Alpharetta, Ga. – Jacob Joiner and Andy Ogletree each fired a 2-under-par 70 Sunday as fourth-ranked Georgia Tech posted a 3-under-par 285 in the final round Sunday, finishing in a tie for fourth place at the 12th annual Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate at the Golf Club of Georgia. The Yellow Jackets completed their fall schedule with two wins, a second- and a fourth-place finish in four events.
TECH LINEUP – Despite getting three subpar scores Sunday, Georgia Tech was never able to make up ground, getting only to 4-under-par for its round and 19-under for the tournament before finishing at 3-under for the day and 18-under for the weekend.
Ogletree, a sophomore from Little Rock, Miss., got to 4-under-par on his round, then bogeyed two holes on the back nine to finish at 70, while Joiner, a senior from Leesburg, Ga., overcame three bogeys and a double bogey in his first five holes, getting seven birdies after that to post his fifth 70 in his last six rounds.
Joiner wound up in a tie for 7th place individually at 210 (-6), his second consecutive top-10 finish this fall, while Ogletree tied for 23rd at 212 (-4).
Sophomore Luke Schniederjans (Powder Springs, Ga.) added a 1-under-par 71 for the Yellow Jackets, finishing in a tie for 13th place at 211 (-5), and freshman Noah Norton provided Tech’s fourth counting score Sunday with a 74.
Junior Tyler Joiner, Jacob’s younger brother who was competing as an individual this weekend, fired a 6-under-par 66 Sunday, the best round of the day, to tie for eighth with Jacob and three others at 210 (-6).
TEAM LEADERBOARD – Third-ranked Oklahoma State, which started the day in fifth place, overtook 36-hole leader Wake Forest with a 14-under-par round of 274, finishing with a tournament total of 837 (-27), one stroke shy of the tournament record of 836 set by Georgia Tech in 2010. The Cowboys, who became the fourth team to win the event twice, went 4-under-par over the final two holes and outlasted defending co-champion Texas, which shot 6-under-par 282 Sunday and finished at 840 (-24).
The Demon Deacons, ranked 11th, got to 29-under-par on the back nine and held a five-stroke lead at one point before faltering on the closing holes, going 7-over-par on the last three holes to drop into third place. They finished at 840 (-22).
The Yellow Jackets tied No. 22 UCLA for fourth at 846 (-18), followed by No. 15 Stanford and No. 16 at 848 (-16).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – All-American Doug Ghim of Texas closed with a 70 to finish 54 holes at 13-under-par 203 and capture a one-stroke victory over Oklahoma State freshman Matthew Wolff, who carded a final-round 67 for a tournament score of 204 (-12). Duke’s Alex Smalley finished third at 11-under 205, and Wake Forest’s Will Zalatoris was fourth at 10-under 206.
Zach Bauchou of Oklahoma State and Brad Dalke of Oklahoma tied for fifth at 8-under 208, while Tyler and Jacob Joiner from Georgia Tech finished in a group of five players tied for seventh at 6-under 210.
COACH BRUCE HEPPLER SAYS – “I don’t have the final numbers on those, but we just didn’t play the par 5s like we needed to in order to mount a charge today. We had some opportunities, but I don’t think we had a great putting day. I don’t think we played as well as we can, but we competed well against some really good teams here this weekend. Jacob Joiner had another good round for us after getting off to a rough start, fought his way back. Hats off to Oklahoma State, one of the best teams in the country won the tournament, and one of the best players in the world won it as an individual. We just need to keep learning and growing. You just need to keep sticking your nose into deep water to learn how to swim.
“We’re still a young team, and they’re still finding their way. It’s nice to have Jacob back in the mix, and we have some depth. It was a wonderful day for Tyler Joiner, who had a great tournament.”
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – The Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, formerly called the United States Collegiate Championship, is played at the Golf Club of Georgia, which serves as the Yellow Jackets’ home club, on the 7,017-yard, par 72 Lakeside Course.
The field is traditionally one of the strongest in college golf, and 13 of the 15 teams this year are in the current Golfstat top 50. Four of those are ranked among the top 10, with five others in the top 25. Six of the teams in the field have combined to win 10 tournaments this fall. Twenty-four of the nation’s top 100 players, as ranked by Golfstat, are in the field.
The field, in alphabetical order with current Golfstat ranking – Clemson (16), Duke (30), East Tennessee State (97), Florida State (23), Georgia Tech (4), Oklahoma (5), Oklahoma State (3), Stanford (15), Texas (31), Texas A&M (2), TCU (43), UCLA (22), UNLV (39), Virginia (84), Wake Forest (11).