Bowling Green, Ky. – Reigning NCAA Champion Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) led the way with a 1-under-par Thursday, while No. 25 Georgia Tech began its chase for a 20th all-time Atlantic Coast Conference championship with a 2-over-par score of 290 at The Club at Olde Stone.
Tai, who is tied for 15th place individually, was the only player under par for the No. 6 seed Yellow Jackets, who sit 12 strokes behind 12th-ranked Virginia, the No. 3 seed, after the first round. Tai is four strokes back of the individual lead, held by the Cavaliers’ Bryan Lee.
Round 2 begins at 8 a.m. Central Daylight Time Friday, and the Jackets will tee off at 8:55 a.m. paired with top seed Florida State and ninth-seeded Stanford, each of who posted 3-over-par scores of 291 Thursday, tied for eighth place.
Fifteen teams are competing for the championship, which includes 54 holes of stroke play to determine eight teams that qualify for match play. Ten teams are ranked among the top 50 in the Scoreboard NCAA Rankings, with six of those, including the Yellow Jackets, ranked among the top 25.
The Club at Olde Stone (par 72, 7,331 yards) is hosting the championship for the first time, and this is the first time the championship has been held in the state of Kentucky. The top eight teams on the leaderboard after 54 holes qualify for match play, with quarterfinal and semifinal matches taking place Sunday starting at 7:30 p.m. CDT. The semifinal winners square off in the championship match at 10 a.m. CDT Monday.
Defending NCAA champ Hiroshi Tai led the Jackets Thursday with a 71. (photo by Andy Mead/YCJ)
TECH LINEUP – Tai played a steady round Thursday, playing the back nine (Tech’s opening nine) even with two birdies and two bogeys, and the junior from Singapore went bogey-free with one birdie on the front.
Redshirt junior Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands), Tech’s highest ranked player this year, played The Club at Olde Stone even par, getting there by going 2-under-par on his final eight holes, and is tied for 25th place individually.
Sophomore Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) shot 73 (+1) for the Jackets, and freshman Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden) delivered a 74 (+2).
LEADERBOARD SUMMARY – With two players among the top three individually and three subpar scores Thursday, Virginia posted a 10-under-par 278 to lead by three over No. 5 seed and 24th-ranked Louisville (281, -7).
No. 2 seed and 10th-ranked North Carolina is in third place at 283 (-5), followed by No. 7 seed SMU (284, -4), No. 10 seed Wake Forest (286, -2) and No. 11 seed California (287, -1).
Virginia’s Lee paced the field Thursday by carding a 5-under-par 67, one stroke ahead of teammate Deven Patel, Louisville’s Sebastian Moss and Duke’s Bryan Kim, all tied for second place at 68 (-4). SMU’s William Sides is along in fifth place with a 69 (-3).
Nine players are tied at 70 (-2), and 10 others shot 71, including Tech’s Tai.
Round 1 Images by Andy Mead/YCJ
EVENT DETAILS
Atlantic Coast Conference Championship
- Dates: April 24-28 (54 holes of stroke play, low 4 of 5 scores count for team score each day, top 8 teams advance to match play)
- Venue: The Club at Olde Stone, Bowling Green, Ky. (par 72, 7,331 yards)
- Participating teams (15): Florida State (9), North Carolina (10), Virginia (12), Duke (19), Louisville (24), Georgia Tech (25), SMU (30), Notre Dame (38), Stanford (40), Wake Forest (46), California (53), Clemson (56), NC State (63), Boston College (118), Virginia Tech (194)
- Tech appearances (last appearance): 46th (last in 2024)
- Best finish: 19 titles (most recent in 2023)
- Individual titles: 10 (most recent, Anders Albertson in 2015)
- Schedule (all times Central Daylight Time):
- Friday – Stroke play round 2 (8 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
- Saturday – Stroke play round 3 (8 a.m. from No. 1 and No. 10 holes)
- Sunday – Quarterfinal matches (7:30 a.m.)
- Sunday – Semifinal matches (following semifinals)
- Monday – Championship match (10 a.m.)
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 30th year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 73 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 19 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 33 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up five times. Follow Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on X (@GTGolf) and Instagram. For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
