ATLANTA, Ga. – No. 21 Georgia Tech golf heads to the Sunshine State to begin its quest for its 20th all-time Atlantic Coast Conference championship this week when the 72nd ACC Men’s Golf Championship commences at Shark’s Tooth Golf Club in Panama City, Fla.
Action gets underway on Thursday as 15 teams will compete for the prestigious title. The tournament format will include 54 holes of stroke play to determine eight teams that qualify for match play. Twelve teams enter the tournament ranked among the top 50 in the Scoreboard NCAA Rankings, with five of those, including the Yellow Jackets ranked in the top 25.
The ACC Championship returns to the state of Florida for the third time in the history of the championship, and will be played at the Shark’s Tooth Golf Club (par 72, 7,199 yards) for the second time (2022 was the first). Georgia Tech has had success in ACC Championships played in Florida, capturing the title in 2001 and finishing runner-up in 2022.
Georgia Tech, the No. 4 seed, will be paired with No. 24 Florida State and No. 27 Duke in the first round beginning at 9:22 a.m. from the 10th tee. Pairings were based on recent Scoreboard rankings released on April 15.
Head coach Bruce Heppler’s team, which picked up a victory this season at the Pauma Valley Invitational last month, is coming off a 5th-place finish at the Ford Collegiate to close out spring competition for its fourth top-5 finish of the season. The Yellow Jackets made significant improvement on the final day, jumping four spots on the team leaderboard with a three-round team total of 11-under-par 829.
The ACC Championship will utilize a split-tee start format each day of stroke play, playing 18 holes Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at 8 a.m. Central Daylight Time (9 a.m. EDT). The top eight teams on the leaderboard on Saturday qualify for match play, with quarterfinal and semifinal matches taking place Sunday starting at 7:30 a.m. CT. The championship match will be played at 9 a.m. CT on Monday.
TECH LINEUP
Georgia Tech will travel the same starting five lineup to the Panhandle: Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.), Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden), Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands)and Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.). Brady Rackley IV (Atlanta, Ga.) will serve as Tech’s alternate.
A trio of Yellow Jackets posted sub-par rounds on the final day of the Ford Collegiate to help Tech jump into the top 5 as Tai, Reuter and Hansson were all able to break par on the final round. With a 64 on the final day, Tai finished tied for sixth-place, just five strokes off the leader, for his third top-10 finish of the season.
Tran was just outside the top 25 at the Ford, tying for 26th behind a 1-under-par 209 showing. The senior has five top-25 finishes this season with his best showing coming at Tech’s home tournament, the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, where he tied for fourth alongside teammate, Tai.
Tech’s second top-25 finish came from Hansson who finished the Ford Collegiate with a 2-under-par 68. The sophomore, and reigning ACC Freshman of the Year, posted a 3-under-par 207 for the tournament to finish in a three-way tie for 21st.
Reuter posted his best finish of the season at the Amer Ari Invitational in February, tying for 24th as the redshirt-senior has recorded six top-50 finishes, most recently tying for 49th at the Ford Collegiate.
Rounding out Tech’s lineup, Fontenot is coming off a tie for 44th at the Ford Collegiate. The junior recorded his best finish of the season at the Fighting Illini Invitational in the fall, tying for 19th.