Sept. 16, 2007
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s Chesson Hadley picked up where he left off last spring, posting a 2-over-par 74 Sunday to hold off two challengers and capture the individual medal at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in Rocky Face, Ga.
The Yellow Jacket sophomore from Raleigh, N.C., who held a four-shot lead at 10-under-par through 36 holes, struggled with four bogeys and a double-bogey Sunday at The Farm Golf Club. After beginning the tournament with rounds of 65 and 69, he finished the tournament at 8-under-par 208, three strokes clear of Alabama All-American Michael Thompson (69 – 211), for the first victory of his brief collegiate career.
Hadley is the first Tech player to win the event, which the Yellow Jackets host, since Bryce Molder won twice in a row in 1999. He has recorded four straight top-10 finishes dating back to last spring’s Atlantic Coast Conference Championship.
“It never clicked today like it did the first two days, but I hung in there,” said Hadley. “I had a chance on the last hole to make a putt to put us in a tie for the team title, but it didn’t go down. I hit a really good putt. That’s the way it goes. It’s bittersweet right now.”
While Hadley closed out his individual title, his teammates put together a comeback on the back nine, slicing all but one stroke off the third-round lead of South Carolina. Tech was in third place to start the day, Alabama in second, but Taylor Hall, David Dragoo and Paul Haley each came through with 2-under-par 70s to bring the Jackets within one shot.
But none was able to card a birdie on the final hole to force a tie with the Crimson Tide, who had taken the lead as the final group played the 18th hole. George Bryan IV made a long birdie putt to lift the Gamecocks into a tie with Alabama at 5-over-par 869, with the Jackets at 6-over 870.
Tech nearly won this event for the first time since 2001 against many of the nation’s top team despite not getting a counting score from All-American Cameron Tringale (tie for 82nd) in the final two rounds.
“We didn’t get off to a good start the first day, but Chesson saved us, obviously,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “To get in it and have a chance with some putts on the last hole is great, but it’s disappointing not to win because this event means so much to us as the host. But it’s a great start to the year, and some guys played a whole lot better than maybe they thought they could.”
Haley, a red-shirt freshman from Dallas, Texas, making his collegiate debut, closed with rounds of 73-70 and finished in a tie for 23rd place. Dragoo, a junior from Scottsdale, Ariz., playing in only his fifth collegiate event, tied for 28th after closing 74-70. Hall, a junior from LaGrange, Ga., tied for 48th after closing with rounds of 74-70.
Auburn finished third, five shots behind Tech at 11-over 875, followed by Duke at 16-over 880 and Georgia at 18-over 882.
Tech is next in action at the inaugural Brickyard Collegiate Invitational, Oct. 7-9 in Macon, Ga.
