March 23, 2016
Palm City, Fla. – In a field full of heavyweight teams, Georgia Tech faded to a 21-over-par score of 305 Tuesday and finished in 14th place at the Valspar Collegiate Invitational at The Floridian National Golf Club.
TECH LINEUP — Tech was unable to follow up a promising second round with a good final 18 holes, posting a 21-over-par 305. Vincent Whaley shot a 72 (+1) for the low Yellow Jackets’ score, while James Clark carded a 77 and Chris Petefish and Michael Pisciotta each shot 78. Jacob Joiner did not count with an 80.
TEAM LEADERBOARD — Eighth-ranked Texas led start-to-finish, posting a final-round 285 Tuesday for a 54-hole total of 855 (+3), five strokes clear of 22 LSU, which made a run at the Longhorns Tuesday by firing a 5-under-par 279 to finish at 860 (+8). No. 29 Texas A&M and No. 13 Oklahoma State finished in a distance tie for third at 871 (+19). No. 18 South Carolina and No. 3 Illinois were another three strokes back at 874 (+22).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD — Zach Wright of LSU and and Chandler Phillips of Texas A&M each shot 1-under-par 70 on Tuesday and finished 54 holes in a tie for first at 2-under-par 211. Wright won medalist honors in a playoff.
Texas’ Doug Grim and LSU’s Luis Gagne tied for third at 1-under-par 212. Thomas Detry and Charlie Danielson of Illinois and Matthew NeSmith of South Carolina tied for fifth at even-par 213. Whaley was the high finisher for the Yellow Jackets, tying for 36th place at 222 (+9).
COACH Bruce Heppler SAYS — “It was a difficult couple of days for us and I’m not real happy about the way we competed. It was a big-time field and a tough golf course for sure, but we’ve got a lot of work to do in order to achieve some success this spring.”
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION — Georgia Tech made its third appearance in the Valspar Invitational, which began two years ago and has become one of the spring’s premier events at one of Florida’s top golf venues. It is played at the 7,114-yard, par 71 Floridian National Golf Club, part of The Floridian Resort and Spa.
All 15 teams competing at the 2016 Valspar Collegiate Invitational are ranked among the top 50 in the latest Golfstat national rankings with four of the top 10 and 10 of the top 25. The field includes #3 Illinois, #5 Florida State, #7 Florida, #8 Texas, #11 Clemson, #13 Oklahoma State, #17 USF, #18 South Carolina, #22 LSU, #23 Arkansas, #29 Texas A&M, #36 Houston,#38 Memphis, #45 Georgia Tech and #48 Kent State.
The Yellow Jackets finished 10th in last year’s Valspar event, posting a 21-over-par score of 871, after winning the inaugural event in 2014 (13-under-par 837). Ollie Schniederjans won medalist honors at the 2014 tournament.
NEXT – Tech returns to action Saturday in the FarmLinks Collegiate Match Play in Sylacauga, Ala. The Yellow Jackets will face 15th-ranked Vanderbilt in the morning semifinal, while No. 4 Auburn and No. 12 Alabama square off in the other. The winners and losers will play each other in the afternoon.
