Panama City, Fla. – Christo Lamprecht fired a 4-under-par 68 and Ross Steelman a 3-under-par 69 Saturday, lifting Georgia Tech to a 7-under-par 281 in the final round of stroke play and a berth in the match play semifinals at the 68th Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Championship.
The 11th-ranked Yellow Jackets finished the 54 holes of stroke play at 26-under-par 838, nine shots behind 7th-ranked North Carolina (829, -35), which cruised to victory in stroke play for the second straight year. No. 24 Florida State (845, -19) earned the third seed and a date against the Jackets in the semifinals. No. 17 Wake Forest (847, -17) grabbed the fourth seed with a birdie on the final hole Saturday and will face the Tar Heels in the other semifinal match.
Tech and FSU will begin their match at 10 a.m. Eastern time Sunday morning, with North Carolina and Wake Forest following at 11 a.m. The winners will face each other in the championship match at 10 a.m. Monday.
Seeking the 19th conference championship in program history, Georgia Tech held its 36-hole position with excellent golf from its four counting players, counting a 71 from Bartley Forrester and a 73 from Benjamin Reuter.
The Yellow Jackets have captured 10 of the last 15 championships, most recently winning the 2019 title at the Old North State Club in New London, N.C. It was the 18th in program history, tying Wake Forest for the most in conference annals. The championship was not held in 2020 due to COVID-19. Tech finished fifth last year, the first ACC Championship played under the new stroke play/match play format. The Yellow Jackets fell one stroke shy of advancing to match play at the Capital City Club Crabapple Course in Milton, Ga.
Christo Lamprecht (-11) tied for third place individually after firing a 4-under-par 68 Saturday.
TECH LINEUP – Lamprecht, who began the day in a tie for fourth place, made a run at medalist honors, making birdie at holes 9, 10, 11 and 12 in succession to get to 5-under-par for the day. But the sophomore from George, South Africa made bogey at 15 and finished in a tie for third place at 11-under-par 205.
Steelman was excellent start-to-finish, carding a 69 each round of the tournament to finish alone in sixth place at 9-under-par 207. The junior from Columbia, Mo., tied for second place on the same golf course against the same ACC field in February, posting a 6-under-par 210 with two rounds in the 60s.
Reuter, a freshman from Naarden, The Netherlands, shot rounds of 71-70-73 to tie for 22nd at 214 (-2). Forrester, a junior from Gainesville, Ga., shot 74-69-71 to arrive at the same score and position on the leaderboard.
Junior Connor Howe (Ogden, Utah) tied for 37th place at 219 (+3).
TEAM LEADERBOARD –North Carolina held on to the overall lead and finished -35, just two strokes off the 54-hole scoring record on a par 72 course. The Tar Heels are the top seed in Sunday’s match play semifinals and will face No. 4 seed Wake Forest (-17). Georgia Tech (-26) finished second and will take on third seed Florida State in the first semifinal. Both matches will tee off on hole No. 1 with live coverage on select holes on ACC Network Extra from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. ET.
The Demon Deacons started the day in sixth place, but rallied on Saturday to claim the fourth and final match play spot behind the spectacular shot-making of sophomore Michael Brennan, who birdied the final hole to give his team the fourth spot. The Leesburg, Virginia, native birdied the final two holes (No. 8 & No. 9) to push the Deacs ahead of Notre Dame (-16) for the final position.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Clemson senior Jacob Bridgeman made a seven-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to win the ACC individual title over North Carolina’s Peter Fountain, who won medalist honors last year as a freshman. The two tied at 13-under-par 203 after 54 holes. Lamprecht tied for third place with Wake Forest’s Brennan and Notre Dame’s Palmer Jackson at 11-under-par 205.
LEADERBOARD AND SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – The ACC Championship is being conducted the state of Florida for just the second time, and first time since 2001, when it was held at Disney’s Magnolia Course in Lake Buena Vista Fla. It is being held outside the state of North Carolina for just the eighth time in conference history. Since 1995, the tournament has been held at Old North State Club in New London, N.C., 22 times, with Georgia Tech winning the championship 12 times at that venue.
The par-72 Shark’s Tooth Golf Course measures 7,246 yards for the ACC Championship, which is being conducted for the second time under a new stroke play/match play format Friday through Monday. The championship used the traditional 54-hole, stroke-play format from 1980 to 2019 (the championship was not held in 2020 due to COVID-19). All 12 competing teams (Miami, Pittsburgh and Syracuse do not sponsor men’s golf) competed at 54 holes of stroke play, 36 holes Friday and 18 holes Saturday, with the standard low four rounds counting toward the team’s daily score each round. The top four teams after 54 holes are seeded in a match play bracket. Each match will be 18 holes and involve all five players from each team. The format is similar to the way the NCAA Championship has been conducted every year since 2009.
The ACC Championship field includes seven of the top 30 teams in the country, including No. 7 North Carolina, No. 11 Georgia Tech, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 15 Wake Forest, No. 23 Clemson, No. 24 Florida State and No. 26 NC State.
Round 3 in Photos
"I’m really proud of our guys and the way they handled everything. This is a great experience for our guys, not the match play itself so much but the pressure of finishing in the top four so you can advance. It’s great preparation for the regionals and the NCAAs if you get there. Christo’s playing at a very high level for us right now, Ross very consistently and is putting very well, and I’m proud of the way Benjamin played these two days. We're excited to get back out there tomorrow and compete against Florida State."
Head coach Bruce Heppler
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 27th year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 68 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 18 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 29 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up four times. Connect with Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on Twitter (@GTGolf) and Instagram. For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
