July 2, 2015
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech has been ranked in the top 10 of both final major golf rankings, the 11th consecutive season in which the Yellow Jackets have earned a final top-10 ranking in at least one of those polls.
Tech’s final ranking for 2014-15 mirrored its NCAA Championship finish, No. 9 in both the Golfstat ratings and Golfweek/Sagarin Index. Since 2000, the Jackets have finished the spring ranked in the top 10 of at least one poll every year but one (No. 12 and 13 in 2003), and in both polls 13 times.
Head coach Bruce Heppler’s 20th Tech team won four tournaments, including the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship for the eighth time in the last 10 years. The Yellow Jackets also won the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate in the spring, and the DICK’S Sporting Goods Challenge Cup and Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational events in the fall.
Seven of Tech’s regular-season spring tournaments have featured at least eight teams which were ranked among the top 50 in the nation, against whom the Jackets had an 82-36-3 record this year. Tech’s schedule was ranked the ninth-most difficult in the nation according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Index.
MORE HONORS FOR ALBERTSON, SCHNIEDERJANS
• Ollie Schniederjans was named a first-team All-American for the second time by the Golf Coaches Association of America and by Golfweek magazine. Anders Albertson earned honorable mention honors by both organizations.
• Schniederjans was named to the Golf Coaches Association of America’s All-Nicklaus team for the second straight year. The All-Nicklaus team is composed of the top 24 players in the nation during the past collegiate season from Divisions I, II, III, NAIA and NJCAA.
• Albertson was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the third Tech player to win that honor since it was instituted in 2005, joining Schniederjans (2014) and James White (2011, 2012). Albertson also was named a third-team Capital One Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
• For the third time in four years, every member of the Tech starting five for the post-season was named to the ACC All-Academic golf team. Albertson and Schniederjans were named for the fourth time in their four years at Tech.
SUMMER AMATEUR UPDATE
• Rising junior Vincent Whaley and four other current Tech players are competing in this week’s Dogwood Invitational being held at Druid Hills Golf Club just east of downtown Atlanta. Joining him are sophomores Chris Petefish and James Clark, both of whom were in the Jackets’ starting five at the NCAA Championship, junior Michael Hines and sophomore Jacob Joiner. Also in the field is two-time All-American Kris Mikkelsen, who graduated from Tech in 2002. The 72-hole event runs through Saturday. The last Tech player or alumnus to win the Dogwood was Charlie Harrison in 1966.
• Whaley, the Yellow Jackets’ highest finisher at the NCAA Championship last month, has earned top-10 finishes in both amateur events he has entered this summer. The McKinney, Texas native tied for ninth place at the Monroe Invitational in Pittsford, N.Y. (283, +3) and tied for eighth place in the Southeastern Amateur in Columbus, Ga. (277, -7).
• Incoming freshman Tyler Joiner of Leesburg, Ga., younger brother of Tech’s rising sophomore Jacob, also tied for eighth with Whaley at the Southeastern Amateur.
Honorary starters Ben Raney, Larry Mize & Charlie Harrison tee off day 1 of the #Dogwood2015 at Druid Hills pic.twitter.com/Nh3xlxQjN0
— The Dogwood (@thedogwoodinv) July 1, 2015
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
Georgia Tech’s golf team has completed its 20th year under head coach Bruce Heppler. The Yellow Jackets have won 16 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 28 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up four times. Connect with Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on Twitter (@GT_Golf). For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
