Eatonton, Ga. – Hiroshi Tai fired his second straight 4-under-par 68 Monday to move into second place individually, and 14th-ranked Georgia Tech matched its opening round total of 8-under-par 280 but slipped to fifth place after 36 holes at the Linger Longer Invitational.
Tai posted his 10th subpar round out of 11 this spring, and finished 36 holes at 8-under-par 136. While he moved into second place, however, the sophomore from Singapore is seven shots off the lead of Alabama’s Jonathan Griz, who is 15 strokes under par.
Tech played extremely well over the first 15 holes on Monday, getting to 17-under-par for its round at one point and vaulting ahead of everyone except leader Alabama, but disaster struck when the Jackets took a triple-bogey on the par-4 16th hole and three more on the par-3 17th and tumbled all the way back to fifth place. The Crimson Tide lead the field by 16 strokes entering the final round.
The closing round of the 54-hole event starts at 9:48 a.m. Tuesday (tee times pushed back due to freezing temperatures forecast for Monday night). 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 – Tech has played the front nine significantly better than the back both days of this tournament. Monday, the Yellow Jackets played it 11-under-par and continued their charge with eight birdies against one bogey on holes 10-15 before running into trouble.
Tai was 3-under-par on the front with no bogeys, 1-under on the back on the way to his 68. Freshman Kale Fontenot (Lafayatte, La.) matched him with a 68 Monday that included eight birdies, helping overcome his own triple-bogey at 17. He is tied for 11th place individually at 5-under-par 139.
Freshman Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and senior Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) also had excellent rounds going before making a triple at 17. Each finished the round at even-par 72. Senior Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.) shot 2-over-par 74 and did not factor in Tech’s team score.
Kim is tied for 23rd pace at 2-under-par 142 after 36 holes, Forrester and Lamprecht are tied for 41st at 145 (+1).
Senior Aidan Kramer (Oviedo, Fla.) and sophomore Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) each carded even-par 72 rounds Monday competing as individuals. Kramer is tied for 23rd place at 2-under-par 142, while Tran is tied for 38th place at even-par 144.