Tech Golf Heads to NCAA Auburn Regional

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech’s golf team, ranked No. 25 in the nation, begins its quest to reach the NCAA Championship Finals for the 33^rd time in program history, and the 32^nd time since 1985, when the Yellow Jackets compete in the NCAA Auburn (Ala.) Regional Monday through Wednesday at the Auburn University Club.

Thirteen teams will compete over includes 54 holes of stroke play to determine five teams that will advance to the NCAA Championship, which will take place May 23-28 at the Omni LaCosta Resort in Carlsbad, Calif. Auburn is one of six NCAA regionals taking place around the country Monday through Wednesday, with the top five teams after 54 holes advancing from each one to the NCAA Finals.

Nine teams are ranked among the top 50 in the Scoreboard NCAA Rankings, with five of those, including the Yellow Jackets, ranked among the top 25. Auburn University Club (par 72, 7,607 yards) is hosting the regional, a site where Tech finished second in 2003 when NCAA regionals were held at three locations and had 27 teams each.

Play begins each day at 7:30 a.m. Central Daylight time. Pairings for the first round of stroke play are based on the most recent Scoreboard rankings, and on leaderboard standing for rounds 2 and 3. The Yellow Jackets are the No. 5 seed, paired with No. 4 SMU and No. 5 Oregon for the opening round Monday beginning at 8 a.m. Central Daylight time from the 10th tee.

Head coach Bruce Heppler’s team, which has one victory (Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational) from the fall on its resume this year, finished eighth at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship and lost to Virginia in the quarterfinals of match play. The Yellow Jackets also tied for fourth place at the Watersound Invitational in Panama City Beach, Fla., for its best finish this spring. Redshirt junior Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands) has been the Yellow Jackets top finisher in three of the six spring events, with freshman Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden) leading Tech at Pauma Valley and at the ACC Championship, and sophomore Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) doing so at the Ford Collegiate.

Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), who won the NCAA individual championship last May at LaCosta, and Reuter, who had a pair of top-10 finishes in the fall, are among five players who helped the Yellow Jackets advance to match play at the NCAA Championship each of the past two years. Also back are sophomore Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) and junior Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.).

Benjamin Reuter remains Tech’s highest-ranked player nationally at No. 65. (photo by Andy Mead)

 

TECH LINEUP

Reuter and Hansson lead the five-man lineup for the Yellow Jackets in the NCAA Auburn Regional, joined by Fontenot, Tai and Kim. Tran will be Tech’s alternate player in case a substitute is needed.

Reuter has been Tech’s top player all year, posting a runner-up finish at Olympia Fields and two other top-10s, including a tie for fourth at the Watersound Invitational this spring. He is ranked No. 65 in the Scoreboard NCAA rankings. Hanson, ranked No. 120 nationally, finished 13^th at Pauma Valley and 14^th at the ACC Championship in Tech’s last two events.

Tai, a pre-season All-American by Golfweek magazine and Golf Channel who competed in the Masters two weeks ago, had three top-20 finishes this fall and is ranked No. 224 in the NCAA Scoreboard rankings. The junior won twice as a freshman prior to his NCAA Championship.

Fontenot (No. 197 in the Scoreboard rankings) has a top finish of 30^th place at Watersound, while Kim, ranked No. 330, tied for 10^th at the Ford Collegiate, the best finish of his career to date.

Tech has a 71-66-5 head-to-head record through the ACC Championship, needing to be at .500 or above to qualify for a berth in an NCAA Regional. The Jackets have competed against a demanding tournament schedule in 2024-25, with 73 percent of the teams they have faced ranking in the Scoreboard top 50.

TECH IN NCAA REGIONAL COMPETITION

Georgia Tech has advanced through an NCAA regional 28 times in 33 tries, and all but four times since the NCAA went to a six-regional qualifying format in 2009. Tech has won seven regional tournaments overall, two of them shared titles, most recently in 2023, when the Yellow Jackets won in Salem, S.C.

The NCAA began using regional qualifying tournaments in 1989, first with the 81 teams split among three sites (27 teams each), then among six sites with either 13 or 14 teams each beginning in 2009. Since the NCAA went to six regional sites in 2009, Tech has advanced to the championship finals 11 times. No NCAA championship events were held in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Tech’s first four victories all occurred in 27-team regionals in 1991 (New Haven, Conn.), 1998 (Daufuskie Island, S.C.), 1999 (Providence, R.I.) and 2002 (Roswell, Ga., tied with Clemson). The 2014 win in Raleigh, the 2022 victory in Columbus and the 2023 win in Salem occurred in a 13- or 14-team field.

Four Georgia Tech players have won individual titles at NCAA regionals, but the most recent has been Troy Matteson in 2003, coincidentally at the Auburn University Club. The Yellow Jackets were the team runner-up in that regional.

EVENT DETAILS

• Dates: May 12-14 (54 holes of stroke play, low 4 of 5 scores count for team score each day, top 5 teams advance to NCAA Championship)
• Venue: Auburn University Club, Auburn, Ala. (par 72, 7,607 yards)
• Participating teams (NCAA Scoreboard ranking): Auburn (1), Texas A&M (12), UCLA (13/Big Ten champion), SMU (24), Tech (25), Oregon (36), Purdue (37), Little Rock (48/Ohio Valley champion), TCU (50), College of Charleston (62), New Mexico State (63), Loyola Maryland (142/Patriot League champion) and USC Upstate (227/Big South champion)
• Tech appearances (last appearance): 34th (2024)
• Best finish: 7 titles (most recent in 2023)
• Individual titles: 4 (most recent, Troy Matteson in 2003)
• Schedule (all times Central Daylight Time):
  • Monday – Stroke play round 1 (7:30 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
  • Tuesday – Stroke play round 2 (7:30 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
  • Wednesday – Stroke play round 3 (7:30 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)

Freshman Albert Hansson has been Tech’s top finisher in its last two events this spring – the Ford Collegiate and the ACC Championship. (photo by Andy Mead)

 

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Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF

Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 30^th year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 73 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 19 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 33 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up five times. Follow Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on X (@GTGolf) and Instagram. For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.