Tech Golf Finishes 4th at Watersound Invitational

Panama City Beach, Fla. – Benjamin Reuter carded a pair of 3-under-par rounds of 69 Tuesday, and 14^th-ranked Georgia Tech shot a 13-under-ar total of 275 for its final round and finished in fourth place at the Watersound Invitational.

With inclement weather in the forecast for Wednesday, the 12 teams played 36 holes Tuesday, and the Yellow Jackets were 15-under-par in their two trips round the Shark’s Tooth Golf Course. Their 13-under-par 275 in the closing round has been bettered only three times in 16 rounds this year.

Tech, which completed the 54 holes at 12-under-par 852, finished 14 strokes behind tournament champion and co-host Florida State. The Seminoles had the best round of the day (15-under-par 273) and turned in a 26-under-par total of 838 for the tournament.

Reuter, a redshirt junior from Naarden, The Netherlands, posted his third top-10 finish of the year, ending in a tie for fourth place at 6-under-par 210, four shots behind FSU’s Luke Clanton.

The Yellow Jackets return to action March 2-4 at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas, Nev.

 

Benjamin Reuter notched his third top-10 finish of the year. (photo by Ross Obley)

 

TECH LINEUP – Reuter overcame three double-bogeys with 14 birdies in his 36 holes Tuesday, carding 69 in each round. His tie for fourth was his second-highest finish of the year behind his runner-up effort in the fall at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational. He led the tournament with 18 birdies over 54 holes, and was third in par-5 scoring (-8).

Sophomore Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) posted Tech’s best round of the day, a 5-under-par 67 in the afternoon, and wound up in a tie for 22^nd individually at 214 (-2) along with freshman Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden), who posted a finishing 70. Junior Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) shot 69 in the afternoon and tied for 30^th place at level-par 216.

Defending NCAA Champion Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) shot 72-73 Tuesday and tied for 63^rd at 227 (+11).

Junior Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) turned in a solid tournament competing as an individual, firing rounds of 70-71 Tuesday to tie for 22^nd place at 214 (-2). Freshman Didrik Ringvall Bengtsson (Stockholm, Sweden) tied for 72^nd place at 235 (+19).

LEADERBOARD SUMMARY – No. 33 Florida State (838, -26) had the tournament medalist – Luke Clanton (206, -10) – and two other players finish in the top 10 to produce a nine-stroke victory over No. 24 Alabama (847, -17), whose team included the two runners-up in Jones Free and Jonathan Griz, who both shot 7-under-par 209.

No. 12 UCLA (851, -13) finished third followed by Tech at 852 (-12) and No. 11 Vanderbilt in fifth at 853 (-11).

Reuter tied for fourth with Vanderbilt’s Jackson Van Paris at 210 (-6). Twenty-nine of the tournament’s 77 individuals finished under par.

 

EVENT DETAILS

Watersound Invitational

• Dates: February 17-19 (stroke play, 54 holes)
• Format: 18 holes Monday (10 a.m. EST), Tuesday (9 a.m.) and Wednesday (7:30 a.m.), split-tee format
• Venue: Shark’s Tooth Golf Course (par 72, 7,246 yards)
• Participating teams (12): Alabama (24), Clemson, Florida State (33), Georgia Tech (14), Kentucky, Michigan State, Mississippi State (18), Navy, NC State (42), Notre Dame (25), UCLA (12), Vanderbilt (11)
• Tech appearances (last appearance): 5 (Tech finished 4th in 2025)
• Best finish: won championship in 2022
• Individual titles: none

 

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