Georgia Tech’s bid for a 19th ACC golf championship came up short by the narrowest of margins.
In the match-play final to decide the conference title, the Yellow Jackets lost 3-2 to Wake Forest with the final point being decided on the third hole of sudden death Monday at Shark’s Tooth Golf Course in Panama City, Fla.
Tech and Wake Forest entered the tournament tied for the most titles in conference history with 18, although Wake hadn’t finished first since 1989, while the Jackets have been the ACC’s preeminent team since the early 1990s. Tech, ranked No. 11 nationally by Golfstat, was seeking its fourth tournament win of the year and its 11th ACC title in the past 16.
The title was decided by the team’s No. 5 players, Tech freshman Benjamin Reuter and Wake Forest senior Alex Fitzpatrick. The two were tied coming to the 18th hole with the overall team match squared at 2-2. Reuter, from the Netherlands, had trailed the entire match before drawing even with Fitzpatrick with a birdie on the par-5 17th.
Reuter missed a long downhill birdie try on the 18th green to win the match and the title, sending the match to sudden death. The two were deadlocked through the first two holes before Reuter’s shot into the green on the par-5 third hole went off target and into a penalty area.
After making bogey with Fitzpatrick on the green in three, Reuter conceded the hole and the match to Fitzpatrick, securing the championship for Wake Forest.
Tech had made the finals by finishing second in three rounds of stroke play at 26 under par behind North Carolina before defeating Florida State in the semifinals in match play Sunday. Against the Seminoles, Reuter earned the clinching point for the Jackets with a 1-up win.
Monday, Christo Lamprecht and Bartley Forrester won the Jackets’ two points with 5-and-4 and 4-and-2 victories, respectively.
Tech will now await assignment for the NCAA regionals, to be played May 16-18.
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