THE FLATS – Continuing to work toward a defense of its 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference title and another berth in the NCAA Championship, 12th-ranked Georgia Tech heads to the Gulf Coast of Florida this week to compete in the Watersound Invitational in Panama City Beach.
The Yellow Jackets, No. 12 in the Scoreboard collegiate rankings and No. 9 on the Bushnell/GCAA coaches poll, finished in sixth place against a stacked field at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate top open the spring, behind the teams ranked ahead of Tech in the Scoreboard collegiate rankings and ahead of the teams that rank below. Tech enjoyed a solid fall season, finishing second at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational and third at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational and the East Lake Cup, as well as an eighth-place showing at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational.
Twelve teams will compete over three days (Monday through Wednesday) at the Shark’s Tooth Golf Club at the Watersound Resort in the fourth edition of the event, which began in 2021 with all the teams in the field coming from either the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Southeastern Conference. Seven of the 12 teams are ranked in the top 25 of the current Scoreboard NCAA Golf Ranking, and eight are listed among the top 50.
After guiding the Yellow Jackets to the program’s 19th Atlantic Coast Conference championship and a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championship last spring, head coach Bruce Heppler has three starters back for his 29th season on The Flats, including seniors Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.) and Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) and sophomore Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), each of whom are ranked among the world’s top 100 amateur players. They have formed the foundation of the Tech lineup throughout the 2023-24 academic year.
Eighteen holes will be played each day, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern time Monday and Tuesday, and 8:30 a.m. EST Wednesday.
Bartley Forrester led the Yellow Jackets with an eighth-place finish at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate. (photo by Mario Terrana)
TECH LINEUP – All three of Tech’s returning starters – Lamprecht, Forrester and Tai – are in the lineup for the Watersound Invitational along with freshmen Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) and Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif), the same lineup that competed at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate to open the spring slate last week.
Lamprecht is currently ranked the No. 1 amateur in the world, and No. 2 in the…
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