April 22, 2007
New London. N.C. –
Cameron Tringale tapped in a birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a tie with Virginia Tech Sunday, and the 12th-ranked Yellow Jackets came away with a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s golf championship for the second straight year.
The closing birdie finished off a 3-under-par 69 for the Tech sophomore, which paced Tech as it worked its way through a 4-under-par round of 284 at the 7,100-yard Old North State Club at Uwharrie Point. The Jackets needed every stroke after the Hokies rallied from fifth place with a 9-under-par round of 279 on Sunday.
Both teams finished the tournament at 10-under-par 854, four strokes ahead of Clemson (6-under 858). Florida State, led by medalist Jonas Blixt, rallied to tie for fourth place with Duke at 1-under 863.
Three Tech players finished among the top 10 individuals. Tringale, a sophomore from Laguna Niguel, Calif., followed his freshman year title with a second-place finish this time, posting a 54-hole total of 209, seven strokes under par and one back of Blixt, who tied a course record Sunday with a 65.
Senior Roberto Castro shot his second straight 72 Sunday and tied for fifth place a 3-under 213 in his final ACC Championship, while freshman Chesson Hadley tied for ninth at 1-under 215 after carding a 71 Sunday. Kevin Larsen, another senior, had an even-par 72 Sunday and tied for 19th place at 218, while sophomore Taylor Hall tied for 25th at 219 after a closing 74.
Tringale, whose birdie on the 18th hole last year forced a tie and a playoff with North Carolina, came to the 18th hole Sunday needing the same result, though he wasn’t quite sure where the Jackets stood.
“I found the scoreboard on 17, but I wasn’t sure whether Roberto (Castro) birdied 18 or not,” he said. “I was hoping he did, but in the back of my mind I knew (the 18th hole) would either be to tie or win, so I wanted to make birdie.”
He striped his drive down the middle and had 200 yards to the front of the green for his second shot, which he slightly mishit to leave his ball on the front fringe. With the pin in the back, he took a 7-iron and executed a pitch-and-run shot that nearly holed out. He tapped in from a foot-and-a-half for birdie, and the Jackets and Hokies were declared co-champions.
No playoff was held this year due after the ACC’s decision to eliminate playoff from all conference championships.
“[Trinagle] had two great shots, and he had worked on that chip in the practice round two or three times,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “A lot of these college guys want to run a sand wedge back there, but he took a 7-iron and hit a pitch-and-run, which was neat to see. He hit a great shot and made four, which is what you’re supposed to do.”
Tech has now won of shared 10 ACC titles, all dating back to 1985, two more than any other ACC school. It was the fifth ACC title, shared or outright, under head coach Bruce Heppler, and further demonstrated his team’s steady improvement since the fall. But the Tech coach didn’t lose sight of what the co-title means to the Hokies.
“I’m not sure I’d want to go back out there and play Virginia Tech (in a playoff),” Heppler said. “Sometimes in life things are supposed to work out the way they are supposed to. Their kids played an unbelievable event and had an unbelievable day.
“This is the best we’ve played all year. It’s a good motivator for us going into the regionals, so I’m real happy with the week. For [Virginia Tech] to take that trophy home will do their school and their athletic program a bunch of good. I’m happy for them. (Head coach) Jay (Hardwick) has done a great job. All you can do is do your best, and we ended up tied.”
Tringale echoed those sentiments, saying, “I think this means a lot for their school to have won this tournament after what happened last week. They played very well today.”
It was the highest finish of the year individually for Tringale, beating his tie for fifth place at the UH-Hilo Invitational. Castro posted his sixth straight top-10 finish, while Hadley’s tie for ninth was easily his best effort of the year.
Tech is off until May 17, when it hosts the NCAA East Regional at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta.
Complete results of the ACC men’s golf championship are available at Golfstat.com.
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPOld North State Club at Uwharrie Point, New London, N.C.Final Results
TEAM STANDINGS T1 Georgia Tech 287 283 284 – 854 (-10) T1 Virginia Tech 289 286 279 – 854 (-10) 3 Clemson 285 288 285 – 858 (-6) T4 Florida State 298 286 279 – 863 (-1) T4 Duke 286 286 291 – 863 (-1) 6 North Carolina 287 288 294 – 869 (+5) 7 NC State 295 295 284 – 874 (+10) 8 Wake Forest 293 292 291 – 876 (+12) 9 Virginia 293 292 293 – 878 (+14) 10 Maryland 300 303 307 – 910 (+46) 11 Boston College 310 307 296 – 913 (+49)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS 1 Jonas Blixt, Florida State 73 70 65 – 208 (-8) 2 Cameron Tringale, Georgia Tech 72 68 69 – 209 T3 Kyle Stanley, Clemson 68 72 70 – 210 T3 Ryan Sypniewski, Virginia Tech 68 75 67 – 210 T5 Roberto Castro, Georgia Tech 69 72 72 – 213 T5 Martin Ureta, North Carolina 69 70 74 – 213 T7 Tanner Ervin, Clemson 72 71 71 – 214 T7 Chris McCartin, Wake Forest 74 73 67 – 214 T9 Jake Grodzinsky, Duke 75 71 69 – 215 T9 Chesson Hadley, Georgia Tech 72 72 71 – 215 T9 Nathan Spoon, NC State 72 72 71 – 215 T12 David May, Clemson 72 72 72 – 216 T12 Michael Schachner, Duke 69 73 74 – 216 T12 Drew Weaver, Virginia Tech 75 71 70 – 216 T15 David Holzworth, North Carolina 70 72 75 – 217 T15 Adam Long, Duke 72 71 74 – 217 T15 Bob Reed, Boston College 71 71 75 – 217 T15 Jurrian van der Vaart, Virginia Tech 75 72 70 – 217 T19 Andrew Byrd, NC State 73 72 73 – 218 T19 Kevin Larsen, Georgia Tech 74 72 72 – 218 T19 Nick MacDonald, Virginia Tech 71 70 77 – 218 T19 Sean Moore, Wake Forest 76 69 73 – 218 T19 Torstein Naevestad, Florida State 74 72 72 – 218 T25 Taylor Hall, Georgia Tech 74 71 74 – 219
