THE FLATS – Down to its last regular-season event before defending its Atlantic Coast Conference title later this month, Georgia Tech’s golf team heads to Naples, Fla., to compete in the Calusa Cup Sunday through Tuesday at Calusa Pines Golf Club.
The Yellow Jackets, No. 15 in the Scoreboard collegiate rankings and No. 11 in the Bushnell/GCAA coaches poll, are looking for their first tournament win of the 2023-24 academic year at a site where they won two years ago. Tech has a pair of runner-up finishes at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate and the Watersound Invitational, as well as a pair of third-place showings at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational and the East Lake Cup. The Jackets have finished fourth, fourth and fifth in their last three events this spring.
Tech will play the Calusa Cup without its top player, senior Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa), who has an invitation to the Masters Tournament after winning The Amateur Championship last summer. The 6-foot-8 Lamprecht, ranked the No. 1 amateur in the world currently, will compete Sunday in the annual Georgia Cup, a match featuring the champions of the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur, at the Golf Club of Georgia, then travel to Augusta to participate in Masters week activities.
Hiroshi Tai has six top-20 finishes in 2023-24. (photo by Clyde Click)
TECH LINEUP – Head coach Bruce Heppler, in his 29th year coaching the Yellow Jackets, has utilized the same starting five for all five spring events but is making an adjustment for the Calusa Cup to accommodate the absence of Lamprecht.
Tech’s lineup will be headed by senior Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.), who tied for 12th place in Tech’s most recent event, The Goodwin, for his best finish since a tie for eighth at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate to open the spring. He has played No. 2 for the Jackets this spring, followed by sophomore Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), Tech’s second-highest-ranked player at No. 100 in the Scoreboard NCAA Golf rankings. Tai had a run of six straight top-20 finishes for the Jackets until tying for 68th at The Goodwin.
The remainder of the lineup includes freshman Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.), ranked No. 124, who has been in the Tech lineup for every spring event, sophomore Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.), who has competed in six tournaments this year, and senior Aidan Kramer (Oviedo, Fla.), who has seen action in four. Fontenot won the stroke play title the East Lake Cup in the fall…
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