Forrester helps Georgia Tech edge Oklahoma for team title in a shootout in Puerto Rico Classic

    A year ago in the Puerto Rico Classic at Rio Mar Country Club’s River Course, Georgia and Georgia Tech battled to a tie for the team title with Oklahoma not far behind in third place.

   The same three teams finished at the top of the leaderboard at this year’s Puerto Rico Classic, which concluded Tuesday in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

   This time, though, Georgia Tech, No. 3 in the latest Golfstat rankings, finished alone at the top to capture the team title with No. 2 Oklahoma chasing the Yellow Jackets home, settling for a runnerup finish, just two shots behind Georgia Tech. No. 18 Georgia was another 11 shots behind the Sooners in third place.

   They are three of the legitimate powers on the Division I men’s scene, capable of taking it very deep in any season. They are directed by three of the most respected coaches in college golf: Bruce Heppler, in his 25^th season at Georgia Tech, has won everything but a national championship; Ryan Hybl, in his 11^th season at Oklahoma, directed the Sooners to the 2017 national crown at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.; and Chris Haack, in his 24^th season at Georgia, guided the Bulldogs to national championships in 1999 and 2005.

   So when these three teams get together, you have to pay attention. And maybe, just maybe, this is finally Heppler’s year.

   After opening with a 6-under 282 in Sunday’s opening round, Georgia Tech, behind eventual individual co-champion Bartley Forrester, a redshirt freshman from Gainesville, Ga., reigning U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree, a senior from Little Rock, Miss. and No. 16 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Luke Schniederjans, a senior from Powder Springs, Ga., went off in Monday’s second round to the tune of a 20-under 268 over the 6,902-yard, par-72 River Course layout.

   Forrester and Ogletree, who became the third Georgia Tech player to win a U.S. Amateur title last summer at Pinehurst, joining Matt Kuchar and Bobby Jones – yes, that Bobby Jones – each fired a sizzling 6-under 66 and Schniederjans, younger brother of former Georgia Tech standout and PGA Tour performer Ollie, signed for a 4-under 68.

   Georgia Tech, coming off a solid fifth-place finish in a tightly-bunched leaderboard at The Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii earlier this month, closed with another 6-under 282 Tuesday for a 32-under 832 total. Oklahoma, which trailed the Yellow Jackets by only a shot heading into the final round after a pretty impressive 18-under 270 of its own in the second round, finished up with a 5-under 283 to finish second at 30-under 834.

   Georgia Tech rolled to an Atlantic Coast Conference crown last spring and emerged, along with Oklahoma, out of the Pullman Regional to make it to the NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. Georgia, a Southeastern Conference power, was an impressive winner of the Athens Regional it hosted.

   Only the Sooners of the three, though, had any success at The Blessings as they earned a spot in the match-play bracket for a third straight spring, falling to Big 12 rival Texas in the quarterfinals.

   Georgia was steady in Puerto Rico, adding a pair of 8-under 280s to its opening-round 285 for a 19-under 845 total. The 280 Tuesday was the best score of the final round. The Bulldogs’ SEC rival  Alabama, ranked 50^th, was another three shots behind Georgia in fourth place at 16-under 848 after closing with a 1-under 287. The Crimson Tide got it going in Monday’s second round, when it looks like the River Course was very gettable, with a 12-under 276.

   Georgia Tech’s ACC rival Clemson, ranked 23^rd, was seven shots behind Alabama in fifth place at 9-under 855. The Tigers had matched Alabama’s 12-under 276 in the second round before falling back with a final round of 5-over 293.

   No. 34 Mississippi, another SEC entry, finished a shot behind Clemson in sixth place in the strong 15-team field at 8-under 856, the Rebels closing with a 2-under 286.

   Forrester closed with a final round of 3-under 69 to catch Oklahoma’s Garrett Reband, a senior from Fort Worth, Texas and No. 32 in the WAGR, and the College of Charleston’s Logan Sowell, a senior from Kershaw, S.C., for a share of the individual title at 9-under 207. It was the first college tournament win for all three players.

   Ogletree carded a final round of 2-under 70 and Schniederjans matched par in the final round with a 72 and they were two of the three players who finished in a tie for sixth place at 7-under 209.

   Connor Howe, a sophomore from Ogden, Utah, was tied for the individual lead after posting back-to-back 68s in the first two rounds, but cooled off with a throw-out 76 in the final round and finished among the group tied for 13^th place at 4-under 212. Howe contributed that second 68 to the Yellow Jackets’ remarkable 20-under second-round salvo.

   Tyler Strafaci, a senior from Davie, Fla., struggled in the first two rounds with scores of 82 and 74, but he picked up Howe and the rest of the team with a final round of 1-under 71 that left him among the group tied for 65^th place at 227.

   Oklahoma’s Reband was a shot out of the individual lead after adding a 5-under 67 to his opening-round 70. He closed with another 70 to get a share of the individual crown. The College of Charleston’s Sowell fired the best round of the tournament, a 7-under 65, in Monday’s second round to get a share of the 36-hole lead at 8-under 136 before closing with a 71 to get his piece of the individual title.

   Reband’s teammate Patrick Welch, a sophomore from Providence, R.I., and Georgia’s Trent Phillips, a sophomore from Inman, S.C. and No. 38 in the WAGR, finished in a tie for fourth place, just a shot behind the three co-champions at 8-under 208.

   Welch fired a 6-under 66 in the second round to get within a shot of the 36-hole lead before closing with a 1-under 71. Phillips’ final-round 66 was the best score of the day Tuesday as he moved up the leaderboard.

   Joining Georgia Tech’s Ogletree and Schniederjans in the trio tied for sixth place at 7-under 209 was Oklahoma’s Quade Cummins, a redshirt senior from Weatherford, Okla. who sandwiched a 5-under 67 in the second round with a pair of 1-under 71s.

   Jake Holbrook, a freshman from Granbury, Texas, joined two other players tied for ninth place at 6-under 210, giving the Sooners four players among the top nine. After opening with a 3-under 69 and adding a 2-under 70, Holbrook closed with a 1-under 71.

   Holbrook was joined at 6-under by the College of Charleston’s Hunter Dunagan, a senior from Augusta, Ga., and Alabama’s Thomas Ponder, a freshman from Dothan, Ala. After a pair of 71s, Dunagan finished up with a 4-under 68. Ponder added a 2-under 69 to his opening-round 70 before closing with a 71.

   Maryland, out of the Big Ten, also teed it up in the Puerto Rico Classic and the Terrapins, ranked 103^rd, finished 12^th at 11-over 875.

   Freshman Austin Barbin of the golfing Barbins of Elkton, Md., matched par in each of the final two rounds to join the group tied for 37^th place at 1-over 217. Barbin won the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club last summer on his way to earning GAP Junior Player of the Year honors for 2019.