Georgia Tech men’s golf misses cut at NCAA Championship

Release from Georgia Tech Athletics:

Freshman James Clark shot a 2-under-par 70 to pace Georgia Tech Monday, but the 12^th-ranked Yellow Jackets came up three strokes short and failed to advance to match play at the NCAA Golf Championship at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.

Tech posted a team total of 297 (+9), leaving it in ninth place after 72 holes at 23-over-par 1175. Tied for eighth place with UCLA at the beginning of the round, the Jackets were unable to keep up with the Bruins after a 59-minute rain delay about midway through the round. UCLA held on for the eighth spot by shooting 6-over 294 and finished the tournament at 20-over 1172.

Thus, Tech missed match play for only the second time in its six NCAA finals appearances since the stroke-play/match-play format has been in use.

Tech held on through the first nine holes of its round before a 59-minute weather delay, then fell back of the Bruins by as many as eight shots. The Jackets rallied, however, moving within one stroke (Tech +21, UCLA +20) after Anders Albertson got the team’s third birdie on the par-5 seventh hole (Tech started on the back nine Monday). A double bogey at 6 and a bogey at 7 from Ollie Schniederjans pushed Tech four shots behind the Bruins, and the Jackets could not recover from there.

Clark, a freshman from Columbus, Ga., played the second nine 2-under-par and finished with a 70, the team’s low round of the day. Albertson, the two-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion, finished his Tech career with a 74 and a sour taste in his mouth after rules officials docked him a stroke for slow play (which had no bearing on the final outcome). Vincent Whaley, a sophomore from McKinney, Texas, who has shot 71-68 the last two days, couldn’t muster the same magic Monday and shot 76. Freshman Chris Petefish (Danville, Calif.) played the second nine in 2-under-par and finished with a 77.

Schniederjans, the two-time ACC Player of the Year, also finished his career on a sour note with a non-counting 78.

“We got close, but every time we got close, we made some mistakes. They fought hard. Clark had an incredible round. I think we got within one at one point, but it just didn’t work out for us in the end. Ninth in the tournament is pretty good, I guess, but you want to keep playing, and we don’t get to. Those young kids were part of all this, and they had a great experience, and they’re the foundation of our future.”