley IV (Atlanta, Ga.) will compete as an individual.
Tai and Tran both finished The Goodwin tied for 44th (+2) and own three top-20 finishes this season – Tran’s coming all in top-10 style. Hansson also owns three top-20 finishes, including a pair of top-10 appearances in the fall, highlighted by winning the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational in a playoff
EVENT DETAILS
The Ford Collegiate
- Dates: April 13-14 (stroke play, 54 holes, low 4 of 5 scores count for team score each round)
- Format: 36 continuous holes Monday off holes 1 and 10 beginning 7:45 am; 18 holes Tuesday off holes 1 and 10 beginning 7:45 am
- Venue: The Ford Field & River Club (par 70, 7,259 yards)
- Participating teams (12): Army West Point, No. 1 Auburn, Augusta, No. 23 Georgia, No. 54 Georgia Southern, No. 19 Georgia Tech, No. 7 LSU, No. 26 Notre Dame, No. 16 Oklahoma, No. 37 South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 33 Wake Forest
- Tech appearances (appearances): Second (2025 finished 7th place)
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 74 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.
