Forrester Leads at Ben Hogan Collegiate – Men’s Golf — Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

THE FLATS – Bartley Forrester shot rounds of 69-65 Monday in the opening 36 holes, and the senior from Gainesville, Fla., has a 1-shot lead at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational. The No. 8-ranked Yellow Jackets, after posting a 2-under-par morning round to take a share of first place, stumbled to 12-over in the afternoon round and are tied for 10^th place in the team race.

In a bid to claim the third victory of his college career, Forrester played a bogey-free afternoon 18 holes with five birdies at the par-70 Colonial Country Club, taking a 1-stroke lead over Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen. He had one bogey against a pair of birdies in his morning round of 69.

The Yellow Jackets, meanwhile, dropped 20 strokes behind North Carolina after matching the Tar Heels in the opening round.

ROUND 2 SUMMARY – While Forrester fashioned his 5-undr-par 65, Tech counted a 4-under-par 74 from freshman Hiroshi Tai, a 6-over-par 76 from Christo Lamprecht and a 7-over-par 77 from freshman Aidan Tran in the afternoon, giving the Yellow Jackets a 12-over-par score of 292 and a 10-over-par total of 570 for 36 holes. Lamprecht, who won the Inverness Intercollegiate in Tech’s last time out, and Tai are tied for 52^nd place at 5-over-par 145, the closest Jackets to Forrester on the leaderboard.

Connor Howe, who has finished third and 14^th in Tech’s two prior events this fall, did not count for his team in either round Saturday after posting rounds of 73-79.

ROUND 1 SUMMARY – Tech shared the 18-hole lead with North Carolina with a 2-under-par score of 278 after Forrester, Lamprecht and Tran each carded 1-under-par rounds of 69. Tai added a 1-over-par 71 for the Yellow Jackets’ fourth counting score.

Bartley Forrester is bidding for his third career tournament victory, leading by one stroke after 36 holes. (photo by Stacie McBride)

TEAM LEADERBOARD – While Tech descended on the leaderboard in the afternoon, 13^th-ranked North Carolina posted the best score of the round, an 8-under-par 272, and finished 36 holes at 10-under-par 550. The Tar Heels, who have four players among the top 12 individuals on the leaderboard, are four strokes ahead of No. 3 Stanford (554, -6), which shot 7-under-par 273 in the afternoon. No. 6 Arizona State, which matched North Carolina’s 8-under-par afternoon score, sits in third place at 557 (-3), with No. 25 Pepperdine in fourth at 558 (-2) and No. 7 Texas Tech in fifth at 559 (-1).

INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Forrester’s…