Georgia Tech won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship to earn a spot in the NCAA Regionals,
which will be played May 14-15 at six sites around the country, one of them in Athens at the UGA
course.
Georgia Southern won the stroke play title of the Sun Belt Conference, but lost in the semifinals of
match play and will hope for an at-large bid to Regionals.
Georgia tied for fifth in the stroke play portion of the SEC Championship at the Seaside course at Sea
Island GC, and will begin play in the match play quarterfinals Saturday. The Bulldogs will be the host
team for the Athens Regional.
The Kennesaw State women’s won its conference title and will be one of three women’s teams from the
state to participate in the NCAA Regionals, which will be played May 6-8.
Georgia Tech won its 18 th ACC championship since 1985, coasting to a 15-stroke victory over Virginia and
setting a conference scoring record in the process. The Yellow Jackets finished with a 37-under 827 total,
four shots better than the previous mark set by Georgia Tech in 2011. It was the 12 th time the Yellow
Jackets have won the ACC tournament at the Old North course in New London, N.C., and the 13 th
conference title for coach Bruce Heppler.
The Jackets trailed Duke by five shots after opening with a score of 12-under 276, but Georgia Tech’s
270 score the second day gave the team a whopping 17-stroke lead heading to the final round. Tech
closed with a 281 to expand its final margin of victory to 15.
Leading the way for Georgia Tech was junior Andy Ogletree, who shot 66-65 the first two days to take
the individual lead into the final round, and finished second at 204 after a 73, one shot behind the
winner.
Luke Schniederjans, a junior from Powder Springs, placed sixth at 208 with scores of 71-69-68.
Freshman Connor Howe tied for 14 th at 212 with a second round 68 and junior Tyler Strafaci opened
with a 67 and tied for 16 th at 213. Sophomore Noah Norton rebounded from a difficult opening round to
shoot back-to-back 68s the next two days.
Georgia Tech closed out the regular season with an impressive victory in a tournament hosted by
Clemson at the Cliffs at Keowee Falls. The Yellow Jackets shot 52-under 812 to win by 11 shots over
Duke and 18 shots over Georgia.
Schniederjans shot a second round 62 and finished third at 14-under 202. Strafaci shot three straight 68s
and was fourth at 204, with Norton and Ogletree tying for fifth at 205. Ogletree led Tech in the final
round with a 64. Howe closed with a 68 and tied for 22 nd at 212.
Georgia Tech was ranked eighth in the country by GolfStat following its ACC championship, which would
potentially give the Yellow Jackets a second seed in the upcoming NCAA Regionals. Individually, Ogletree
was ranked 17 th in the country, followed by Schniederjans (24), Strafaci (49) and Norton (62).
Georgia Southern shot 31-under 821 to win the Sun Belt Conference stroke play by four over Coastal
Carolina at the Raven in Sandestin, Fla. The Eagles won a final round duel, shooting 21-under 263 in the
third round to edge out Coastal, which closed with a 267. The 263 score was the lowest in Georgia
Southern’s history.
The Eagles then lost 3-2 to Louisiana-Monroe in the semifinals of match play. Junior Jake Maples of
McDonough won his match 1-up and freshman Colin Bowles of Albany, who transferred from Ohio State
at mid-season, rallied from 4-down with five holes to play to send his match to extra holes, and then
won with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
Brett Barron, a junior from Cumming, lost 1-up, and senior Steven Fisk of Stockbridge, the team’s top
player, lost 2&1. Louisiana-Monroe clinched the victory with a win on the 20 th hole against Southern’s
Ben Carr, a freshman from Columbus.
Fisk, ranked 16 th in the country, led the Eagles to the team title, scoring his school-record ninth career
victory, breaking the record set by Jodie Mudd. After opening with a non-counting 75, Fisk followed
with a 61 and came back with a final round 66 for an 11-under 202 total to win the individual title by
one.
Carr closed with a 66 to tie for seventh at 206, with Barron 14 th at 209 after a 65 in the third round.
Maples and Bowles tied for 15 th at 210, with Maples shooting 66 the last day and Bowles a non-counting
67. The Eagles’ counting scores that day were a 65 and three 66s. Georgia Southern posted scores of 279
the first two days before its outstanding final round.
Georgia State placed eighth at 843, with freshman David Li tying for 11 th at 207 with scores of 67-75-65.
Sophomore Owen Sertl of Marietta shot 66 in the final round.
Georgia shared the first round lead in the SEC Championship at 8-under 272, but fell back to third
following a 279 the second day. The Bulldogs struggled in the final round, with three players posting
scores of 78 or higher. The team’s 295 total dropped the Bulldogs into a tie for fifth at 846 with
Tennessee, with Texas A&M and Kentucky tying for third at 843. Auburn shot 24-under 816 to win by 16
over Vanderbilt.
Sophomore Davis Thompson, who lives on St. Simons Island, led the Bulldogs with scores of 69-68-68,
tying for fourth at 205. Junior Trevor Phillips shot 71-68-71 to finish 14 th at even par 210. Spencer
Ralston, a junior from Gainesville, posted scores of 67-70 the first two days before carding a 78 in the
final round without a birdie.
Freshman Trent Phillips, the team’s No. 1 player and the 12 th ranked player in the country, fired an
opening 65 and followed with a 73 and a disastrous 85 the final day. That meant the Bulldogs had to
count 78s by both Ralston and No. 5 player Will Kahlstorf, a freshman from Watkinsville, whose scores
did not count in the first two rounds.
Georgia was ranked 14 th in the country coming into the SEC tournament, and will be around a No. 3 in
the Athens Regional. Ralston, the 47 th ranked player in the country coming into the SEC Championship,
led the Bulldogs to a third place finish in a tournament hosted by Clemson, tying for seventh at 206 after
scores of 67 and 66 the first two days. Thompson was third individually in the Southern Intercollegiate at
Athens CC at 2-under 142, leading the Bulldogs to a third place showing in the one-day event.
Kennesaw State placed fourth in the Atlantic Sun Championship at the Legends at Chateau Elan with an
899 total. Senior Pablo Rodriguez-Tabernero tied for seventh at 218, followed by freshman Grant Sutliff
of Cumming and sophomore Brady Keran of Canton at 227. The Owls, who were without No.1 player
Jake Fendt of Cumming for the entire Spring schedule, lost No. 2 player Wyatt Larkin of Morganton to
an injury during the second round of the conference tournament.
Mercer took fifth in the Southern Conference tournament at Pinehurst, with sophomore Tyler Copp
tying for sixth and sophomore Lino Galdin tying for 10 th .
Augusta plays in the MEAC Championship Monday and Tuesday at Crosswinds in Savannah and is an
overwhelming favorite to again win the title and claim an NCAA bid. The Jaguars are ranked outside the
top 120 in the country and can only get an NCAA invite with a conference victory.
In women’s conference tournaments:
Kennesaw State won the Atlantic Sun tournament with a score of 910. The Owls pulled away with a 291
in the second and finished 13 shots ahead of the runner-up team and 26 in front of third place. Senior
Medy Thavong, senior Roanne Tomlinson and junior Clara Aveling finished 1-2-3 in the individual
completion for the Owls. The team is ranked 35 th nationally by GolfStat and will be the No. 9 seed in the
Auburn Regional.
Georgia tied for fifth in the stroke play portion of the SEC Championship in Birmingham, and reached
the semifinals of match play before losing 3-2 to eventual champion Mississippi.
The Bulldogs shot 293-286-303 for an 882 total in stroke play, 19 strokes behind Florida. Freshman Jo
Hua Hung was 12 th at 223, but was the only team member to place higher than 25 th . Hua and fellow
freshmen Harmie Constantino and Lawrenceville’s Jenny Bae all won their quarterfinal matches as
Georgia defeated Vanderbilt 3-2.
Bae and Hua, both of whom joined the team at mid-season, also won in the semifinals against
Mississippi. Hua won 2&1 while Bae needed extra holes. In the decisive match, Roswell senior Rinko
Mitsunaga also went to extra holes before losing to her opponent.
Georgia, ranked 39 th in the country, will play in the East Lansing Regional along with Augusta, which is
ranked 45 th Georgia is the 10 seed and Augusta, which is not a member of a conference in women’s golf,
is seeded 12 th.
Georgia Southern placed third in the Sun Belt Conference tournament played at LPGA International in
Daytona Beach. The Eagles finished five shots behind South Alabama with a score an 882, led by junior
Ella Ofstedahl, who shot a final round 69 to earn medalist honors at 213. Senior Ansley Bowman tied
for seventh at 221, with sophomore Julianna Collett of St. Simons T14 at 223.
Georgia State was 10 th in the 11-team field.
Mercer placed fourth in the Southern Conference tournament at Hilton Head, led by senior Karina
Kukkanen, who finished fifth at 222.