Oct. 21, 2005
ATLANTA – With a victory and a runner-up finish in two events this fall, Georgia Tech’s No. 2-ranked golf team competes against another top-quality field beginning Sunday in the Isleworth-UCF Invitational golf tournament in Windermere, Fla.
The second annual event includes seven of the nation’s top 10 teams from the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, including defending national champion Georgia, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 UNLV, No. 8 Duke, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 10 UCLA, and is being contested at Isleworth Country Club outside of Orlando, better known as the home of PGA Tour stars Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara.
The tournament consists of 18-hole rounds Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, with live scoring of the event available at Golfstat.com.
The Yellow Jackets finished third in the inaugural event last fall, nine shots behind Georgia and one behind Oklahoma State. All-American Roberto Castro was Tech’s top finisher, placing fourth with a four-under-par score of 212.
“It’s nice to play there,” said Tech coach Bruce Heppler. “UCF has put a lot of resources behind its program in the last few years, and hosting this tournament is one of the things they are doing to boost their profile. Tiger was around a little bit last year, as was Mark O’Meara, and that was a great thing for the players. The course is tough (7,425 yards, course rating of 77.5), which is what they want, and we want to play on tough courses as well.”
Castro, a junior from Alpharetta, Ga., and Tech’s stroke average leader at 69.67 this fall, heads the traveling squad coming off a third-place finish at the Golfweek Preview Invitational and a tie for 11th at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate. Kevin Larsen, a junior from Santa Barbara, Calif., who has emerged as a key player after two uneven years, has a 70.17 stroke average for Tech following a pair of top-10 finishes and also is making the trip.
Castro is ranked eighth nationally in the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin ratings, Larsen is 17th.
“Kevin was a wonderful junior player and has great passion for what he does,” said Heppler. “He got off to a great start for us as a freshman, then got a little sideways after he tried to make some swing changes. But before the fall began we said his performance was one of the things we needed to be nationally competitive.”
Mike Barbosa, a senior from St. Petersburg, Fla., freshman Cameron Tringale of Laguna Niguel, Calif., and red-shirt freshman Adam Cohan of Wayne, Pa., complete the Tech team for this event.
Barbosa has played solidly with a 72.83 stroke average in Tech’s two events, while Tringale led the Yellow Jackets at the Jerry Pate National by tying for fourth place at six-under-par 207. Cohan, who qualified for the U.S. Amateur in August, is making his first collegiate start, replacing Taylor Hall in the lineup.
