April 18, 2013
THE FLATS – For its final tune-up prior to next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Championship, Georgia Tech plays the second of two dual matches Friday against TCU at the Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course in Milton, Ga.
The 8th-ranked Yellow Jackets and the No. 12 Horned Frogs will square off in a match-play format in which six golfers from each team will play individual matches against each other. Each match will count one point for his team. The teams will tee off at 2 p.m. and the public is invited to watch.
Note: Despite the forecast for rain Friday, the match will go on unless stopped by lightning in the area.
In preparing to finalize the Tech lineup and defend its ACC title, head coach Bruce Heppler will send out sophomores Ollie Schniederjans and Anders Albertson, juniors Bo Andrews and Seth Reeves and freshmen Shun Yat Hak and Michael Hines against the Gamecocks Saturday.
They dropped a 3 ½-2 ½ decision last Saturday to No. 31 South Carolina, with Reeves and Schniederjans picking up easy victories for the Yellow Jackets.
The match will allow the Jackets and Horned Frogs no only to keep their competitive juices flowing by to get a good up-close look at the Crabapple Course which will host the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship next month. Tech is serving as the host institution for the championship, which will be held May 27-June 2.
Tech’s six players are all ranked No. 166 or higher in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, while TCU has five players ranked No. 120 or higher.
Schniederjans (Powder Springs, Ga.) and Albertson (Woodstock, Ga.) have played in every tournament for the Yellow Jackets this year and rank 1-2 on the team in scoring average (71.8). They have combined for seven top-10 finishes and rank 24th and 41st, respectively, in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. Albertson tied for sixth at the Gary Koch Invitational last weekend.
Andrews (Raleigh, N.C.) made a big push for the Yellow Jackets earlier this week when he tied for medalist honors at the Gary Koch with a 9-under-par total of 207, his first career victory and his best 54-hole score. He closed with a 6-under-par 66 to forge the tie.
Hak (Lake Mary, Fla.) notched his first top-10 finish (tie for 8th) with a middle-round 66 that left him with a 3-under-par total of 213 in just his second tournament as a counting member of the Tech travel team.
“We have to get some help throughout our lineup and have multiple guys competing for the individual portion of the tournament in order for us to compete for team titles,” said Heppler. “For Bo to win that tournament was terrific, and Jason (Hal) was leading after two rounds. That’s how you have to play with the nation’s best, have everybody on your team competing individually for the title.”
Hines (Acworth, Ga.) has a 73.4 average over 17 rounds this year, fourth on the team, while Reeves (Duluth, Ga.) has three top-20 finishes and a 74.0 average over 23 rounds.
