Jackets Fall to Auburn in East Lake Cup Title Match – Men’s Golf — Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Atlanta, Ga. – Benjamin Reuter and Albert Hansson scored individual match victories, and No. 14 Georgia Tech took defending NCAA champion Auburn down to the final match before falling, 3-2, Wednesday in the championship match at the East Lake Cup at East Lake Golf Club.

The first three matches out on the course went the distance, with Auburn winning two of those. The final two matches concluded at the 17^th hole.

Tech’s Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.), playing the lead match, led by as many as two holes on the front side at East Lake. But the Yellow Jackets junior saw the tide turn at the turn, as Auburn’s Ryan Eshleman birdied the eighth and parred the ninth to grab the lead, and he held his advantage through the finish in a 1-up victory.

Right behind him, freshman Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden) did just the opposite against Brendan Valdes, trailing on the front nine and taking his first lead with a birdie at the 10^th. He maintained his hold through the end and closed out Valdes, 2-up, after the Auburn senior put his second shot into the pond on the 18^th fairway.

Auburn regained the lead in the next match after Tech’s Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) battled back from a 3-hole deficit to tie Carson Bacha at 16, only to see Bacha birdie 17 and 18 to take a 2-up victory.

Reuter led from the start in his match against Josiah Gilbert, and went 4-up with an emphatic birdie at the par-3 9^th. After four straight bogeys reduced his lead in half, the redshirt junior from Naarden, The Netherlands birdied the 14^th to go 3-up and finished his 2&1 win despite a bogey at 17, knotting the overall match at 2-2.

That left the contest in the hands of defending NCAA champion Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) for Tech and the reigning consensus national player of the year Jackson Koivun of Auburn. The Yellow Jacket junior birdied the opening hole and held his lead through three holes. But he lipped out a putt to win the 4^th, and another to lose the 5^th, and never led again. Tai birdied the par-5 6^th to pull even, and the match remained tied through 10 before his bogey at 11 gave Koivun the lead for good. The Tiger sophomore never led by more than two holes, but his birdie at the par-3 15^th gave him the necessary cushion to take a 2&1 win.

Freshman Albert Hansson won both of his matches at the East Lake Cup after carding a 69 to finish third in stroke play. (photo by Clyde Click)

Florida State won the third-place match Wednesday, 3 ½-1 ½, over Ohio State.

The East Lake…