March 10, 2018
Tournament Home Page | Pairings and Live Scoring
Myrtle Beach, S.C. – Chris Petefish fired 4-under-par 68 and Luke Schniederjans carded a 3-under-par 69 in the afternoon round, lifting eighth-ranked Georgia Tech into the lead after 36 holes at the General James Hackler Championship at The Dunes Beach and Golf Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
TECH LINEUP — Petefish, a senior from Danville, Calif., and Schniederjans, a sophomore from Powder Springs, Ga., led the Yellow Jackets to a 4-under-par score of 284 in the afternoon round of a 36-hole day, enabling Tech to edge ahead of No. 2 Texas A&M by two strokes entering Sunday’s final round. Freshman Noah Norton (Chico, Calif.) added a 73, and junior Tyler Joiner (Leesburg, Ga.) a 75 in the afternoon.
Four Tech players matched or broke par in the morning round as the Yellow Jackets posted a 5-under-par 283, two shots behind Texas A&M. Norton and sophomore Andy Ogletree (Little Rock, Miss.) each shot 2-under-par 70 for the Jackets, while Schniederjans carded a 71 and Petefish a 72.
The Jackets played a relatively clean opening round, recording just five bogeys among its four counting players.
TEAM LEADERBOARD — Tech, with a 36-hole total of 567 (-9), will open Sunday’s final round two shots ahead of the Aggies, who shot 281-288 Saturday for a tournament score of 569 (-7). Kentucky, ranked 38th, is a distant third at even-par 576, and No. 12 LSU is in fourth place at 580 (+4). Virginia holds fifth place at 581 (+5), followed by No. 31 NC State (582, +6) and No. 26 South Carolina (584, +8).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD — Petefish and Schniederjans are tied for second place with NC State’s Stephen Franken at 4-under-par 140, one shot back of LSU’s Phillip Barbaree, who shot 68-71 Saturday to take the 36-hole lead at 5-under-par 139.
Dan Erickson of Texas A&M and Maximillian Mehles of Kentucky are tied for fifth at 3-under-par 141, while Norton is tied with six others for seventh place at 2-under-par 142. Three other golfers are tied for 13th at 1-under-par 143. Only 15 of the 84 players in the field are under par for 36 holes.
COACH BRUCE HEPPLER SAYS – “It was certainly a long day today with 36 holes, I’m glad we don’t do that often. The wind blew 12 to 16 miles per hour all day today, but we handled it much better than we did in the last tournament. We flipped the leaderboard at the end with the way we played 18. We’ve got two guys on the lead, and that’s important if you want to win the tournament. The forecast is better for tomorrow, so we’re looking forward to getting back out there.”
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION — The General Hackler Championship, in its 17th year, is one of two new events on Georgia Tech’s spring schedule (the Irish Creek Invitational April 7-8 in Kannapolis, N.C., is the other). The 54-hole event concludes Sunday with groups teeing off both the first and 10th tees beginning at 8:30 a.m. It is played at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club (7,233 yards, par 72) in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Eight of the 15 teams in the field are ranked among the top 50 teams in the nation by Golfstat, including No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 12 LSU. Coastal Carolina hosts the event, which also includes East Carolina, East Tennessee State, No. 32 Kent State, No. 38 Kentucky, Liberty, No. 31 NC State, No. 23 North Florida, Princeton, No. 26 South Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
