Tech Golf in 7th Place at The Goodwin – Men’s Golf — Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

San Francisco, Calif. – Freshman Kale Fontenot fired a 1-under-par 69 Thursday and is tied for eighth place, while 15^th-ranked Georgia Tech posted a 3-over-par 280 and sits in seventh place after the opening round of The Goodwin.

Only 20 of 168 players and three of the 31 teams in the field broke par Thursday at the par-70 TPC Harding Park golf course, a major championship venue that has hosted a PGA Championship and a Presidents Cup in recent years. The back nine took its toll on the Yellow Jackets and their playing partners Georgia, Tennessee and California. The Bulldogs, Volunteers and Stanford all shot 1-under-par to share the lead, while Tech sits four strokes back.

Round 2 of The Goodwin begins at 10 a.m. EDT Friday from the first and 10^th tees. Ten of the competing teams are listed in the top 50 of the current Scoreboard NCAA Golf Rankings, including Tech (15), Tennessee (7), California (19), Georgia (22) and Oregon (24) in the top 25.

TECH LINEUP – Fontenot put together the steadiest round for Tech Thursday, carding three birdies and two bogeys en route to his 69 and a tie for eighth place after the opening round, and the freshman from Lafayette, La., is three shots behind the lead.

Seniors Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) and Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.) each delivered a 1-over-par 71 for the Jackets Thursday and are tied for 28^th place. Freshman Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) had the fourth counting score for Tech with a 2-over-par 72. Sophomore Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) did not count for the Jackets with a 4-over-par 74.

Sophomore Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) shot 71 competing as an individual and is tied for 28^th place.

Bartley Forrester is tied for 28th place after carding a 71 Thursday. (photo by Ross Obley)

TEAM LEADERBOARD – Host Stanford and Tennessee each had three players in red figures, while Georgia had two as each team posted a 1-under-par round of 279 to share the lead after the opening 18 holes.

Brigham Young shot even-par 280 as a team with two of its players under par to grab fourth place, while Pepperdine is in fifth at 281 (+1), UC Davis (282, +2) is in sixth place and Tech (283, +3) is in seventh.

Utah (284, +4), California and Clemson (both at 285, +5) round out the top 10.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Clemson’s Jonathan Nielsen took the opening-round lead by carding a bogey-free, 4-under-par 66 Thursday. He is one stroke ahead of a trio of players at 67 (-3) including Stanford’s Karl Vilips,…