Feb. 6, 2010
Kohala Coast, Hawai’i –
James White fired a 5-under-par 67 to lead a final-round rally for the 22nd-ranked Georgia Tech golf team, which shot 6-under-par as a team and finished sixth in the Mauna Lani Invitational on the Kohala Coast of Hawaii.
White, a sophomore from Acworth, Ga., birdied seven holes against a pair of bogeys to match his career-low round, while junior Kyle Scott put together a bogey-free round of 2-under-par 70. They tied for sixth place individually, with White matching his career-best finish and Scott establishing a new best.
John-Tyler Griffin tied for 10th after firing an even-par 72 Friday. Freshman Bo Andrews shook off a couple of poor rounds the first two days by posting a 73 to count for Tech in the last round.
“Very positive day for us today, with a super round for James, and great tournaments for Kyle and J.T.,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “We got a lot out of this week short of winning the tournament. I’m very happy with our guys, and it was fruitful for us. Hopefully we can do a little bit better in a couple weeks when we go to Puerto Rico.
Tech’s 6-under-par 282 score Friday was the second best score of the day, enabling the Yellow Jackets to jump from ninth place and finish 11 shots back of Stanford, which shot a 2-under-par 286 score Friday to win by three strokes over Oregon and Washington.
The Cardinal finished 54 holes at 2-over-par 866, followed by the Ducks and the Huskies at 5-over 869. Texas, whose 281 was the best round of the day, finished fourth at 6-over-870, with Oklahoma State fifth at 7-over 871. Tech completed the three rounds at 13-over 877, followed by Texas Tech (+17), UCLA (+21), Southern California (+22), Arizona State and Florida State (both +25).
White and Scott posted 1-under-par totals of 215, eight strokes behind Texas’ Bobby Hudson, who shot 6-under-par 66 Friday to capture medalist honors over Florida State’s Brooks Koepka. Koepka shot a 65 and finished at 6-under 210. Oklahoma State’s Kevin Tway (-4) was third, followed by Stanford’s Sihwan Kim and Washington’s Nick Taylor (both at -3).
Tech returns to action Feb. 21-23 at the Puerto Rico Classic.
20th ANNUAL MAUNA LANI INVITATIONALMauna Lani ResortFinal Results
TEAM STANDINGS 1 Stanford 297 283 286 866 +2 T2 Oregon 291 290 288 869 +5 T2 Washington 291 287 291 869 +5 4 Texas 297 292 281 870 +6 5 Oklahoma State 299 285 287 871 +7 6 Georgia Tech 304 291 282 877 +13 7 Texas Tech 296 298 287 881 +17 8 UCLA 288 301 296 885 +21 9 Southern California 293 301 292 886 +22 T10 Arizona State 313 298 278 889 +25 T10 Florida State 306 302 281 889 +25 12 Oregon State U. 302 298 294 894 +30 13 San Francisco, U. of 312 294 290 896 +32 14 TCU 310 297 293 900 +36 15 Colorado 304 306 293 903 +39 16 UC Davis 306 306 292 904 +40 17 San Jose State Univ. 308 318 287 913 +49 18 Hawaii 311 302 310 923 +59 19 Sonoma State 331 306 299 936 +72 20 Rhode Island, U. of 324 311 304 939 +75 21 Hawaii-Hilo 316 328 305 949 +85 22 Cal State East Bay 316 340 313 969 +105
LEADING INDIVIDUALS 1 Bobby Hudson Texas 70 73 66 209 -7 2 Brooks Koepka Florida State 73 72 65 210 -6 3 Kevin Tway Oklahoma State 72 68 72 212 -4 T4 Sihwan Kim Stanford 72 70 71 213 -3 T4 Nick Taylor Washington 70 71 72 213 -3 T6 James White Georgia Tech 78 70 67 215 -1 T6 Kyle Scott Georgia Tech 73 72 70 215 -1 T8 Andrew Vijarro Oregon 70 74 72 216 E T8 Trent Whitekiller Oklahoma State 74 71 71 216 E T10 Gregor Main UCLA 73 70 74 217 +1 T10 Wesley Graham Florida State 77 72 68 217 +1 T10 Eugene Wong Oregon 73 72 72 217 +1 T10 Daniel Miernicki Oregon 74 73 70 217 +1 T10 John Tyler Griffin Georgia Tech 74 71 72 217 +1 T10 Charlie Hughes Washington 72 72 73 217 +1
GEORGIA TECH SCORES 6 Georgia Tech +13 304 291 282 877 T6 Kyle Scott -1 73 72 70 215 T6 James White -1 78 70 67 215 T10 John Tyler Griffin +1 74 71 72 217 T85 Paul Haley +18 79 78 77 234 T93 Bo Andrews +20 81 82 73 236
