Feb. 10, 2004
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s golf team, ranked No. 5 in the nation in the latest Golfweek magazine rankings, opens its spring schedule Wednesday at the Taylor Made-Waikoloa Intercollegiate in Waikoloa, Hawai’i.
The 54-hole tournament will be contested over three days at the King’s Golf Course (7,074 yards, par 72). Results will be posted at the end of each day’s competition on Ramblinwreck.com.
The 21-team field, nine of which are ranked among Golfweek’s top 50 teams, includes No. 9 Arizona State, No. 17 Arkansas, host school Hawai’I-Hilo, Hawai’I-Menoa, Houston, Nagoya (Japan), No. 39 Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, No. 25 Pepperdine, Nevada-Reno, Rhode Island, No. 34 Southern California, Stanford, No. 6 TCU, No. 44 Texas Tech, No. 29 Tulsa, UC-Davis, UCLA and No. 27 Washington.
The Yellow Jackets, who posted a victory at the Gary Koch/Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate in their final fall event, feature three players among the nation’s top 40 individuals according to Golfweek – No. 18 Nicholas Thompson, No. 21 Roberto Castro and No. 40 Kevin Larsen.
Castro, a freshman from Alpharetta, Ga., led Tech in scoring average in the fall, posting a 70.73 norm in four events. He finished second at the Gary Koch event and tied for ninth at the Ping/Golfweek Preview Invitational.
Larsen, a freshman from Santa Barbara, Calif., averaged 71.27 in four fall tournaments, while Thompson posted a 71.36 average, also in four events. Tech’s lineup is rounded out by Chan Wongluekiet, a junior from Bradenton, Fla., who averaged 72.79 in the fall, and Mike Barbosa, a sophomore from St. Petersburg, Fla., who averaged 74.89 in three tournaments.
Thompson posted two top-10 finishes before undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee following the fall schedule. He rebounded to win Tech’s pre-tournament qualifying by a wide margin, and head coach Bruce Heppler said Thompson is feeling no ill effects from his surgery.
“It didn’t really affect his golf swing in the fall, but it was very painful for him to walk,” Heppler said. “So he had that done right after we finished. He’s walking better, and the pain is gone. He played extremely well, and Roberto did as well. The other four fought it out for three spots.
“[Qualifying] was very competitive. The last day was extremely difficult because it got cold and rainy. I was pleased that we had six guys fighting hard for five spots. The low five go, so everybody was in it up until the end. It was another learning experience for every one because they had to earn it. I hope that’ll help us.”
Tech has won the Waikoloa event three times in six previous trips and never finished below eighth place. Thompson and Wongluekiet are the only two Tech players with previous experience there, which is frequently marked by high winds. Thompson has finished 20th and ninth in two tries, Wongluekiet ninth and 48th. This year, the tournament is being played on one golf course instead of two, which Heppler believes will help all the teams.
“The wind can really take the fun out of Hawaii, believe it or not,” Heppler said. “If you get trapped on one course one day and the wind was bad, it could be 10 of 15 shots worse [than teams on the other course]. Now, all the teams are on the same golf course each day under the same conditions. It’s a good golf course, and a little more forgiving if the wind blows. We’ve had lots of success over there.
“We get over there early enough where we can prepare to play. The good thing about this one is, it’s early. It gets us a chance to get outside, play on Bermuda greens, play golf courses that are somewhat similar to what will see the following weekend in Puerto Rico. You go over there to win, but the ideal thing is to get momentum going and get some guys playing.”
