Four Yellow Jackets Named to All-ACC Golf Team

Luke Schniederjans, ranked 65th in the nation, made the All-ACC team for the second time.

Greensboro, N.C. – Georgia Tech’s Noah Norton, Chris Petefish, Luke Schniederjans and Tyler Strafaci have been named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Team, and head coach Bruce Heppler has been named ACC Coach of the Year as announced Thursday by the conference office.

The Tech foursome are among fifteen student-athletes who were honored on the all-conference team. Schniederjans earned the honor for the second time. While Norton, Petefish and Strafaci made the team for the first time. In leading the Yellow Jackets to the 2018 ACC title, the 17th in program history, Heppler was named ACC Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his 23-year tenure on The Flats. NC State’s Stephen Franken was named the ACC Player of the Year, while Florida State’s John Pak was named the ACC Freshman of the Year.

Norton (ranked No. 49 in Golfstat and No. 63 in Golfstat), Strafaci (53/64) and Schniederjans (65/82) earned automatic spots on the team with their national ranking. Petefish, ranked No. 93 in Golfstat and No. 94 in Golfweek/Sagarin, earned his way onto the team via a vote of the ACC’s 12 coaches.

Norton, a freshman from Chico Calif., leads the Yellow Jackets with four top-10 finishes, including a tie for second at the General Hackler Championship this spring, and is second on the team with a stroke average of 71.56. Strafaci, a sophomore from Davie, Fla., has the Jackets’ best stroke average at 71.52, with a pair of top-10 finishes and a tie for 12th at the ACC Championship. Schniederjans, a sophomore from Powder Springs, Ga., ranks third on Tech’s team with a 71.77 stroke average, has six top-20 finishes this year and also tied for 12th at the ACC Championship. Petefish, whose birdie on the 18th hole in the final round clinched the ACC title for the Yellow Jackets, is the team’s only tournament winner this year, having won the General Hackler.

Tech’s four tournament victories this year bring to 53 the total number of titles earned by the Jackets under Heppler, whose nine conference coach of the year honors are the most for any coach since 1980. He has coached Tech to 12 of its 17 ACC titles.

This is the 24th time since 1985 that Tech has had multiple players make the All-ACC team, and the four honorees match the most in team history (2005, 2011, 2018). The selections of Norton, Petefish and Strafaci bring to 36 the number of Yellow Jacket golfers who have made the All-ACC team at least once during their careers. Tech’s 70 all-time All-ACC selections trail only Clemson and Wake Forest, who are charter members of the conference.

Tech, which is ranked fourth in the nation by Golfstat and has won four tournaments this season, including the ACC Championship, begins NCAA Championship play Monday with the opening round of the NCAA Raleigh Regional in Raleigh, N.C.

The All-ACC Team, Player, and Freshman of the Year were decided by a combination of the Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin rankings in conjunction with a vote of the league’s 12 head coaches, while Coach of the Year was selected by a vote of the coaches.

ACC Player of the Year
Stephen Franken, NC State

Freshman of the Year
John Pak, Florida State

Coach of the Year
Bruce Heppler, Georgia Tech

2017-18 Men’s Golf All-ACC Team
Bryson Nimmer, Clemson
Turk Pettit, Clemson
Doc Redman, Clemson
Alex Smalley, Duke
Harry Ellis, Florida State
John Pak, Florida State
Noah Norton, Georgia Tech
Chris Petefish, Georgia Tech
Luke Schniederjans, Georgia Tech
Tyler Strafaci, Georgia Tech
Ben Griffin, North Carolina
Stephen Franken, NC State
Thomas Walsh, Virginia
Mark Lawrence, Virginia Tech
Cameron Young, Wake Forest

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 23rd under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 53 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 17 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 32 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) and Instagram. For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.