With a bending birdie putt that found the bottom of the cup, Georgia Tech claimed its 19th ACC men’s golf championship Monday at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Senior Ross Steelman sank a putt of about 27 feet on the 16th green to clinch his match-play matchup against Wake Forest’s Andrew McLauchlan to secure the ACC title for the Yellow Jackets, 3-2.
Coach Bruce Heppler’s team gained a measure of revenge after having lost the ACC title to Wake Forest a year ago in a playoff in the match-play final. After winning the three-round stroke-play portion of the tournament by 16 shots, the Jackets then defeated Duke Sunday in the semifinal (3-1-1) before bettering the Demon Deacons Monday. Tech’s 19th conference title, its first since 2019, ties Wake Forest for most in conference history. It’s the Jackets’ 11th in the past 17 seasons.
“You just don’t count on things,” Heppler said in a phone interview Monday. “Things have to go right and it’s a good league and good teams and good players. From that standpoint, you keep thinking you’re going to get another one, but every one is very, very meaningful.”
Tech’s first four players on the course in the ACC championship final – Connor Howe, Christo Lamprecht, Bartley Forrester and Hiroshi Tai – split their matches, leaving Steelman and McLauchlan to determine the title. Steelman took a 1-up lead on the third hole and stayed on top the rest of the way. At the par-4 15th, ahead 2-up, Steelman was right of the green in pine straw with his drive but rescued himself with a chip onto the green about eight feet from the cup, Heppler said. After McLauchlan made birdie, Steelman rolled in his birdie putt to keep the lead at 2-up, a putt Heppler deemed “huge.”
Steelman won the match with his birdie putt on the par-3 16th. Heppler said that players and coaches took a vote before the match to put Steelman in the fifth and final pairing.
“It was on purpose and everybody to a man agreed that he needs to be the guy back there in case it comes down to that,” Heppler said. “Really proud of him.”
In stroke play, Tai, a freshman, finished 54 holes atop the leaderboard with Wake Forest’s Michael Brennan, shooting a 9-under 207, before falling in the third playoff hole. Howe finished in a tie for third, two shots behind Tai and Brennan.
The ACC title was, unusually, the Jackets’ first tournament win of the year. Prior to this year, Tech had won at least one tournament in 12 of the past 14 seasons and won at least two in 10 of those years. The Jackets have amassed five second-place finishes this year and are ranked 12th nationally.
Tech will learn its NCAA regional assignment May 3 and play in the event May 15-17.
“It’s a talented group, and we’ll just keep moving forward,” Heppler said.
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