Sept. 27, 2004
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s golf team finished its first fall tournament in solid fashion Monday, posting a five-over-par 285 to take runner-up honors at the Ping/Golfweek Preview at Owings Mills, Md.
The tournament was played at the 7,124-yard, par 72 Caves Valley Golf Club, which is the site of the 2005 NCAA Men’s Division I Championship.
The Yellow Jackets, ranked No. 2 by Golf World magazine and No. 8 by Golfweek magazine, the tournament sponsor, finished four shots behind No. 5 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys shot 284 Monday for a 54-hole total of 848, eight over par, while Tech finished at 12-over-par 852.
Georgia was another nine shots back in third place (861) after posting the day’s best score, one-under-par 279, followed by Texas and top-ranked Florida (862), Arizona State (863), TCU (864), Kentucky (866), UNLV (868) and Pepperdine (877).
Led by sophomore Roberto Castro, who shot 71 Monday and tied for seventh at one-over-par 211, Tech placed three golfers in the top 20 and came within a shot of placing four. Senior Chan Song (70 – 214) tied for 12th place, while junior Mike Barbosa (73 – 215) tied for 16th, and senior Nicholas Thompson closed with a 73 to tie for 24th at 218. Junior Thomas Jordan tied for 27th, posting a 72 Monday for a 54-hole total of 219.
“You come up here first to win the tournament, and two, is get a feel for the golf course, and three, to have as many guys leave the golf course with as positive a feeling for the it as you can,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “We accomplished two out of those three, and we were one shot from putting four guys in the top 20. It’s a good start for us to do this against the best of the best. So besides winning, we did everything we wanted.”
Oklahoma State freshman Pablo Martin won medalist honors in his collegiate debut, firing rounds of 69, 66 and 71 for a four-under-par total of 206, two shots better than Matthew Rosenfeld of Texas. Defending national champion and U.S. Amateur champion Ryan Moore of UNLV tied for third at 209 after carding a 66 Monday.
Tech returns to action Oct. 11-12 in the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate in Birmingham, Ala.
PING/GOLFWEEK PREVIEWCaves Valley Golf Club, Owings Mills, Md.Final Results
TEAM STANDINGS Oklahoma State 284 – 848 Georgia Tech 285 – 852 Georgia 279 – 861 Texas 289 – 862 Florida 288 – 862 Arizona State 286 – 863 Texas Christian 297 – 864 Kentucky 279 – 866 UNLV 286 – 868 Pepperdine 288 – 877 Clemson 297 – 882 California 285 – 884 Arizona 295 – 884 UCLA 293 – 884 Loyola College 304 – 917
TOP INDIVIDUALS Pablo Martin, Oklahoma State 71 – 206 Matthew Rosenfeld, Texas 67 – 208 Ryan Moore, UNLV 66 – 209 Jesse Mueller, Arizona State 71 – 209 Matt Every, Florida 60 – 210 Michael Putnam, Pepperdine 69 – 210 Roberto Castro, Georgia Tech 71 – 211 Tyler Leon, Oklahoma State 69 – 211 Matthew Mills, Texas 70 – 211
GEORGIA TECH PLAYERS Roberto Castro (T-7th) 68-72-71 – 211 Chan Song (T-12th) 71-73-70 – 214 Mike Barbosa (T-16th) 74-68-73 – 215 Nicholas Thompson (T-24th) 71-74-73 – 218 Thomas Jordan (T-27th) 78-70-71 – 219
Complete results, including player scorecards, are available at Golfstatresults.com.
