April 6, 2013
THE FLATS – Playing in its final full-field event before defending its Atlantic Coast Conference title, Georgia Tech heads south to Tampa, Fla., for the Gary Koch Invitational Monday and Tuesday.
The 54-hole event will be played over two days, 36 holes Monday and 18 Tuesday, with a 14-team field that includes six teams listed among the nation’s top 26 in the latest Golfstat rankings. Tech is the highest-ranked team at No. 8, joining No. 9 Florida, No. 18 Florida State, No. 19 North Florida, No. 20 Auburn and No. 26 Wake Forest.
The tournament is played at the 7,389-yard, par 72 Old Memorial Golf Club. Tech finished second in this tournament a year ago, 20 strokes behind North Florida.
“This is a good golf course, hard, and the greens are firm and fast,” said Tech head coach Bruce Heppler. “The golf course has a resemblance to Old North State (site of the ACC Championship) in playability, and it’s a strong field. The weather is supposed to be good, and it should be a very good test.”
Heppler will send sophomores Anders Albertson and Ollie Schniederjans, who have played in every event this year for the Yellow Jackets, along with juniors Bo Andrews and Seth Reeves and freshman Shun Yat Hak.
Schniederjans (Powder Springs, Ga.), No. 24 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, and Albertson (Woodstock, Ga.), No. 46, ranked 1-2 on the Tech scoring average chart with averages of 71.7 and 71.9, respectively. They have combined for three top-5 finishes, six in the top 10 and 11 in the top 20 in Tech’s eight team events this year.
Andrews (Raleigh, N.C.), Reeves (Duluth, Ga.) and Hak (Lake Mary, Fla.), have combined for six top-20 showings and average between 73.2 and 74.1 in scoring average.
Following the Gary Koch Invitational, Tech has dual matches scheduled against South Carolina (April 13) and TCU (April 19) in Atlanta before defending its ACC Championship April 26-28 in New London, N.C.
