THE FLATS – A week ahead of its first team event, Georgia Tech’s golf team will send a pair of Yellow Jackets, Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) and Brady Rackley IV (Atlanta, Ga.) to compete this weekend in the Thomas Sharkey Individual Collegiate event in Statesboro, Ga.

Georgia Southern hosts the ninth playing of the Thomas Sharkey Individual Collegiate Saturday and Sunday at Georgia Southern University Golf Course. The 72-player field features all 10 Eagle player, as well as individuals from Auburn, Augusta, Bowling Green, Duke, Florida, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Liberty, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee, USC Beaufort and UT-Martin.

Tran, a junior, was the Yellow Jackets’ alternate player for the 2024 post-season, and participated in the NCAA Championship for the final three rounds of stroke play and its quarterfinal match play victory over top-seeded Illinois. A veteran of 14 collegiate events, Tran competed in three of Tech’s five fall events, posting a high finish of 39^th at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational. Rackley, a redshirt sophomore, played twice in the fall with a high finish of 49^th at the Golf Cub of Georgia.

Tech starts its spring campaign in earnest next week, traveling to the Big Island of Hawai’i for the Amer Ari Intercollegiate (Feb. 6-8), an event Tech has competed in every year since 1999. Head coach Bruce Heppler’s team begins the spring ranked No. 13 in the nation following a strong fall in which the Yellow Jackets earned a win at the Olympia Fields/Illini 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 Tran.

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 72 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.