Tech Takes Commanding Lead at ACC Golf ChampionshipTech Takes Commanding Lead at ACC Golf Championship
Men's Golf

Tech Takes Commanding Lead at ACC Golf Championship

No. 8 Yellow Jackets lead by 17 shots after 36 holes, Andy Ogletree on top of individual leaderboard

Pairings and Live Scoring via Golfstat  |  Watch Online Saturday (1 p.m.)  |  Coach Heppler post-round audio

New London, N.C. – Andy Ogletree fired rounds of 66 and 65 Thursday to take the individual lead and lift No. 8 Georgia Tech to a commanding 17-stroke advantage after 36 holes at Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Championship at the Old North State Club.

The teams played 36 holes Thursday to avoid inclement and possibly severe weather forecast for the Badin Lake area Friday. No golf will take place Friday, and the final 18-hole round will take place Saturday as scheduled, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Tech is defending its 2018 title and bidding for its 18th all-time, which would tie Wake Forest for the most in conference history.

TECH LINEUP – Ogletree’s 6-under-par 66 led a morning round of 276 (-12) for the Yellow Jackets, who also counted a 5-under-par 67 from Tyler Strafaci, a 1-under-par 71 from Luke Schniederjans and an even-par 72 from freshman Connor Howe.

His 7-under 65 in the afternoon enabled Tech to post an 18-under-par round of 270 as Howe and Noah Norton each carded 68s and Schniederjans followed with a 69.

Ogletree recorded eight birdies in each round, leading the field with 16 for the day, while the Yellow Jackets piled up 45 for the 36-hole day. Howe jump-started his afternoon round with a pair of eagles at the first two par-5 holes, and Schniederjans finished his second round with one at 18. Tech played the par-5 holes in 25-under-par to lead the field.

TEAM LEADERBOARD – The Yellow Jackets’ 30-under-par total of 546 is 17 shots clear of a three-way tie between Duke, Florida State and Virginia, all at 13-under-par 563. Wake Forest, which shot 2-over in the first round, bounced back with a 12-under round in the afternoon and is in fifth place at 566 (-10).

Clemson and Virginia Tech are tied for sixth place at 6-under-par 570, while NC State (573, -3) and Notre Dame (574, -2) are also under par through 36 holes.

Tech’s all-time best score in the ACC Tournament is 831 (33-under-par), which is also the tournament record, in winning the 2011 title.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Ogletree’s 13-under-par 131 is three shots clear of Florida State’s John Pak, who shot a pair of 67s Thursday for a 10-under-par total of 134. In addition to Ogletree, Georgia Tech has three other players under par for the tournament, including Howe, Strafaci and Schniederjans, all tied for eighth place at 4-under-par 140.

Virginia’s David Morgan is third (-8, 136), one shot ahead of Clemson’s Bryson Nimmer (-7, 137) and Notre Dame’s Miguel Delgado (-7, 137). Defending medalist Thomas Walsh of Virginia is tied for sixth with Wake Forest’s Alex Fitzpatrick at -5. The last player to win the tournament in back-to-back years was Louisville’s Robin Sciot-Siegrist in 2015-16.

HEAD COACH BRUCE HEPPLER AUDIO

 

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – The 66th annual Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Championship runs through Saturday at the Old North State Club in New London, N.C., which has hosted the event 22 of the last 25 years. Old North State is a 7,102-yard, par 72 layout adjacent to Badin Lake, about 50 miles north of Charlotte, N.C.

The championship is contested over 54 holes, 18 each day beginning at 9 a.m. off holes 1 and 10. Seeding for the championship is based on Golfstat rankings: eight ACC teams are ranked in the Golfstat Top 30, with Wake Forest leading the way at No. 3 followed by No. 8 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Duke, No. 18 Clemson, No. 21 Louisville, No. 23 North Carolina, No. 26 NC State, and No. 29 Florida State.

Eleven of Georgia Tech’s 17 ACC men’s golf championships have been won at the Old North State Club, most recently in 2018, when the Yellow Jackets won the title by two strokes over Clemson. Wake Forest leads all schools with 18 league titles and 22 individual champions. Tech, which has won 15 outright ACC Championships and shared two more, has produced 11 individual medalists since joining the conference in 1979. North Carolina is third with 11 titles (10 outright), followed by Clemson with 10 (nine outright) and Duke with nine.