October 20, 2025 • by David Tenneson / Photographs courtesy of Golf Club of Georgia, Georgia Tech Athletics and Clyde Click
Thoughts of Spring golf in Georgia may evoke a certain iconic melody, but the Fall undoubtedly belongs to the collegiate stars. This month, Georgia Tech hosts the 19th edition of the prestigious Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate which in many ways reflects the gravitas of major golf competition. Here are nine things to know about one of the highlights of the Fall season.
Located 30 miles north of Atlanta, the Golf Club of Georgia has the reputation of being one of the finest private clubs in the state even amongst some famously heavy competition. Lakeside (below), the first of two Arthur Hills designed courses, debuted to much fanfare in 1991 and has since served as the host site of several prestigious competitions.
Creekside followed in 1993 and both courses have consistently been ranked inside the top 20 in the state. A recent $40 million revitalization has further enhanced the stature of the club with an impressive new clubhouse and the establishment of the Cupp Golf Academy.
The legacy of Bobby Jones looms large over this part of the country, so it’s fitting that the GC of Georgia recognizes the highest levels of amateur golf by hosting the annual Georgia Cup, which began in 1998 when Georgia Tech star and reigning US Amateur champion Matt Kuchar met Craig Watson, the (British) Amateur champion, for a friendly 18-hole match on the Lakeside course.
The annual meeting between the two reigning champions has continued with US Amateur champ Jose Luis Ballester defeating (British) Amateur champ Jacob Skov Olesen earlier this year.
The 2024 Georgia Cup was especially meaningful. Christo Lamprecht (above with Georgia Tech Head Coach Bruce Heppler), who won the Amateur Championship at Hillside, England, defeated Nick Dunlap, who claimed the US Amateur at Cherry Hills. Just 18 months earlier, the two had represented Georgia Tech and Alabama respectively on the same course.
The GC of Georgia became the home of Georgia Tech golf in 1996, the year after Bruce Heppler (below) became Head Coach of the Yellow Jacket program. In 2005, Heppler and the club joined forces to create a premier collegiate tournament, which eventually led to the inaugural US Collegiate Championship held in the Spring of 2006. The tournament switched to the Fall in 2010 and has been a highlight on the collegiate calendar ever since.
Coach Heppler has strived to ensure this tournament stands out both for the strength of field it attracts and the close attention to detail adhered to by its hosts. “I want a win here to be meaningful,” he said, adding that he hoped those who emerged victorious “felt like they won something special.”
Heppler and the GC of Georgia have consistently succeeded in their aims. Many of the top-ranked teams in the country make this tournament a priority, and more than a few times it has had the toughest strength of field of any regular season event. In fact, on two occasions all 10 of the top-ranked teams in the nation have battled in Alpharetta, Georgia before meeting again at the end of the Spring to compete for the NCAA title.
In keeping with its atypical nature, the Golf Club if Georgia Collegiate is no cakewalk for the host team; Georgia Tech‘s last win came in 2012.
The hosts do own some tournament records, however. In 2010, the event returned from a season-long hiatus as it moved from the Spring to the Falland saw Georgia Tech securing a first team title on home turf with an astounding 27-stroke margin of victory. They were led by medalist James White who opened with a tournament record 10-under par 62 on his way to a five-shot victory, which also still stands as a tournament record.
The first 10 times this tournament was played, the winners received trophies engraved with US Collegiate Championship (see below). The name of the event was updated in 2016 to reflect the venue, which annually invites spectators to walk alongside the golf stars of tomorrow without being hindered by either ropes or corporate entities.
In the state-of-the-art clubhouse, meanwhile, visitors are encouraged to view the large crystal perpetual trophy, which sits atop a wooden pedestal decorated with engravings charting the tournament’s history.
Hiroshi Tai is the most recent Yellow Jacket to etch his name on that pedestal. He is also the only GC of Georgia Collegiate medalist to have won an individual NCAA title.
In 2022, Tai (below) followed an opening round 65 with two more rounds in the 60s to become the first Georgia Tech freshman to win individual medalist honors at a collegiate event since Luke Schniederjans in 2017. Luke’s brother Ollie, who just this month was inducted into the Georgia Tech athletic Hall of Fame, was the previous Yellow Jacket to win at this event back in 2013.
The season after his victory at GC of Georgia, Tai captured the NCAA individual title at Omni La Costa, becoming the fourth GA Tech player to take the biggest prize in collegiate golf.
In 2024, Duke became the 10th team to win multiple GC of Georgia Collegiate titles (2019). The Blue Devils fired a stellar 17-under final round 271 to jump over UCLA and Virginia and claim the crystal trophy.
Kelly Chinn and William Love contributed tournament-best 66s while Ethan Evans’ final-round 71 was good enough to capture medalist honors by a single stroke over Caden Baker of Charlotte and Virginia pair Bryan Lee and Josh Duangmanee. Evans’s maiden collegiate win was also the first time a Blue Devil had won individual honors at the GC of Georgia Collegiate.
Ethan Evans and his Duke teammates will be looking to repeat over another strong field, which features six teams inside the top 25 of the first NCAA College Golf rankings, released on October 15th.
Coming in at #1 and #2 respectively in those initial polls are the Utah Utes and the Virginia Cavaliers, runners-up at the NCAA Championship just five months ago. Utah has two very strong top-3 finishes already while Virginia captured the Ben Hogan Collegiate title last month and only has one loss (Ole Miss) at the time of writing. Cavaliers Ben James (above) and Bryan Lee appeared on the Preseason Haskins Award Watchlist.
The next release is likely to include Utah’s Gabriel Palacios (above) and Davis Johnson, who are ranked #1 and #5 respectively in the first individual rankings. Both players already have an individual win to their name this season.
But don’t count out the host. Georgia Tech, who debuted at #22 in the rankings after three strong outings, are led by Albert Hansson (above), who tied for medalist honors with Ben James and three others at the Ben Hogan Collegiate.
As has been the case for nearly 20 years, victory at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate is sure to vault the winners into national conversation as another Fall season draws to a close.