Georgia Tech cruises to 27-shot win at U.S. Collegiate Championship
For the past four years Georgia Tech golf coach Bruce Heppler and his players have had to walk past the U.S. Collegiate Championship trophy in the lobby of The Golf Club of Georgia every time they visited the course for a practice round. The name noticeably missing on the trophy was that of Georgia Tech.
Not anymore.
Led by junior James White on Tuesday, Tech overwhelmed a stellar field to win their own tournament for the first time in five tries, meaning Heppler's first call Wednesday might be to an engraver.
“I've walked by that trophy for about 1,300 days,” Heppler said. “I think we're going to turn the trophy so you can only see that we won it.”
Tech led this one wire to wire, shot 17 under the first day and never relinquished the lead. The Yellow Jackets wound up with a 28-under 836 on the club's Lakeside Course, giving them a school-record 27-stroke victory over UCLA and shattering the tournament scoring record by 28 shots. Tech shot an 8-under 280 on the final day.
“Everybody played all the way in, every day, every shot,” Heppler said. “It's very special to play well here. Our guys love this place. They love the members. They feel like it's home.”
White set a competitive course record with a 10-under 62 in the first round, then held on with some steady play Tuesday. His final-round 70 enabled him to finish at 12-under 204, beating the tournament record by four shots and giving him a five-shot win over T.J. Vogel of USC, who closed with a 66, the low round of the day.
It was the first collegiate title for White and his first victory since high school. He had a chance to win twice this summer, contending in both the Players Championship and Palmetto Championship, two high-quality amateur events.
“You work hard for something and do everything you can to be the best,” White said. “It feels great.”
White began the day with a six-shot lead over Steve Lim of USC, only to see that lead whittled to two shots after the 10th hole. But Lim took an triple bogey at No. 11, and White never faltered the rest of the way.
“It's a little less nervous,” he said. “But you have to keep your mind focused around here because as soon as you don't, it'll slap you.”
Heppler said, “That says a lot about his character and confidence. It's like [Greg] Norman at the Masters; all you can do is mess up.”
Tech's low man Tuesday was Richy Werenski, who shot 67 to finish 4 under and tied for fourth with teammate Kyle Scott, who closed with a 71. J.T. Griffin and Paul Haley tied for seventh at 1 under, giving the Jackets five players in the top 10.
“This is extremely special,” White said. “We've been playing real good, but we hadn't been able to put it all together. To have it come here makes winning really special.”
Georgia State finished 14th at 45-over 909. The Panthers were led by Alan Fowler, who tied for 39th at 8-over 224.
After playing the first four tournaments in the spring, the event was moved to the fall in hopes of better weather; freezing rain and snow were regular occurrences in previous meetings. There was a little rain this week, but not enough to slow Tech.
