Tech Golf in 4th Place at Linger Longer Invitational – Men’s Golf — Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Eatonton, Ga. – Hiroshi Tai continued his strong play this spring, pacing Georgia Tech Sunday with a 4-under-par 68, and the 14^th-ranked Yellow Jackets posted an 8-under-par 280 and sit in fourth place after the opening round of the Linger Longer Invitational.

Tai, a sophomore from Singapore, posted his ninth subpar round out of 10 this spring and is tied for fourth place individually after the first round. The Jackets, who started Sunday’s round on the 10^th hole, shook off a slow start on its opening nine and played the front nine 10-under-par to move up the leaderboard into fourth place. Both Tech and Tai are well back of the lead, however, after No. 16 Alabama shot 21-under-par 267 as a team, led by a 10-under-par 62 from Jonathan Griz at the Great Waters Golf Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee.

Fourteen teams are competing over 54 holes at Great Waters, with round 2 beginning at 8:30 a.m. EDT Monday and the final round scheduled for the same time Tuesday. Five of the competing teams are listed in the top 50 of the current Scoreboard NCAA Golf Rankings, including Tech (14), Virginia (13) and defending champion Alabama (16) in the top 25.

TECH LINEUP – Four Yellow Jackets broke par at Great Waters Sunday, with freshman Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) posting a 2-under-par 70, while senior Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.) and freshman Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) each turned in a 1-under-par 71. Kim is tied for 17^th place, while Forrester and Fontenot are tied for 29^th.

Like Tech, Tai made most of his hay on the front nine, recording four of his six birdies with no bogeys en route to his 68. The sophomore already has two top-10 finishes this spring and is a collective 35-under-par across 10 rounds.

Forrester finished under par despite a quadruple-bogey 8 on the par-4 16^th, recording five birdies and 12 pars on the other 17 holes. Kim was steady, playing each side 1-under-par, while Fontenot went 2-under-par on the second nine holes.

All-American Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) posted his highest round of the spring, a 1-over-par 73, and did not count for the Jackets.

Senior Aidan Kramer (Oviedo, Fla.) shot 2-under-par 70, the second-best score among the 11 individuals competing, and is in the tie for 17^th place, while sophomore Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) came in at even-par 72, tied for 39^th.

Hiroshi Tai has broken par in nine of 10 spring rounds. (photo by Clyde Click)

TEAM LEADERBOARD – Alabama benefitted from four…