Alpharetta, Ga. – Junior Connor Howe fired a 4-under-par 68, and freshman Benjamin Reuter added a 3-under-par 69 Sunday, leading 13th-ranked Georgia Tech to a 6-under-par total of 282 and a tie for sixth place with Virginia on the final leaderboard at the 15th Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate.
Tech’s B team earned some bragging rights, however, posting a 9-under-par 279 in Sunday’s final round with four players under par, led by Luka Karaulic’s 4-under-par 68. The second Yellow Jacket unit finished in 12th place overall, ahead of UCLA, Southern California and Colorado State.
The Yellow Jackets have completed their fall schedule and will return to action in early February with the Amer Ari Intercollegiate in Hawai’i.
TECH LINEUP – Howe, a junior from Ogden, Utah, started off with a bogey but went error-free with five birdies over his final 17 holes or his 68, finishing the tournament in a tie for 19th place at 212 (-4). Reuter, a freshman from Naarden, The Netherlands, sprinkled five birdies and a pair of bogeys across his card for a finishing 69, tying for 13th place overall at 210 (-6).
Sophomore Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) fired an even-par 72, and junior Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.) added a 73 to the Tech total Sunday. Lamprecht posted a 54-hole total of 213 (-3) to tie for 23rd, while Forrester tied for 49th at 218 (+2). Junior Ross Steelman (Columbia, Mo.) shot 75 Sunday and also tied for 49th at 218.
Tech’s second unit counted a 4-under-par 68 from Karaulic (Dacula, Ga.), who birdied five holes with just one bogey Sunday, while junior Andy Mao (Johns Creek, Ga.) shot 3-under-par 69, and Ben Smith (Novi., Mich.) and sophomore Aidan Kramer (Oviedo, Fla.) each added a 71 (-1). Kramer finished the tournament tied with Reuter for 13th place at 210 (-6).
Connor Howe shot 68 Sunday and tied for 19th place individually. (photo by Danny Karnik).
TEAM LEADERBOARD – With the individual champion and three other players finishing in the top 20, No. 17 Pepperdine outlasted Texas A&M for the team title, posting a tournament-record score of 822 (-42), four shots clear of No. 9 Texas A&M (826 (-38). The teams remained within a stroke of each other over most of the back nine before the Waves sealed the victory with two eagles and a pair of birdies at the final hole, a par-5.
The defending national champion Waves broke the previous mark (836, Georgia Tech in 2010) by 14 strokes. The Aggies also surpassed the previous record. Both teams shot 16-under-par 272 Sunday.
No. 16 Wake Forest finished third at 841 (-23) followed by No. 21 Tennessee at 842 (-22) and No. 4 Stanford at 846 (-18). Georgia Tech and Virginia tied for sixth at 850 (-14).
Duke, the champion the last time the tournament was played in 2019, was eighth at 851 (-13).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Pepperdine’s Joe Highsmith could have played even par Sunday and still broken the individual 54-hole tournament record (201, 15-under-par by Derek Bard of Virginia in 2014), but needed his closing 69 to stay ahead of Wake Forest’s Alex Fitzpatrick, who shot 71 Sunday. Highsmith posted a tournament score od 197 (-19), while Fitzpatrick finished four strokes back at 201 (-15).
Sam Bennett of Texas A&M and Karl Vilips of Stanford tied for third at 204 (-12), followed by the Aggies’ Walker Lee at 205 (-11). Pepperdine’s William Mouw and East Tennessee State’s Archie Davies tied for sixth at 206 (-10).
Tennessee’s Tyler Johnson finished along in eighth place at 208 (-8), while TCU’s Thomas Allkins posted the best round of the day Sunday (65) and finished in a four-way tie for ninth at 209 (-7).
William Paysse of Texas A&M (211, -5) and Eddy Lai of UCLA (219, +3), co-medalists in 2019, tied for 16th and 52nd, respectively.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – The Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, formerly called the United States Collegiate Championship, is contested at the Yellow Jackets’ home club. The tournament is played exclusively on the 7,092-yard, par 72 Lakeside Course.
The event annually attracts one of the strongest fields in college golf, and this year it is as strong as ever with seven NCAA championship teams from last spring, including defending NCAA Champion Pepperdine, Clemson, East Tennessee State, TCU, Tennessee and Wake Forest as well as the Yellow Jackets.
The 15-team field included 10 of the nation’s top 50 teams, according to the most recent rankings by Golfstat and the Golfweek/Sagarin Index. The complete field with Golfstat and Sagarin ranking in parentheses – Georgia Tech (13/15), Clemson (27/32), Colorado State, Duke, East Tennessee State (19/20), Pepperdine (17/11), Southern California, Stanford (4/4), Tennessee (21/17), Texas A&M (9/7), TCU (51/38), UCLA, Virginia (20/24), Wake Forest (16/13).
Among the individuals, the field included the nation’s top-ranked individual in Virginia’s Chris Fosdick and 14 others ranked among the top 50 in the most recent Golfstat rankings.
TECH’S GOLF CLUB OF GEORGIA COLLEGIATE HISTORY – Georgia Tech has won the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate twice in the event’s 15-year history, in 2010 and 2012. James White, who set tournament records for 18-hole score (62) and 54-hole score (204, broken in 2014), won medalist honors in 2010, while Ollie Schniederjans won it in 2013 for Tech’s only individual titles. Clemson, Oklahoma State, Southern California and Texas also have won twice. The Tigers captured the inaugural title in 2006 and again in 2009, the Longhorns won in 2014 and shared the title with Virginia in 2016, the Cowboys won in 2013 and 2017, and the Trojans in 2008 and 2019. The tournament was not played in the fall of 2020 due to COVID-19.
The Yellow Jackets finished 10th in 2019, and have finished out of the top five just three times in 14 years.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 27th year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 67 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 18 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 29 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up four times. Connect with Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on Twitter (@GTGolf) and Instagram. For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
