Oct. 23, 2007
ATLANTA – Taylor Hall and Chesson Hadley broke into red figures with scores of 70 and 71 Tuesday, and third-ranked Georgia Tech posted its second straight even-par round to move into sixth place in the final standings at the Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Fla.
The Yellow Jackets’ performance the final two days continued a solid fall for Tech, and despite being their lowest finish in three events, it came against a power-packed field that included nine top-25 teams and 14 of the nation’s top 50 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Index.
Hall, a junior from LaGrange, Ga., bogeyed two of his first four holes, but rallied with four birdies and no bogeys in his final 14 holes in posting his fourth sub-par round in nine this fall. Hadley, a sophomore from Raleigh, N.C., saw his round proceed in much the same way, but the All-American bogeyed the 18th. Still he recorded his eighth round or par-or-better golf in nine fall rounds.
Hadley tied with East Tennessee State’s Rhys Enoch for fifth place with a 4-under-par tournament total of 212, extending his streak of consecutive top-10 finishes to six. He finished seven shots off the pace of Georgia freshman Harris English, who won his second straight event by blistering the Isleworth Golf and Country Club in 11-under-par 205.
Hall tied for 20th place, posting a second consecutive top-20 showing with a 54-hole score of 217, 1 over par.
Cameron Tringale shot an even-par 72 and John Tyler Griffin a 75 for Tech’s other two counting scores Tuesday, and Paul Haley posted a 78. Tringale tied for 23rd place at 218, while Griffin tied for 40th at 222, and Haley tied for 66th at 227.
“We didn’t get it done the first day,” said head coach Bruce Heppler, “but overall, we had only one score that was not good, and the golf course was plenty hard enough. We need to get better around the greens, but it’s been a pretty positive fall and there’s a lot of good things to build on as we head to our final event.”
Fourth-ranked Georgia, which set a tournament record for low round Monday, matched its 13-under-par 275 Tuesday and won the tournament by 21 strokes over Clemson. The Bulldogs, who placed three individuals in the top 20 including the medalist, finished the tournament at 23-under-par 841. The Tigers finishes at 2-under 862, followed by Southern California (-1), Oklahoma State (+2), Wake Forest (+4) and Tech (+5).
Individually, English won by three stokes over defending NCAA Champion Jamie Lovemark (6-under 210). Georgia’s Hudson Swafford finished third (-6) and Oklahoma State’s Rickie Fowler fourth (-5).
Tech concludes its fall schedule next week at the Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championship at the Oconee Course at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. The Yellow Jackets are seeded No. 3 in the event and will face No. 14 Texas in Sunday’s first round.
