The golf team kicked off its season with the Carpet Capital Collegiate at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga. The nationally ranked Jackets finished the tournament tied for third place with a three-over-par total score of 291. Tech competed with some of the countries’ best collegiate teams, including several squads from the SEC, ACC and Big 12.
The team was near the lead heading into the back nine on Sunday, behind some highly ranked teams like the University of Alabama and Wake Forest, but struggled to maintain pace with the other leaders.
Senior John-Tyler Griffin had an excellent tournament for the Jackets, shooting a 214. Griffin shot par or better in all three rounds to finish tied for ninth in the individual competition, just behind teammate senior Paul Haley. Haley shot a 213 and finished tied for seventh.
It was a windy round on Sunday, hurting some of the Jackets scores. The wind had its largest effect in the afternoon on the back nine. This hurt Haley, who finished with a 75 for the round.
“The wind came up pretty strong on 14, 15 and 16, and it was really swirling and made things tough. I putted well today. I had been hitting the ball well all week, but I got some putts to go today and felt more comfortable on the greens. But it was kind of an up-and-down day,” Griffin said in an interview with ramblinwreck.com.
The wind throughout the day led to bad shots and more strokes, inflating scores for not only Tech players, but also the top two finishers in the individual competition, Wake Forest’s Evan Beck and Lee Bedford.
Bedford earned medalist honors for his tournament total of 206, which was 10-under-par for the weekend.
Other Jackets had good showings. Senior Kyle Scott and junior James White both shot 74 in Sunday’s round, and freshman Richard Werenski turned in a team-low 73 to round out the Jacket’s score.
The Jackets’ next tournament will be the Ping-Golfweek Preview Invitational held in Stillwater, Okla. The rounds begin on Sept 26.