Georgia Tech used a furious back nine run to win three of the best-of-five matches against top-seed Illinois to deny Mike Small’s squad another chance at the program’s first national title.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff

May 28, 2024

The domination by Illinois in the four-day run of stroke play in the NCAA Championships simply didn’t translate to match play competition.

The one-on-one competitive format that has decided a national championship team in golf since 2009 continues to befuddle the Illini, which came into this quarterfinal round as the No. 1 seed. Illinois was knocked off by 8-seed Georgia Tech 3 to 1 in the best-of-five quarterfinal match.

After building massive stroke play advantages on the back nine of the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., Illinois players faltered in the closing holes in the knockout round of match play to allow Georgia Tech to come away with a victory.

“For whatever reason we lost our way and started guiding it and started worrying about things,” Illinois head coach Mike Small said. “I think a lot of our guys fell back on some of the tendencies that they were getting better at all spring, and I think under the pressure and tension they reverted back to some of that stuff. We were in control of the match halfway through it and the back nine is one we took care of all week and so maybe the pressure got to them and maybe got ahead of themselves and were thinking outcome for whatever reason. They didn’t hit the shots, the ball striking really went south.”

The loss for Illinois continues a trend of the No. 1 seed coming out of stroke play being knocked out before reaching the finals in each of the last four competitions and in eight of the last 10 national championship tournaments. Since the NCAA went to an eight-team match play format to determine the national champion in 2009, the only No. 1 seed to win a national championship was Oklahoma State’s 2018 squad. Tuesday afternoon’s defeat marked the fifth time in nine NCAA eight-team match play appearances that the Illini have been knocked out in the quarterfinals.

“The best team in college golf, Oklahoma State, has been to nine of them and only won one, on their home course. It’s hard,” Small said. “Florida makes their first one and goes on to win. There is no rhyme or reason to it. You got to play from strength and control your space and play really good golf. In match play, you can’t fake it, there is nowhere to hide.”

At the time where all five quarterfinal matches finished the front nine, Illinois was up by multiple holes in two matches, were 1 up in another match and down just one hole in the remaining pair of matches. Approximately an hour later in each match (by the time they’d reached the 13th hole), Illinois had lost its control in three matches.

Max Herendeen, which tied for second in the four-day stroke play portion of this tournament, got Illinois on the scoreboard fast with a decisive 5 & 4 victory over Georgia Tech freshman Carson Kim.

However, Illini graduate transfer Tyler Goecke saw his match quickly turn from all square after 14 holes to losing No. 15, 16 and 17 to take a 3 & 1 defeat to Yellow Jackets senior Bartley Forrester.

Illinois senior Piercen Hunt found himself behind early in his match against sophomore Aidan Tran and a match that was never tied after the seventh hole eventually went in favor of the Yellow Jackets 3 & 2. Tran was the subject of a major storyline in this NCAA Championships after the first day of stroke play competition as he was substituted in for the world’s top-ranked amateur player Christo Lamprecht. The 6-foot-9 senior suffered a severe back injury after the first day and has been out of the lineup since suffering what Georgia Tech head coach Bruce Heppler categorized to The Golf Channel as “a major back flare up”.

Illinois sophomore Ryan Voois held a 2-up lead after five holes over NCAA individual medalist champion Hiroshi Tai. However, the Yellow Jackets sophomore, who was coming off the emotional high of his one-shot win in stroke play, took his first lead in the match after a par win on the 12th hole and never gave the advantage back. Tai would eventually end the quarterfinal competition with a par putt on No. 16 to clinch the 3 & 2 victory over Voois.

Jackson Buchanan, the 2024 Big Ten Conference Player of the Year, had a chance to put a second point on the scoreboard much earlier for the Illini but stumbled down the final stretch of holes. The 22-year-old junior held a 5-up advantage with seven holes remaining with Georgia Tech’s Kale Fontenot. The Yellow Jackets freshman managed to win No. 12, 15, 16 and 17 to keep the individual match extended and since Georgia Tech clinched its advancement out of the quarterfinal round while both players were walking down the 18th fairway, the Buchanan/Fontenot individual match was stopped.

In the five quarterfinal matches Tuesday afternoon, Georgia Tech won 16 of the possible 35 holes on the back nine with Illinois only winning seven - and three of those hole wins came from Herendeen’s furious late charge.

“Got to hit the shots when the time calls for it. You need some help. You need the ball to bounce the right way. We have been to nine of these and haven’t won it yet,” said Small

All of the four lower seeded teams won their quarterfinal match on Tuesday afternoon.

Georgia Tech will now play Atlantic Coast Conference rival Florida State in the semifinals after the Seminoles dispatched of North Carolina. Auburn, which arrived this week as the No. 1 ranked team in the coaches’ Top 25 but finished sixth in stroke play, defeated Virginia in the quarterfinals and will play Ohio State in the semifinals. The Buckeyes, which arrived in California this week unranked in any Top 25 poll, continued their run as the Cinderella squad by knocking off No. 2 seed Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals.

2024 NCAA Championships Quarterfinal Matches Leaderboard (Best Three of Five)

Georgia Tech 3, Illinois 1

Bartley Forrester (GT) def. Tyler Goecke (Ill.) 3 & 1

Jackson Buchanan (Ill.) led Kale Fontenot (GT) 1 up after 17 - Match halted after Georgia Tech clinched

Max Herendeen (Ill.) def. Carson Kim (GT) 5 &4

Aidan Tran (GT) def. Piercen Hunt (Ill.) 3 & 2

Hiroshi Tai (GT) def. Ryan Voois (Ill.) 3 & 2