Aug. 7, 2013
THE FLATS – Roberto Castro, Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar are set to tee it up in the professional golf season’s final major, the PGA Championship, which begins Thursday at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.
Castro, 44th in FedEx Cup points this year, earned his first berth in the PGA Championship based on his position among the top 70 money earners on the PGA Tour since last year’s PGA Championship. Cink is exempt due to his 2009 Open Championship, and Kuchar based on his position in the Official World Golf ranking (6th).
Cink is playing in his 17th PGA Championship, having posted six finishes in the top 25. His best finish was a tie for third in the 1999 championship at Medinah Country Club. Kuchar’s high finish among six previous PGA Championship appearances was a tie for 10th in 2010 at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis. No Tech alumnus has ever won the PGA Championship.
Kuchar has made the cut in each of the three previous majors this year, tying for eighth place at the Masters, 15th at the Open Championship and 28th at the U.S. Open. Cink made the cut at the Masters (T25) and the Open Championship (T26). This is Castro’s first appearance in one of golf’s majors.
Kuchar is paired for the first two rounds (7:55 a.m. Thursday) with Spaniard Sergio Garcia in a reunion of combatants in a 1998 U.S. Amateur quarterfinal match at Oak Hill. American Rickie Fowler is the third member of the group.
Cink will play with Paul Lawrie of Scotland and Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain for the first two rounds (8:20 a.m. tee time Thursday). Castro is paired with Scott Jamieson of Scotland and American Stuart Smith (9:15 a.m. Thursday).
Castro profile | Cink profile | Kuchar profile
MORE ACADEMIC RECOGNITION ROLLS IN
Eight of the nine golfers on Georgia Tech’s 2012-13 roster were named Tuesday to the ACC Academic Honor Roll, which is comprised of student-athletes who participated in a varsity-level sport and registered a grade point average of 3.00 or better for the full academic year. The conference acknowledged a record 2,909 student-athletes for their hard work in the classroom during the 2012-13 academic year.
Minghao Wang, who graduated in the spring of 2013, was named to the team for the fifth time, and Bo Andrews earned a spot for the fourth time. Anders Albertson, Seth Reeves and Ollie Schniederjans are three-time honorees, while Drew Czuchry and Richard Werenski made it for the second time. Michael Hines, a freshman in 2012-13, also made the list.
COMPETITION ROUND UP
Shun Yat Hak, who elected not to return to Georgia Tech and the golf team, is entered in this weekend’s Honda Powersports Classic on the NGA Hooters Tour in Florence, S.C. Read Golfweek blog here.
Seth Reeves tied for seventh place in the Western Amateur at The Alotian Club outside of Little Rock, Ark., advancing to match play where he bowed out in the quarterfinals. He made a hole-in-one on the 11th hole to help him win his first-round match.
Chesson Hadley tied for 10th place at the Mylan Classic in Pennsylvania, maintaining his No. 3 spot on the Web.com Tour money list … Matt Kuchar tied for 27th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. He was Tech’s only alumnus in the field … David Duval was the only one of four Tech alums to make the cut at the Reno-Tahoe Open, tying for 66th … Tech remains at the top of this week’s Rivals Cup rankings.
Georgia Tech Alumni in the Majors in 2013
The Masters – Matt Kuchar T8, Stewart Cink T25, Larry Mize MC U.S. Open – Matt Kuchar T28, Nicholas Thompson T56, Matt Weibring T62, Stewart Cink MC Open Championship – Matt Kuchar T15, Stewart Cink T26
PGA Tour FedEx Cup Points
2 – Matt Kuchar; 44 – Roberto Castro; 63 – Cameron Tringale; 74 – Nicholas Thompson; 76 – Stewart Cink; 101 – Bryce Molder; 164 – Troy Matteson; 219 – Paul Haley
Web.com Tour Money List
3 ->Chesson Hadley; 184 – Matt Weibring; 208 – Paul Haley
eGolf Tour Money List
71 – James White; 79 – John-Tyler Griffin
NGA Hooters Tour
65 – James White
