THE FLATS – Beginning its quest to return to the NCAA Championship at season’s end, Georgia Tech’s 13^th-ranked golf team returns to the Big Island of Hawai’i for its first spring season event, the Amer Ari Intercollegiate, starting Thursday.

Twenty teams will compete over three days (Thursday through Saturday) at the Mauna Lani Resort’s North Course in the 34^th edition of the event, which has attracted an increasingly strong field over the years. This year’s field features nine teams nationally ranked in the Top 25, including six of the Top 10 – No. 2 Arizona State, No. 3 Auburn, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 9 Oklahoma State, and No. 10 UCLA. In addition, other Top 25 teams include No. 13 Georgia Tech, No. 19 Pepperdine, and No. 21 Texas Tech.

Head coach Bruce Heppler’s team begins the spring ranked No. 13 in the nation following a strong fall in which the Yellow Jackets won the Olympia Fields/Illini Invitational and took first place in the stroke play portion of the East Lake Cup, and finished in the top half of strong fields at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate, Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational and Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational.

Four of the six players who helped Tech advance to the semifinals of match play in the NCAA Championship last May have returned, led by junior Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), who won the individual title. Also back are redshirt junior Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands), who led the Jackets in stroke average in the fall after sitting out the 2023-24 year, sophomores Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) and Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and junior Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.).

The tournament will utilize a shotgun start format each day, with competition beginning at 7:30 a.m. local time (12:30 p.m. Eastern time) each day. The event began in 1991 as the Taylor Made Big Island Intercollegiate before being renamed the Amer Ari Intercollegiate in 2010 after a longtime UH-Hilo supporter.

Benjamin Reuter enters the spring as Tech’s highest-ranked player nationally at No. 30. (photo by Clyde Click)

TECH LINEUP – Reuter and Tai lead the five-man lineup for the Yellow Jackets in Hawai’i, joined by Fontenot, Kim and freshman Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden).

Reuter was Tech’s top player this fall, posting a runner-up finish at Olympia Fields, a tie for 14^th at the Ben Hogan and a tie for 15^th at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational. He is ranked No. 30 in the Scoreboard NCAA rankings. Tai, listed on the Fall Watch List for the Fred Haskins Award and as a pre-season All-American by Golfweek magazine and Golf Channel, has three top-20 finishes this fall and is ranked No. 87 in the NCAA Scoreboard rankings. The junior from Singapore won twice as a freshman prior to his NCAA Championship.

Hanson finished third at the East Lake Cup and 18^th at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, while Fontenot (No. 86 in the Scoreboard rankings) was fourth at the East Lake Cup and 11^th at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational. Kim’s top finish in four fall events was 28^th at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational.

Freshman Didrik Ringvall Bengtsson (Stockholm, Sweden) is traveling with the team and will compete as an individual.

EVENT DETAILS

Amer Ari Intercollegiate

• Dates: February 6-8 (stroke play, 54 holes)
• Format: 18 holes Thursday, Friday and Saturday (shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. local time each day)
• Venue: Mauna Lani Golf Club (par 72, 6,900 yards)
• Participating teams (20): Arizona State, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Hawai’i, Hawai’i-Hilo, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Osaka Gakuin (Japan), Pacific, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Stanford, Texas, Texas Tech, UC Davis, UCLA, Waseda (Japan), Washington
• Tech appearances (last year): 26 (Tech finished 6^th of 20 teams, Bartley Forrester T-8 in 2024)
• Championships: 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006
• Individual titles: Carlton Forrester (1999), Matt Kuchar (1999, 2000), Bryce Molder (2000), Troy Matteson (2002), Cameron Tringale (2006)

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF

Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 30^th year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 73 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 19 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 33 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up five times. Follow Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on X (@GTGolf) and Instagram. For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.