Pauma Valley, Calif. – Three Yellow Jackets carded sub-par rounds on Monday at the Pauma Valley Invitational. Making its second appearance in the tournament, No. 20 Georgia Tech stands in fourth-place after 18 holes with a team total of 4-under-par 280, seven strokes off the leader.
Leading Tech on Monday, senior Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) carded the best round by the Yellow Jackets with a 5-under-par 66. Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden) and Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) both posted 1-under-par 70s to help Tech become one of only seven teams in the clubhouse under-par after round one.
No. 15 Tennessee finished strong on the day to extend its lead to 11-under-par 273 and holds a three-stroke lead over second-place No. 13 Ole Miss (276, -8). One of three Atlantic Coast Conferences teams competing in the tournament, Tech currently leads both SMU and No. 2 Virginia in fifth and 11th-place, respectively.
In its third edition, the tournament features an 18-team competitive field that includes 11 teams ranked in the Scoreboard Powered by Clippd Top-50 rankings. Of the 11 teams in the top-50, nine are ranked in the top-25 – No. 2 Virginia, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Illinois, No. 10 Texas Tech, No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 15 Tennessee and No. 20 Georgia Tech. Completing the field are Colorado State, East Tennessee State, host LMU, Princeton, Toledo, No. 42 San Diego, No. 28 San Diego State, SMU and Toledo.
Round 2 begins at 11 a.m. EST on Tuesday.
Hiroshi Tai recorded the only hole-in-one on the day, coming on hole 16.
TECH LINEUP – In a three-way tie for third on the individual leaderboard, Tran opened the morning with back-to-back birdies and finished with six on the day to one bogey for his 66. Tran is just one stroke off the individual leaders that entered the clubhouse at 6-under-par 65.
Hansson and Tai are two of eight golfers tied for 19th after posting 1-under-par rounds of 70 on Monday. Hansson made the turn at 1-over before picking up steam on the back nine with three birdies and a bogey. Meanwhile, Tai had one of the best highlights of the day, recording the only hole-in-one by any of the 92 golfers in the field, coming on hole 16.
Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) posted a 3-over-par 74 to stand in a tie for 64th, while Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands) finished at 7-over-par 78 and did not count towards Tech’s team score.
Competing as an individual, Brady Rackley IV (Atlanta, Ga.) carded a 2-over-par 73…
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