Georgia Tech Men’s Golf Wins ACC Championship

Release from Georgia Tech Athletics:

Four of Georgia Tech’s five players birdied the second playoff hole on Sunday as the 11^th-ranked Yellow Jackets successfully defended their Atlantic Coast Conference championship at the 62^nd annual event at the Old North State Club in New London, N.C.

Anders Albertson won co-medalist honors with Louisville’s Robin Sciot-Siegrist and Virginia Tech’s Trevor Cone with an 11-under-par total of 205. It was the second conference title for the Tech senior from Woodstock, Ga., putting him in select company with Clemson’s Charles Warren, who did it most recently in 1997-98, Georgia Tech’s David Duval (1991, 1993), and Wake Forest’s Ronnie Thomas and Scott Hoch.

All three Tech players in the second group of the sudden-death playoff birdied the hole – Schniederjans making his first, then Anders Albertson and Vincent Whaley closing it out by rolling in short birdie putts for the Yellow Jackets. Freshman Chris Petefish also birdied out of the first playoff group, giving the Jackets a 4-under score on the hole while Clemson recorded one birdie and four pars. Each team got one birdie and four pars on the first hole of the playoff.

The title was the sixth in the last seven years for Tech, eighth in the last 10 years, 11^th in 20 seasons under head coach Bruce Heppler and the 16^th in the history of the program.

Tech and Clemson, bidding for its first conference title since 2004, finished 54 holes tied at 19-under-par 845 after the Yellow Jackets shot 6-under-par 282Sunday and the Tigers posted a 7-under-par 281. The Yellow Jackets, who began Sunday’s final round with a one-stroke lead over the Tigers, rallied from five shots behind at one point after the Tigers surged ahead, and took a two-shot lead into the final two holes.

With the final group on the 17^th tee, however, and Albertson leading by two in the medal race, the Tech senior pulled his tee shot into Badin Lake left of the par-3 hole and double-bogeyed, dropping him into the three-way tie in the medal race and Tech into a tie, first with Florida State, then with Clemson at the end.

The Seminoles dropped out of the tie on the same hole when Jack Maguire bogeyed, and finished one shot out of the playoff. Clemson, meanwhile, got a birdie from Billy Kennerly on the final hole, the same par-5 18^th used in the playoff, to pull even with the Jackets.

TEAM LEADERBOARD – Tech and Clemson finished with identical scores of 845 (-19), one shot ahead of the nation’s top-ranked team, Florida State (846, -18). Virginia (853, -11) finished fourth, followed by North Carolina (854, -10) and Virginia Tech (856, -8). They were the only teams to finish 54 holes under par.

The victory gives Tech automatic qualification into the NCAA regionals, which will take place May 14-16 at six different sites. The fields for all six regionals will be announced May 4.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Due to the length of the team playoff, the three individuals did not play off for medalist honors, leaving Albertson, Sciot-Siegrist and Cone sharing the individual ACC championship at 11-under-par 205. Sciot-Siegrist shot 67 Sunday, while Cone turned in a 71. Schniederjans finished alone in fourth place at 9-under-par 207. Henry Do of North Carolina and Jack Maguire of Florida State tied for fifth at 8-under 208.

TECH LINEUP – Albertson and Schniederjans both shot 3-under-par 69 Sunday, while Clark and Petefish each shot even-par 72 to count for the Yellow Jackets. Whaley did not count for the team score after a 74. Albertson, at 11-under-par 205, finished his career with four top-10 finishes in the ACC Championship and 10 of his 12 rounds under 70. Schniederjans finished solo fourth at 9-under-par 207, his third top-10 finish in four ACC Championships, while Petefish tied for 23^rdplace at even-par 216. Clark tied for 34^th place at 222 (+6) and Whaley tied for 36^th at 223 (+7).

TECH COACH BRUCE HEPPLER  – “The field and the depth this year — I thought the conference was as good as it’s been in a long time. You’ve got the No. 1 team in the country in Florida State, and to come down like it did, we brought three guys that had never played here before. To do that without a lot of experience and to beat the No. 1 team in the country and everybody else here is very satisfying.”

TECH SENIOR ANDERS ALBERTSON – ““I’m very happy and excited for the young guys to finish strong like that, and especially in a playoff. It was a team effort, and we haven’t really played in many playoffs before, and so with two freshmen and a sophomore and the first time for them seeing the golf course, they hung in there great.”