June 10, 2010
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s golf team, which won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and finished third at the NCAA Championship, was ranked No. 5 in the final rankings posted Tuesday by Golfstat.com, the NCAA’s official ranking system.
The Yellow Jackets, who won the conference title this spring for the fourth time in five years, also finished third in the NCAA Southeast Regional and made it to the match play competition at the NCAA Championship before falling to eventual national champion Augusta State in the quarterfinals.
“It’s gratifying. As a coach, you know they worked hard all year and got better,” said head coach Bruce Heppler, who completed his 15th year at the helm of the Tech golf program. “Some players who haven’t had a chance to play much made some moves this year. We played our best golf at the end of the year. We didn’t win the regional, but we competed hard. At the nationals, we lost to the eventual national champion. Hopefully we can get better from here and have another good year.”
Individually, three players appear in Golfstat.com’s final rankings. Junior John-Tyler Griffin is ranked No. 38, followed by senior Chesson Hadley at No. 54 and sophomore James White at No. 64. There are more than 1,500 players in NCAA Division I golf. Griffin and White improved their stroke averages more than two shots each this year.
Paul Haley, another junior, is not among the nation’s top 250 in Golfstat but tied for ninth at the NCAA Championship and was named an honorable mention All-America Wednesday along with Griffin and Hadley. Griffin, Hadley and White were named to the All-ACC team.
