Jackets Tied for Lead at Watersound Invitational – Men’s Golf — Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Panama City Beach, Fla. – Freshman Hiroshi Tai’s 4-under-par 68 and Christo Lamprecht’s 3-under-par 69 led a strong opening-round effort Sunday for Georgia Tech’s 12^th-ranked golf team, which is tied for the lead with top-ranked Vanderbilt at 9-under-par 279 after the first 18 holes.

Looking for their first win of 2022-23 against an 11-team field that includes seven teams in the Golfstat top 50, five of those in the top 25, the Yellow Jackets have three players among the top 10 individuals after the opening round. Round 2 commences at 9 a.m. Monday, with the final round of the 54-hole event set to begin at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

TECH LINEUP – In his first complete stroke-play round of the spring after the Amer Ari Intercollegiate ended abruptly due to high winds in Hawai’i, Tai picked up where he left off from a fall performance that included a pair of tournament victories. His 68 has him in a tie for sixth place, three shots off the pace. The Singapore native, who attended high school in Florida, played a bogey free-round that included three birdies on the front side at Shark’s Tooth Golf Club, and another at the closing 18^th.

Lamprecht, a 6-8 junior from South Africa, hovered near the lead most of the round behind six birdies in his first 10 holes, but a pair of bogeys at 15 and 16 dropped him back. He rallied with a birdie-par finish to tie for ninth place.

Seniors Ross Steelman (Columbia, Mo.) and Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.) each carded a 1-under-par 71 to count for the Yellow Jackets and are tied for 17^th place. Fifth-year senior Connor Howe (Ogden, Utah) shot 74 and is tied for 36^th.

Sophomore Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands), competing as an individual, matched Tai’s 68 and is tied for sixth place.

Tech made its hay on the par-5 holes at Shark’s Tooth, leading the field at 10-under-par collectively. Reuter was 5-under-par, Steelman and Lamprecht each at 3-under. The Jackets’ 22 birdies on the round also paced the field.

Hiroshi Tai won twice last fall, including Tech’s own Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate. (photo by Todd Drexler)

TEAM LEADERBOARD – Georgia Tech is tied atop the leaderboard with the nation’s No. 1 team, Vanderbilt, which had all five of its players under par, led by Cole Sherwood’s 67. No. 17 Alabama shot 6-under-par 282 and sits in third place, followed by No. 11 Florida State at 4-under-par 284 and NC State at 2-under-par 286. The rest of the field is over par.

INDIVIDUAL…