THE FLATS – Highlighted by four returning starters that played a prominent role in the Yellow Jackets reaching the NCAA Championship finals last season, Georgia Tech golf will open the 2025-26 season tied for No. 13 in the preseason Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll, as announced on Friday. The Yellow Jackets share the No. 13 spot with BYU.
Additionally, the Yellow Jackets are ranked No. 17 in the Golfweek preseason rankings released earlier this week and No. 21 in Golf Channel’s pre-season list.
Georgia Tech is one of four Atlantic Coast Conference members to appear in the top-25 coaches poll ahead of the fall slate teeing off. The Yellow Jackets are joined by No. 7 Virginia, No. 9 Florida State and t-No. 15 North Carolina.
The Yellow Jackets, who closed last season falling to Wake Forest in a playoff by a single stroke to make the final 15 at the NCAA Championship, return a core nucleus of its roster in 2025-26. Tech will be led by seniors Hiroshi Tai (Singapore), Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) and Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands), junior Kale Fontenot (Lafayettea, La.) and sophomore Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden). The Jackets also return Brady Rackley IV (Atlanta, Ga.) and Didrik Ringvall Bengtsson (Stockholm, Sweden), while adding newcomer Rawson Hardy (Park City, Utah).
Head coach Bruce Heppler, beginning his 31st year at the helm, and the Yellow Jackets get underway with the fall slate next weekend, Sept. 5-7, returning to the Visit Knoxville Collegiate. Tech finished eighth in last year’s tournament with 2024 NCAA individual champion, Tai tied for 12th place individually and Hansson finishing in a tie for 18th.