THE FLATS – Georgia Tech’s golf team, ranked No. 25 in the nation, begins the chase for its 20th all-time Atlantic Coast Conference championship Thursday when the 71st ACC Men’s Golf Championship gets underway at The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky.
Fifteen teams will compete for the championship, which includes 54 holes of stroke play to determine eight teams that qualify for match play. Only four teams have qualified for match play each of the last five years. Ten teams are ranked among the top 50 in the Scoreboard NCAA Rankings, with six of those, including the Yellow Jackets, ranked among the top 25.
The Club at Olde Stone (par 72, 7,331 yards) is hosting the championship for the first time, and this is the first time the championship has been held in the state of Kentucky.
Pairings for the first round of stroke play are based on the most recent Scoreboard rankings. The Yellow Jackets are the No. 6 seed, paired with No. 4 Duke and No. 5 Louisville for the opening round Thursday beginning at 9:22 a.m. 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 seventh out of 12 teams at its most recent tournament, the Ford Collegiate in Richmond Hill, Ga. 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 five spring events, with freshman Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden) leading Tech at Pauma Valley, 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.).
The tournament will utilize a split-tee start format each day of stroke play, playing 18 holes Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at 9 a.m. Central Daylight Time (10 a.m. EDT). The top eight teams on the leaderboard qualify for match play, with quarterfinal and semifinal matches taking place Sunday starting at 7:30 p.m. CDT. The semifinal winners square off in the championship match at 10 a.m. CDT Monday.
Carson Kim posted his first career top-10 finish in Tech’s most recent tournament, the Ford Collegiate. (photo by A.J. Henderson/Georgia Southern athletics)
TECH LINEUP
Reuter and Tai lead the five-man lineup for the Yellow Jackets in the Ford Collegiate, joined by Fontenot, Kim and Hansson. Tran will compete as an individual.
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. 53 in the Scoreboard NCAA rankings. 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.
Hanson, ranked No. 140 nationally, finished 13th at Pauma Valley for his best showing of the spring, while Fontenot (No. 188 in the Scoreboard rankings) has a top finish of 30th place at Watersound. Kim, ranked No. 304, tied for 10th at the Ford Collegiate, the best finish of his career to date.
Tech has a 64-58-5 head-to-head record through the Ford Collegiate, its most recent tournament, needing to be at .500 or better after the ACC Championship in April to qualify for a berth in an NCAA Regional. The Jackets have competed against a demanding tournament schedule in 2024-25, with nearly 74 percent of the teams they have faced ranking in the Scoreboard top 50.
TECH’S ACC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Georgia Tech has won 19 ACC men’s golf championships, tying the Yellow Jackets with Wake Forest for the most titles in conference history. Tech’s titles have all come from 1985 to the present. Before the Demon Deacons outlasted the Jackets in the championship match in 2022, Wake Forest’s most recent title has occurred in 1989.
Tech has won the ACC Championship 11 times in the last 18 years, most recently in 2023. The 2020 ACC Tournament was not held after the 2020 spring season was cut short due to COVID-19.
Tech has won 14 of its conference titles under current head coach Bruce Heppler, 12 of those outright (1999, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2023) and two shared (2006, 2007). The Yellow Jackets won five championships (1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994) under previous head coach Puggy Blackmon.
Twelve of Tech’s ACC titles have been won at the Old North State Club in New London, N.C., site of the event 22 of the last 27 years. The others took place at Bryan Park Golf Course in Greensboro, N.C. (1985), Northgreen Country Club in Rocky Mount, N.C. (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994), Disney’s Magnolia Course in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (2001) and the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C. (2023).
Georgia Tech has produced 10 ACC individual champions, including Bob McDonnell (1985), David Duval (1991, 1993), Mikko Rantanen (1994), Bryce Molder (2000), Cameron Tringale (2006), Chesson Hadley (2010), Paul Haley II (2011), Anders Albertson (2013, 2015) and Ollie Schniederjans (2014). Albertson and Duval are among five ACC players to have won two championships.
EVENT DETAILS
Atlantic Coast Conference Championship
- Dates: April 24-28 (54 holes of stroke play, low 4 of 5 scores count for team score each day, top 8 teams advance to match play)
- Venue: The Club at Olde Stone, Bowling Green, Ky. (par 72, 7,331 yards)
- Participating teams (15): Florida State (9), North Carolina (10), Virginia (12), Duke (19), Louisville (24), Georgia Tech (25), SMU (30), Notre Dame (38), Stanford (40), Wake Forest (46), California (53), Clemson (56), NC State (63), Boston College (118), Virginia Tech (194)
- Tech appearances (last appearance): 46th (last in 2024)
- Best finish: 19 titles (most recent in 2023)
- Individual titles: 10 (most recent, Anders Albertson in 2015)
- Schedule (all times Central Daylight Time):
- Thursday – Stroke play round 1 (9 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
- Friday – Stroke play round 2 (9 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
- Saturday – Stroke play round 3 (9 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
- Sunday – Quarterfinal matches (7:30 a.m.)
- Sunday – Semifinal matches (following semifinals)
- Monday – Championship match (10 a.m.)
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 30th 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.
