THE FLATS – Looking to earn another Atlantic Coast Conference title and earn a 34th trip to the NCAA Championship in May, Georgia Tech’s 13th-ranked golf team makes its annual trip to Hawai’i in early February to kickstart a spring campaign that will also take the Yellow Jackets to Florida, Las Vegas, San Diego and Savannah, Ga., in preparation for post-season play.
Head coach Bruce Heppler’s team begins the spring ranked No. 13 in the nation following a strong fall in which the Yellow Jackets won the Olympia Fields/Illini Invitational and took first place in the stroke play portion of the East Lake Cup, and finished in the top half of strong fields at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate, Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational and Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational.
Tech starts its campaign by traveling to the Big Island of Hawai’i for the Amer Ari Intercollegiate (Feb. 6-8), an event Tech has competed in every year since 1999, then heads down to Panama City, Fla., for its fourth appearance in the Watersound Invitational (Feb. 17-19), an event the Jackets won in 2021 and finished runner-up the last two springs.
In March, the Yellow Jackets travel to Las Vegas and the San Diego area. Tech makes its first appearance at the Southern Highlands Collegiate (March 2-4) in Las Vegas since 2022, when it posted its all-time high finish of fifth place in 12 previous trips. Two weeks later, the Jackets play for the first time in the Pauma Valley Invitational at Pauma Valley Country Club outside San Diego. Both tournaments boast high-level fields.
Tech gets its final prep for the ACC Championship by competing in the Ford Intercollegiate (April 14-15) at the Ford Field & River Club in Richmond Hill, Ga., also a new event for the Jackets.
Heppler and the Jackets then turn their attention to defending the ACC Championship, which is set for April 25-28 at the C;ub at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky. Tech has won 19 ACC titles, tied with Wake Forest for the most ever. The Yellow Jackets finished third in the stroke play portion of the championship last year and lost to Florida State in the semifinals of match play.
NCAA Regionals are set for May 12-14 at six sites around the country, with the top 30 teams advancing to the NCAA Championship, May 23-28 at the Omni LaCosta Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Four of the six players who helped Tech advance to the semifinals of match play in the NCAA Championship last May have returned, led by junior Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), who won the individual title. Also back are redshirt junior Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands), who led the Jackets in stroke average in the fall after sitting out the 2023-24 year, sophomores Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) and Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and junior Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.).
Spring Schedule Details
Amer Ari Intercollegiate
- Dates: February 6-8 (stroke play, 54 holes)
- Venue: Mauna Lani North Course, Kamuela, Hawai’i
- Participating teams (14): Arizona State, LSU, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, San Diego, San Diego State, San Francisco, SMU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech
Watersound Invitational
- Dates: February 17-19 (stroke play, 54 holes)
- Venue: Watersound Club (Shark’s Tooth Course), Panama City, Fla.
- Participating teams (12): Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Navy, NC State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Vanderbilt
Southern Highlands Collegiate
- Dates: March 2-4 (stroke play, 54 holes)
- Venue: Southern Highlands Golf Club, Las Vegas, Nev.
- Participating teams (16): to be announced
Pauma Valley Invitational
- Dates: March 17-18 (stroke play, 54 holes, 36/18)
- Venue: Pauma Valley Country Club, Pauma Valley, Calif.
- Participating teams (15): Arizona State, East Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Loyola Marymount, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, San Diego, San Diego State, San Francisco, SMU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech
Ford Intercollegiate
- Dates: April 14-15 (stroke play, 54 holes, 36/18)
- Venue: Ford Field & River Club, Richmond Hill, Ga.
- Participating teams (12): Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, LSU. Michigan State, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin
Atlantic Coast Conference Championship
- Dates: April 25-28 (stroke play, 54 holes, followed by two rounds of match play)
- Venue: The Club at Olde Stone, Bowling Green, Ky.
- Participating teams (15): Boston College, California, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, SMU, Stanford, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
NCAA Regionals
- Dates: May 12-14 (stroke play, 54 holes)
- Venues: Amherst, Va. (Poplar Grove Golf Course); Bremerton, Wash. (Gold Mountain Golf Club); Fayetteville, Ark. (The Blessings Golf Club); Reno, Nev. (Montreux Golf and Country Club); Stillwater, Okla. (Karsten Creek Golf Club); Tallahassee, Fla. (Seminole Legacy Golf Club)
NCAA Championship
- Dates: May 23-28 (stroke play, 72 holes, followed by three rounds of match play)
- Venue: Omni LaCosta Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, Calif.
- Participating teams (30): top 5 teams and 1 individual from each of the six regionals
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 72 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.
