April 18, 2002
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech golf team will look to continue its outstanding spring semester when it travels to Uwharrie Point, N.C. to compete in the 49th annual Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, April 19-21. The 54-hole tournament will be contested at the par-72, 7,100-yard Old North State Club, with the champion receiving an automatic bid into next month’s NCAA Regional Championships.
The top-ranked Yellow Jackets are the defending champions in the tournament after having won the 2001 crown by eight strokes over Clemson at Walt Disney World’s Magnolia Course in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. In all, Tech has won seven conference titles since joining the ACC in 1979, a total which ranks third in league history. The Jackets won the event in 1999 when it was also played at the Old North State Club. Tech is also responsible for the second-longest ACC Championship win streak, as the Jackets won four in a row from 1991-94.
The 2002 edition of the Yellow Jacket golf program has seen a pair of newcomers mesh with talented group of upper-classmen to form one of the nation’s most dominant teams. Tech currently boasts five players that are ranked among the nation’s top 50 individuals according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance index, led by junior Troy Matteson, who is ranked fourth and held the top spot in the rankings following his win in Puerto Rico. The Jackets also have four players ranked among the top 25, while no other team has three players appearing in the top 50. Those Tech players in the current top 50 include, Matteson (No. 4), senior Kris Mikkelsen (16th), Chan Wongluekiet (23rd), Matt Weibring (24th) and Nick Thompson (49th).
All five of the players ranked in the top 50 will make up the Jackets’ lineup for the ACC Championships. The lineup has been responsible for a school-record-tying five wins and has been the same for each of the last seven tournaments.
Results from the 2002 ACC Championships will be available at www.ramblinwreck.com, with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m. each day and Tech playing in threesomes with North Carolina and NC State for the first round of competition.
