Kingston Springs, TN. – Vincent Whaley and Ollie Schniederjans scored big individual victories Saturday, September 20th, 2014, and third-ranked Georgia Tech squared its match with No. 7 Vanderbilt, 2-2-1, in the conference challenge portion of the DICK’S Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup.
The event concluded on Sunday, September 21st, with a unique Atlantic Coast Conference versus Southeastern Conference match play competition. Thirty individual match-ups would determine the conference champion. Matches were tight all day, but in the end the ACC prevailed and claimed the traveling trophy, besting the SEC by a score of 16.5 to 13.5.
Whaley enjoyed the easiest road to victory in any of the 30 matches, defeating the Commodores’ Jordan Janico, 8 & 7. The sophomore from McKinney, Texas, won the opening hole, then 2 through 6 in succession and never looked back. Whaley built his lead to eight holes after 10 and closed out the match with a par on No. 11. Schniederjans led by as many as five holes (through No. 10) in his match with Hunter Stewart before settling for a 3 & 2 victory.
Tech had a chance to win the match outright with senior Drew Czuchry, whose dramatic chip-in from the fringe of the 18th green Saturday lifted the Yellow Jackets to a one-stroke victory over Vanderbilt in the stroke-play portion of the Challenge Cup. Paired with the Commodores’ Carson Jacobs Sunday, Czuchry never trailed, but held the lead for only six holes in the match. Jacobs’ bogey at No. 17 put the Tech senior up a hole going to the last, but Czuchry could not hold the lead after three-putting from 35 feet for a bogey.
Anders Albertson lost 4 & 2 to Theo Humphrey, and James Clark dropped a 5 & 3 decision to Ben Fogler.
A ninety-minute highlight show will be broadcast on ESPNU on October 12, 2014 at 2 p.m. Eastern time with a broadcast on the SEC Network to follow at a later date that has yet to be determined.
Georgia Tech returns to action October 6-7, 2014 at the Jerry Pate National Collegiate in Vestavia Hills, AL.