Chapel Hill, N.C. – Hiroshi Tai fired rounds of 65-68 Monday to pace Georgia Tech and grab a share of fifth place individually, while Yellow Jackets navigated the Finley Golf Club in 10-under-par 550 over 36 holes and are tied for fifth place with 18 holes to play at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.
The top five teams on the leaderboard after 54 holes will advance to the NCAA Championship, but the third-seeded Yellow Jackets hold just a two-stroke cushion over sixth-place Long Beach State heading into the final round, which will begin sometime Tuesday. Tech was in third place, just two strokes off the lead, after 18 holes, but No. 4 seed East Tennessee State and 10th-seeded Clemson surged to the front of the leaderboard in round two, while top-seed North Carolina and sixth-seed Baylor took over the third and fourth positions.
Play was suspended at 8:15 p.m. due to darkness, with four of the 13 teams and all 10 individuals (seven threesomes) unable to complete their second rounds. The tournament schedule was altered in advance of Monday’s play due to the forecast of inclement weather for the next two days. The teams who were unable to finish the second round will return to the course at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning to complete the round, and the third and final round will begin no earlier than 9:30 a.m.
Tech has made it through the NCAA regional round each of the last four years (the NCAA Championship and regionals were not conducted in 2020 due to COVID-19), and 27 times since the NCAA went to the regional qualifying format in 1989. Tech shared the regional title in 2022 in Columbus, Ohio and won the 2023 regional in Salem, S.C., by eight strokes. The Yellow Jackets are playing in an NCAA regional for the 26th straight year and for the 33rd time in the 35 years the NCAA has used a regional qualifying format for its championship.
Hiroshi Tai highlights from Monday
ROUND 1 RECAP – Tech finished the first round in third place at 7-under-par 273 behind a 5-under-par 65 from Tai and a 4-under-par 66 from Bartley Forrester. Tai played a clean round with five birdies Monday morning, and the sophomore from Singapore matched his career-low round. Forrester collected seven birdies against three bogeys at the Finley Golf Club to match his best round this year, and was tied for eighth.
Senior Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) and freshman Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) each contributed a 1-over-par 71 to the Jackets’ team total, while freshman…
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