Nov. 9, 2005
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s golf team, ranked third in the nation, completes its fall schedule this weekend in the Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championship at the Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
The annual event, which invites 16 teams based on last year’s national championship finish, is being contested on the El Campeon Course at Mission Inn. The Yellow Jackets, seeded third, meet Missouri, the 14th seed, in the opening round Friday. The winner meets the winner of Arizona State and New Mexico in the second round of the double-elimination tournament.
Match progress can be followed at Golfstat.com.
Georgia is the top seed and will meet in-state foe Georgia Southern in the first round. The winner will face the victor of the 8-9 match between Tennessee and Georgia State. Fourth-seeded Duke vs. Arizona and fifth-seeded Wake Forest against Augusta State completes the top half of the bracket. Seventh-seeded Kentucky squares off against Coastal Carolina. Defending Match Play champion and second-seeded Oklahoma State battles Stanford in the final first-round match.
Senior Mike Barbosa and the Yellow Jackets’ four freshmen – Adam Cohan, David Dragoo, Taylor Hall and Cameron Tringale – will form Tech’s team for this event. Barbosa and Tringale have played in all four of the Jackets’ fall events, with Tringale posting one top-10 finish. Hall has played in two events, notching one top-10 finish, while Cohan and Dragoo have played in one tournament each.
The Jackets’ two leading players in scoring average, juniors Kevin Larsen (four top-10 finishes) and Roberto Castro (four top-20s), will not play this weekend.
“Things are winding down, and these guys have been going at it since January, including their summer golf,” said Tech coach Bruce Heppler of leaving his top twp players home. “But it’s a really neat event, and our guys enjoy playing it. It’s school-on-school, and you get to play a guy straight up. It has great possibilities for creating rivalries. And I’m looking forward to seeing our four freshmen play in a really competitive environment.”
The Yellow Jackets advanced to the finals of this event last fall and lost to Oklahoma State in the finals.
Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championship
Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort – El Campeon Course
Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
First-Round Matches #1 Georgia vs. #16 Georgia Southern #8 Tennessee vs. #9 Georgia State #4 Duke vs. #13 Arizona #5 Wake Forest vs. #12 Augusta State #3 Georgia Tech vs. #14 Missouri #6 Arizona State vs. #11 New Mexico #7 Kentucky vs. #10 Coastal Carolina #2 Oklahoma State vs. #15 Stanford
