FORT WORTH, Tx. – Benjamin Reuter, who shot 69 Tuesday, and Kale Fontenot, who posted a 71, each secured top-15 finishes individually, and 17th-ranked Georgia Tech finished in a tie for eighth place at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational.
Coming off an impressive victory just a week ago at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, Tech finished in the middle of the pack in a 15-team field that included 12 teams currently ranked in the Bushnell/Golfweek coaches top-25 poll. Four of those teams – Tech, Auburn (currently ranked No. 1), Vanderbilt (No. 4) and North Carolina (No. 16) – advanced to match play at the NCAA Championship last May, and 12 teams competed in stroke play.
Fontenot, a sophomore from Lafayette, La., put together his best career finish in a 36- or 54-hole event, tying for 11th place after posting rounds of 69-71-71 for a 1-over-par total of 211. Reuter, a junior from Naarden, The Netherlands, continued to play strong golf with rounds of 70-73-69 for the tournament and a 2-over-par total of 212.
Tech returns to action Oct. 18-20 with its own annual fall event, the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational at its home course in Alpharetta, Ga.
TECH LINEUP – Fontenot and Reuter carried Tech Tuesday as the Yellow Jackets shot a closing round of 288 (8-over-par), and tied with No. 13 Alabama at 23-over-par 863 at Colonial Country Club. Fontenot played the front nine in 2-over-par with five bogeys and three birdies, but steadied on the back one birdie and eight pars. Reuter also played solidly with four birdies against three bogeys.
Tech also counted a pair of 4-over-par 74s Tuesday from junior Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) and sophomore Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.), while freshman Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden) closed with a 77. Kim was the top finisher among the three, tying for 58th place at 222 (+12), while Hansson and Tai tied for 67th at 224 (+14).
TEAM LEADERBORD – Only No. 8 Oklahoma was able to break par Tuesday at Colonial with a 1-under-par closing round of 279, and held its position at the top of the leaderboard at 10-under-par 830. That was four strokes better than No. 11 Texas (834, -6).
The top five teams after 36 holes all held their positions, as top-ranked Auburn (836, -4), No. 16 North Carolina (841, +1) and No. 2 Arizona State (851, +11) rounded out the top five. No. 4 Vanderbilt (+20), No. 22 Stanford (+22), Tech and No. 13 Alabama (+23) were next, while No. 19 Texas A&M and No. 21 Georgia tied for 10th (+24).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – North Carolina’s David Ford matched the low round of the day with a 3-under-par 67 for a 54-hole total of 201 (-9), winning the individual title and an exemption into the 2025 Charles Schwab Challenge on the PGA Tour. He won by three strokes over Auburn’s Brendan Valdes (204, -6), who closed with a 69.
Oklahoma’s Drew Goodman, Auburn’s Billy Davis and Texas’ Daniel Bennett tied for third at 205 (-5), while the Sooners’ Ryder Cowan (208, -2) finished sixth, and Vandy’s Jackson Van Paris (209, -1) was seventh.
Wake Forest’s Scotty Kennon, Arizona State’s Connor Williams and Oklahoma’s Matthew Troutman rounded out the top 10, all finishing at even-par 210.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – The Yellow Jackets are competed in the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational for the third time, having finished 12th in 2023 and eighth in 2023 in its previous two appearances. The event is played at Colonial Country Club, which annually hosts the Charles Schwab Challenge on the PGA Tour, plays to a par of 70 and measures 7,289 yards.
The Ben Hogan event included 12 teams that competed in the 2024 NCAA Championship, including four that advanced to match play (Tech, Auburn, North Carolina and Vanderbilt). Twelve teams in the field are among the current Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches top-25. The complete field includes Alabama (13), Arizona State (2), Auburn (1), Georgia (21), Georgia Tech (17), North Carolina (16), Oklahoma (8), Oregon, Stanford (22), TCU, Texas (11), Texas A&M (19), Texas Tech (14), Vanderbilt (4) and Wake Forest.