THE FLATS – Coming off its second straight advance to match play at the NCAA Championship, Georgia Tech’s golf team will make its second appearance this fall in the annual East Lake Cup, highlighting a 2024 fall schedule which also includes the 18^th Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational at its home course in Alpharetta, Ga.

The Yellow Jackets conclude their fall slate with the East Lake Cup, which has been contested every year since 2015 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Tech finished third in last year’s event, which was held at Atlanta Athletic Club due to renovations at East Lake. This year’s edition will take place Oct. 28-30. Defending national champion Auburn, runner-up Florida State, and semifinalists Georgia Tech and Ohio State will compete for the men’s title in the stroke play/match play event, while 2024 champ Stanford, runner-up UCLA and semifinalists Oregon and Southern California will compete for the women’s title. The tournament will be televised live on Golf Channel.

Two weeks earlier, Tech will once again play host to many of the nation’s best teams from coast to coast at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational, which will be played Oct. 18-20. One of two teams to capture the title twice, most recently in 2012, the Yellow Jackets have finished as the runner-up each of the past two years.

Seven of the 14 teams competing at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate played in NCAA Championship finals last spring, three of which advanced to match play (Tech, Vanderbilt, Virginia), and 11 total competed in NCAA regionals. The field includes Alabama, Charlotte, Clemson, Duke, East Tennessee State, Pepperdine, Southern California, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Washington.

Tech opens the fall slate Sept. 6-8 by making its first appearance at the Visit Knoxville Open, which will be held at Tennessee National Golf Club in Loudon, Tenn., outside Knoxville. After that, the Yellow Jackets make their third appearance at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, Sept. 20-22 at Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois, where Tech has finished second and third in its previous visits. Tech then goes back for the third time to Fort Worth, Texas, Sept. 30-Oct. 1, for the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational at venerable Colonial Country Club.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us in the fall, five great events, all with strong fields at great golf courses, which is what we promise all of the players that come through this program,” said head coach Bruce Heppler, who in 29 seasons on The Flats has guided the Yellow Jackets to 72 tournament victories, 14 ACC Championships and 26 NCAA appearances. “We’re thrilled to be able to return to the East Lake Cup, and our event at the Golf Club of Georgia will be as strong as ever.”

Tech faces this schedule following the loss of the world’s top amateur player, Christo Lamprecht, now competing on the Korn Ferry Tour, and Bartley Forrester, a two-time winner in his five years on The Flats. Both graduated last spring after leading the Jackets to the semifinals of match play at the NCAA Championship.

Heppler does, however, welcome back the NCAA individual champion, junior Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), who has won three times in his career. Tech also returns a pair of juniors in Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands), who redshirted last year, and Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.), who played four rounds for the Jackets at the NCAA Championship, and up-and-coming sophomores Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) and Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.), who peach played 12 events as freshmen.