March 25, 2016
Sylacauga, Ala. – Georgia Tech’s golf team finishes off its spring break schedule Saturday when it competes in the FarmLinks Collegiate Match Play Championship in Sylacauga, Ala. The Yellow Jackets take on Vanderbilt in the opening match, and either Alabama or Auburn in the afternoon.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – The FarmLinks Collegiate Match Play brings together Tech, ranked 44th in the nation in Golfstat, No. 4 Auburn, No. 12 Alabama and No. 15 Vanderbilt in a one-day, two-round tournament at FarmLinks Golf Club at Pursell Farms. Tech will face Vanderbilt in one semifinal, and Alabama will take on Auburn in the other, with the winners and losers facing off against each other for the championship and third place.
The event is similar to one Tech hosted and won in 2014 at the Capital City Club Crabapple Course in Milton, Ga., which each team entering a six-player lineup. The matches are structured similar to those at the NCAA Championship, with each team’s No. 6 player facing each other, followed by their No. 5 players and so on. Scoring will also be the same, with each individual match counting one point toward the team score.
TEAM UPDATE – The match play event is a quick turnaround for the Yellow Jackets, who finished 14th out of a 15-team field that include all top-50 teams and 10 of the top 25 nationally. The Yellow Jackets’ top finisher was junior Vincent Whaley (McKinney, Texas), who tied for 36th.
Joining Whaley at the FarmLinks match play are junior Michael Hines (Acworth, Ga.), sophomores James Clark (Columbus, Ga.), Jacob Joiner (Leesburg, Ga.) and Chris Petefish (Danville, Calif.) and freshman Tyler Joiner (Leesburg, Ga.).
HEAD COACH Bruce Heppler SAYS – “It looks like the course is in good shape coming out of the winter. The greens look like they’re in good shape. We want to see our guys compete well. The other three teams here have had very good years. Hopefully we can get some wind at our backs and send things the other way headed into the next few weeks.”
