THE FLATS – Coming off an Atlantic Coast Conference championship and an NCAA Championship runner-up finish in 2023, Georgia tech’s golf team will make its first appearance this fall in the annual East Lake Cup this fall, highlighting a 2023 fall schedule which also includes the 17th Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational at its home course in Alpharetta, Ga.
The Yellow Jackets conclude their fall slate with the East Lake Cup, which has been contested every year since 2015 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Due to renovations at the club set to begin following the Tour Championship in late August, this year’s edition will take place Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga. Defending national champion Florida, runner-up Georgia Tech, and semifinalists Florida State and North Carolina will compete for the men’s title in the stroke play/match play event, while 2023 champ Wake Forest, runner-up Southern California, Texas A&M and Stanford will compete for the women’s title. The tournament will be televised live on Golf Channel.
Tech will split its team that weekend and send a group to Pebble Beach, Calif., for the Cypress Point Classic, a match play event in which the Yellow Jackets have competed twice before, winning the championship most recently in 2019.
Two weeks earlier, Tech will once again play host to many of the nation’s best teams from coast to coast at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational, which will be played Oct. 13-15. One of two teams to capture the title twice, most recently in 2012, the Yellow Jackets took a narrow defeat to Stanford for a runner-up finish last fall, while freshman Hiroshi Tai won the individual title.
Eleven of the 13 teams competing at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate played in NCAA regionals last spring, seven of which advanced to the NCAA Championship, including Tech, Duke, East Tennessee State, Pepperdine, Texas, Texas A&M and Virginia.
Tech opens the fall slate at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational Sept. 15-17 at Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois, the Jackets’ second appearance in the event and first since 2019, when Tech shared the title with Baylor. The Yellow Jackets then make a return trip to Fort Worth, Texas for the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational, Oct. 2-3, at venerable Colonial Country Club.
“We have a busy fall ahead of us with five great events, all of which feature top-notch competition at great venues,” said head coach Bruce Heppler, who in 28 seasons on The Flats has guided the Yellow Jackets to 72 tournament victories, 14 ACC Championships and 25 NCAA appearances. “Everyone on our team will get an opportunity to compete against strong fields. We’re thrilled to again welcome 13 great teams to our home course at the Golf Club of Georgia, and excited to play in the East Lake Cup for the first time.”
All-American Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa), who ranks No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking after winning The Amateur Championship last summer and finishing as low amateur at The Open Championship, returns for his senior year along with Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.), a top-100 player in the collegiate rankings last year, and sophomore Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), a two-time winner and the ACC individual runner-up as a freshman.
They headline a group of eight returning letterwinners, and the Jackets add a pair of freshmen ranked among the nation’s top 15 juniors in the class of 2023 in Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) and Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.).
FALL SCHEDULE DETAILS
Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational
- Dates: September 15-17 (stroke play, 18 holes each day)
- Venue: Olympia Fields Country Club, Olympia Fields, Ill.
- Participating teams (15): Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Purdue, Stanford, Texas
Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational
- Dates: October 2-3 (stroke play, 36 holes first day)
- Venue: Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas.
- Participating teams (15): Arizona State, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pepperdine, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest
Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational
- Dates: October 13-15 (stroke play, 18 holes each day)
- Venue: Golf Club of Georgia (Lakeside Course), Alpharetta, Ga.
- Participating teams (14): Charlotte, Clemson, Duke, East Tennessee State, Northwestern, Pepperdine, Southern California, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, Virginia, Wake Forest, Washington
Cypress Point Classic
- Dates: October 30-31 (match play event)
- Venue: Cypress Point Golf Club, Pebble Beach, Calif.
- Participating teams (8): Arizona State, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Pepperdine, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas
East Lake Cup
- Dates: October 30-November 1 (stroke play/match play event)
- Venue: Atlanta Athletic Club, Johns Creek, Ga.
- Participating teams (4): Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina