THE FLATS – Georgia Tech’s 21st-ranked golf team makes its third Western trip in four spring events this week, competing for the first time in the Pauma Valley Collegiate Invitational. The two-day, 54-hole event begins Monday at Pauma Valley Country Club in Pauma Valley, Calif.
The tournament, being conducted for just the second time, features a 15-team field, including nine teams ranked in the Scoreboard Powered by Clippd Top-25 rankings and 13 squads in the top 50. Pauma Valley is just 35 miles East of Carlsbad, where the NCAA Championship is held at the Omni LaCosta Resort and Spa.
Head coach Bruce Heppler’s team, which has one victory (Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational) from the fall on its resume this year, finished 13th out of 15 teams at its most recent event, the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas, Calif. The Yellow Jackets also tied for fourth place in its last outing at the Watersound Invitational in Panama City Beach, Fla., after opening the spring with a 10th-place finish (out of 20 teams) at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate in Hawai’i. Redshirt junior Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands) has been the Yellow Jackets top finisher in all three events.
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 sophomores Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) and Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and junior Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.).
The tournament will utilize a split-tee start format each day, playing 36 holes Monday and 18 Tuesday, with competition beginning at 10:40 a.m. Eastern time each day.
Benjamin Reuter has been Tech’s top finisher in all three spring events. (photo by Clyde Click)
TECH LINEUP – Reuter and Tai lead the five-man lineup for the Yellow Jackets in Panama City Beach, joined by Fontenot, Kim and freshman Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden). Tran will compete as an individual.
Reuter has been Tech’s top player all year thus far, 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. 28 in the Scoreboard NCAA rankings. Tai, listed on the Fall Watch List for the Fred Haskins Award and as a pre-season All-American by Golfweek magazine and Golf Channel, had three top-20 finishes this fall and is ranked No. 204 in the NCAA Scoreboard rankings. The junior won twice as a freshman prior to his NCAA Championship.
Hanson, ranked No. 174 nationally, finished 22nd at Watersound for his best showing of the spring, while Fontenot (No. 139 in the Scoreboard rankings) has a top finish of 30th place at Watersound. Kim earned the fifth spot in qualifying, also tying for 22nd at Watersound.
Tech has a 56-44-2 head-to-head record through the Southern Highlands Collegiate, needing to be at .500 or better after the ACC Championship in April to qualify for a bid to an NCAA Regional. Following the Pauma Valley Invitational, the Yellow Jackets also have the Ford Intercollegiate April 13-14 in Richmond Hill, Ga.
EVENT DETAILS
Pauma Valley Collegiate Invitational
- Dates: March 17-18 (54 holes of stroke play, low 4 of 5 scores count for team score each round)
- Format: 36 hole Monday and 18 Tuesday, begins 10:40 a.m. EDT each day from No. 1 and No. 10 holes
- Venue: Pauma Valley Country Club (par 72, 7,311 yards)
- Participating teams (15): Loyola Marymount (host), Arizona State (2), Georgia Tech (21), Illinois (13), LSU (7), Oklahoma (6), Oklahoma State (5), Ole Miss (3), San Diego (33), San Diego State (15), San Francisco, SMU (28), Tennessee (30), Texas (4), Texas Tech (26)
- Tech appearances (last appearance): first appearance
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.
