March 24, 2007
ATLANTA – Roberto Castro shot 68 and Kevin Larsen a 69 as Georgia Tech’s 16th-ranked golf team took a seven-shot victory, 279-286, over 27th-ranked Georgia State in a dual match Saturday at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va.
The match, an official competition date for both schools, culminated a three-day spring break trip in which the Yellow Jackets played a pair of practice rounds at the 6,817-yard, par 71 Gold Course, site of this year’s NCAA Men’s Division I Championship.
“We got in three rounds on this trip, so this was a good thing to do,” said Tech head coach Bruce Heppler, who is using the trip to help compose his five-man team for the upcoming United States Collegiate Championship, April 9-11 at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, Ga.
Castro, a senior from Alpharetta, posted his 3-under-par 68 despite three-putting four of the Golden Horseshoe’s aerated greens, while Larsen, a senior from Santa Barbara, Calif., encountered similar issues on the way to his 69, the two best scores by either team on this day.
Sophomore Cameron Tringale (70) and freshman Chesson Hadley (72) also counted for Tech’s team score as each team used seven players in the match.
Georgia State was led by Ben Taylor, who carded a 1-under 70, and the Panthers also counted three 72s from Mark Haastrup, Joel Sjoholm and Derek Oakey.
Castro, Tech’s stroke average leader this spring with three top-10 finishes and one victory, continues to perform the best of all of the Yellow Jackets heading into April. Larsen, Heppler said, “is the best I’ve seen him from tee to green in a long time,” while Hadley, a freshman from Raleigh, N.C., who has made the travel squad for all of Tech’s spring events, “has played really well up here,” said Heppler.
GEORGIA TECH 279 (-5), GEORGIA STATE 286 (+2)Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, Gold Course (par 71)Williamsburg, Va.
GEORGIA TECH INDIVIDUALS – Roberto Castro 68, Kevin Larsen 69, Cameron Tringale 70, Chesson Hadley 72, Adam Cohan 76, Taylor Hall 77, Daniel Bowden 77
GEORGIA STATE INDIVIDUALS – Ben Taylor 70, Mark Haastrup 72, Joel Sjoholm 72, Derek Oakey 72, Tom Sherreard 74, Morgan Nix 77, Maurice Jordan 78
