March 6, 2008
ATLANTA – All-Americans Chesson Hadley and Cameron Tringale lead Georgia Tech’s sixth-ranked golf team into its third tournament of the spring, the Southern Highlands Collegiate, which begins Friday in Las Vegas, Nev.
The Yellow Jackets are competing in the event, held at the 7,510-yard, par 72 Southern Highlands Golf Club, for the 10th straight year. Tech, however, has not finished higher than a tie for sixth since it captured back-to-back victories in 2001 and 2002. The Jackets tied for eighth last year.
The strong 15-team field includes top-ranked Georgia, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Charlotte and No. 5 UCLA, No. 7 Southern California and No. 10 Florida, who will compete along with Air Force, Arizona, Arizona State Hawaii, Minnesota, Texas, Texas A&M and host UNLV. The tournament last 54 holes over three days, concluding Sunday.
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“Chesson has played very well for us all year, and Cameron has begun to play like the All-American he is,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “I’m looking forward to getting more consistent play from our 3-4-5 players.”
Hadley, a sophomore from Raleigh, N.C., enters the Southern Highlands Collegiate ranked No. 4 in the nation in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. He is riding a streak of seven nine consecutive top-10 finishes in team stroke play events. He tied for sixth place at the Puerto Rico Classic (66-72-74) and tied for ninth at the UH-Hilo Invitational (68-66-69) and leads the Yellow Jackets in stroke average at 69.78 for the year.
Tringale, a junior from Laguna Niguel, Calif., has begun to pick up his play after an inconsistent fall, finishing fourth at Hilo and tying for 17th at Puerto Rico. He has a 71.83 stroke average for the year, 69.50 for the spring.
Also competing for the Jackets are Taylor Hall, a junior from LaGrange, Ga., David Dragoo, a junior from Scottsdale, Ariz., and John Tyler Griffin, a red-shirt freshman from Wilson, N.C.
Hall, who had a pair of top-20 finishes in the fall, rallied from a poor first round to close 71-68 at Puerto Rico and has a 73.17 stroke average. Dragoo, whose top finish this year was a tie for 21st at the fall Brickyard Collegiate, averages 73.93 in five events. Griffin, who played in two fall events, makes his spring debut after outlasting Daniel Bowden in an 18-hole qualifying round Monday.
