April 22, 2012
New London, N.C. – Holding off an early charge by Virginia Sunday, Georgia Tech had four players finish the tournament in the top 10 individually and captured its fourth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Championship at the Old North State Club at Uwharrie Point.
Tech became the first team to capture four consecutive ACC golf titles since the Yellow Jackets last accomplished the feat from 1991 through 1994, and have won or shared the championship in six of the last seven years. The Yellow Jackets earned the 14th conference crown for the Institute, second only to Wake Forest, which has won 18. The Jackets led wire-to-wire in winning the last four crowns.
Freshman Ollie Schniederjans shot an even-par 72 Sunday, while Anders Albertson added a 72, Bo Andrews a 73 and Richard Werenski a 76 as the Yellow Jackets posted a final-round score of 5-over-par 293. Tech completed 54 holes at 27-under-par 837, seven shots clear of No. 20 Virginia (844, -20) and 10 over No. 24 Florida State (847, -17). The Cavaliers shot 1-over 289 Sunday, while the Seminoles posted an even-par round of 288.
Unlike the first two days when weather and course conditions were perfect and yielded lots of low scores, Sunday’s final round was played in chilly temperatures and a light drizzle, and only five players broke par 72 on the 7,102 layout, which has hosted 16 ACC Championships.
“From about 13 on [the rain] was heavy, and the win was into them all the way in. It was a challenge for sure,” said head coach Bruce Heppler, who has coached nine of Tech’s ACC championship teams. “When you’re that far ahead, the pressure was all on us. We had two freshmen shoot even par in these conditions today. Everybody contributed and everybody helped throughout the weekend, and hopefully that bodes well for the future and the rest of this spring. I’m very happy for these guys.”
Tech watched its 11-shot, 36-hole lead sliced to just four early on as the Cavaliers played the front nine in 6-under-par. But the Cavaliers dropped six shots to par on the 10th hole, and the Yellow Jackets were able to re-build their lead to 10 on the back nine, withstanding a late triple bogey at 18 by Schniederjans and a double-bogey at 15 by James White.
Albertson, a freshman from Woodstock, Ga., wound up as low Yellow Jacket for the tournament with a 7-under-par total of 209, good for a tie for fourth place, three strokes behind medalist Ben Rusch of Virginia, who shot a closing 69 and earned the individual title with a 10-under-par total of 206. Lee Bedford of Wake Forest, with a 71 Sunday, was the runner-up at 9-under 209, and Virginia Tech’s Blake Redmond was third at 8-under 208 after closing with a 72.
Werenski, a sophomore from South Hadley, Miss., was not able to hold his 36-hole individual lead but finished in a tie for seventh place at 5-under 211 along with Andrews and Schniederjans. White, who tied for 16th place at 1-under-par 215 after shooting 77 Sunday, became the first Georgia Tech player ever to play on four ACC championship teams.
Virginia Tech and 21st-ranked Clemson (857, -7) tied for fourth place, followed by No. 17 Duke (862, -2), North Caroliina (867, +3), Wake Forest (868, +4), NC State (872, +8), Maryland (877, +13) and Boston College (897, +33).
With the ACC title comes automatic qualification into the NCAA Championship for Tech. The fields for the six NCAA regional tournaments will be announced May 7. The regional sites are Ann Arbor, Mich., Athens, Ga., Bowling Green, Ky., Greensboro, N.C., Norman, Okla., and Stanford, Calif. The top five finishers in each regional will advance to the NCAA Championship, May 29-June 3, in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
ACC MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
Old North State Club, New London, N.C.
Final Results
TEAM STANDINGS
1 Georgia Tech 270 274 293 837 -27
2 Virginia 276 279 289 844 -20
3 Florida State 279 280 288 847 -17
T4 Virginia Tech 288 282 287 857 -7
T4 Clemson 287 278 292 857 -7
6 Duke 289 278 295 862 -2
7 North Carolina 282 287 298 867 +3
8 Wake Forest 285 289 294 868 +4
9 North Carolina State 291 282 299 872 +8
10 Maryland 287 283 307 877 +13
11 Boston College 305 293 299 897 +33
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
1 Ben Rusch, Virginia 67 70 69 206 -10
2 Lee Bedford, Wake Forest 67 69 71 207 -9
3 Blake Redmond, Virginia Tech 68 68 72 208 -8
T4 Anders Albertson, Georgia Tech 69 68 72 209 -7
T4 Denny McCarthy, Virginia 71 65 73 209 -7
6 Corbin Mills, Clemson 73 68 69 210 -6
T7 Ollie Schniederjans, Georgia Tech 66 73 72 211 -5
T7 Bo Andrews, Georgia Tech 66 72 73 211 -5
T7 Richy Werenski, Georgia Tech 69 66 76 211 -5
T7 Daniel Berger, Florida State 66 71 74 211 -5
11 Brooks Koepka, Florida State 71 69 72 212 -4
T12 Ben Kohles, Virginia 67 72 74 213 -3
T12 Chase Seiffert, Florida State 72 66 75 213 -3
T14 Bryce Chalkley, Virginia Tech 74 71 69 214 -2
T14 Adam Sumrall, Duke 72 70 72 214 -2
T16 Sean Bosdosh, Maryland 70 71 74 215 -1
T16 James White, Georgia Tech 70 68 77 215 -1
