Georgia Tech men’s golf wins title at Calusa Cup in Naples, Florida

The individual competition came down to the final hole. The team one did not.

Georgia Tech finished off an elite field in the second annual Calusa Cup college men’s golf tournament on Tuesday at the prestigious Calusa Pines Golf Club.

The Yellow Jackets fired an 8-under 856 to win by eight, and then got to fire off the cannon on property to celebrate.

Georgia Tech was the only team to finish the 54-hole event under par. Florida came in second at 864.

Florida junior Fred Biondi and Yellow Jackets junior Bartley Forrester ended up tying for the individual title at 5 under. Both birdied the final hole, with Biondi doing so first, nailing an 8-iron from 183 yards to a few feet on the par-5 18th. Forrester followed with a birdie in the last group to tie him.

Biondi was 5-under through the first eight holes in the final round.

“It feels pretty good,” Biondi said. “I had a really good final round. I had pretty average second round. I was making a lot of mistakes, hitting bad shots. I just kind of kept hitting greens, keeping it simple. I made a lot of 8-footers for par and that kept me going.”

“He’s learned a lot and he’s putting all of those lessons to good use,” Florida coach J.C. Deacon said.

The second round was completed Tuesday morning after lightning delays Monday afternoon, so teams were trying to catch flights immediately after play ended for the final round. That left no time for a playoff.

The Yellow Jackets were paced by Forrester and 6-foot-8 sophomore Christo Lambrecht, who tied for fourth at 2 under 214.

“It’s a great golf course, really hard conditions, I’m really proud of my guys today,” Georgia Tech coach Bruce Heppler said. “It was a long fight and they hung in there from the get-go and they made some birdies in the end. They really played well all day long.”

Michael Brennan led Wake Forest, which finished third, by placing third individually at 4 under 212 after a final round 76. Defending champion Oklahoma, ranked No. 1 in the Bushnell/Golfweek Division I Coaches Poll, was fourth at 881, 13 strokes behind the Demon Deacons. Purdue (882), Georgia (888), Clemson (888), host Iowa (897), and Marquette (897) rounded out the field.

“It’s been a pleasure to have these young gentlemen, future stars of golf on the grounds of Calusa,” said Calusa Pines owner and founder Gary Chensoff.

Georgia’s Trent Phillips and Clemson’s Jacob Bridgeman tied Lambrecht for fourth.

Wake Forest’s Michael Brennan reacts after teeing off on the 17th hole during the final round of the Calusa Cup, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at Calusa Pines Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

Florida had the first-round lead after a 12-under 276, but couldn’t keep that momentum in the second round, shooting a 300 to fall back. The Gators shot an even-par 288 in the final round.

“I was a little disappointed with our second round,” Deacon said. “We played so good in the first round getting 12 under and then gave so many back. We played good today, battled hard. The conditions were really difficult, so we’re playing good golf and just got to keep going.”

Georgia (9th), Georgia Tech (11th), Florida (16th), Wake Forest (19th), Clemson (21st), and Purdue (25th) also entered the tournament ranked nationally.

“It was a good field, a lot of ranked teams, a great place,” Heppler said. “This is one of the best wins that we’ve had this year.”

Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com. Support local journalism with this special subscription offer at https://cm.naplesnews.com/specialoffer/