Auburn, Ala. – Georgia Tech’s golf team is headed for the NCAA Championship Finals for the sixth straight year and for the 34th time in program history. Carson Kim (sophomore/Yorba Linda, Calif.) shot a 1-under-par 71 for Georgia Tech’s only subpar round Wednesday, and the Yellow Jackets posted a 6-over-par round of 294 but held their position to finish as the fifth and last advancing team from the NCAA Auburn Regional.
Host and top-ranked Auburn rolled to a 27-stroke victory at the Auburn University Club as seeding held nearly to form. No. 2 seed Texas A&M, No. 3 seed UCLA, No. 7 seed Purdue and the No. 5 seed Yellow Jackets move on to compete May 23-28 at the Omni LaCosta Resort in Carlsbad, Calif.
Individually, Hiroshi Tai (junior/Singapore) earned his second top-10 finish of the year, posting a closing 73 to tie for seventh place at 3-under-par 213.
Tech began the day in fifth place with a three-stroke edge over the Boilermakers, who shot 2-over-par 290. The Yellow Jackets, who started on the back nine, seemed to get the better of their playing partners (UCLA and Purdue) for the first nine holes which they played 4-under-par to get to even par and third place for the tournament. But the second nine holes became a slow slide as the Jackets posted just two birdies, one by Kale Fontenot (sophomore/Lafayette, La.) at No. 3 and the other by Kim at No. 8, to counter eight bogeys and a double-bogey to drop Tech back to 10-over-par for the tournament.
Meanwhile, SMU tried in vain to catch the Jackets, posting a 7-over-par score for the round and finishing five strokes shy. Tech also benefitted as New Mexico State, the third-place team after 36 holes, shot 23-over-par and dropped all the way back to eighth place.
Carson Kim led the way for Tech Wednesday with a 71 and tied for 18th place.
TECH LINEUP – Kim played a splendid back (first) nine with no bogeys and three birdies, but could come up with only one more on the front nine while also carding three bogeys. He finished the tournament tied for 18th place individually at 218 (+2).
Tai also played a clean first nine with two birdies, but had a bogey and a double-bogey on the back before finishing with four straight pars. Freshman Albert Hansson (Fiskebäckskil, Sweden), redshirt junior Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands) and Fontenot each shot 75 Wednesday.
Hansson tied for 29th individually at 221 (+5), while Fontenot and Reuter both tied for 38th place at 224 (+8).
LEADERBOARD SUMMARY – Auburn, which finished 54 holes at 32-under-par 832, cruised to the second-largest margin of victory in NCAA regional tournament history. Four Tigers finished the regional tied for fifth or better.
Texas A&M was the only other team under par for Wednesday’s round and for the tournament, finishing second at 859 (-5). UCLA (870, +6), Purdue (873, +9) and Tech (874, +10) were bunched together for the final three spots to advance.
Jackson Koivun, the Tigers’ stellar sophomore, shot 67 Wednesday to complete a four-stroke victory at 12-under-par 204. UCLA’s Omar Morales and Kennesaw State’s Claes Borregaard tied for second place at 208 (-8). Auburn’s Carson Bacha (-7), Josiah Gilbert (-5) and Brendan Valdes (-5) rounded out the top five.
Round 3 Photos by Stew Milne
EVENT DETAILS
- Dates: May 12-14 (54 holes of stroke play, low 4 of 5 scores count for team score each day, top 5 teams advance to NCAA Championship)
- Venue: Auburn University Club, Auburn, Ala. (par 72, 7,607 yards)
- Participating teams (NCAA Scoreboard ranking): Auburn (1), Texas A&M (12), UCLA (13/Big Ten champion), SMU (24), Tech (25), Oregon (36), Purdue (37), Little Rock (48/Ohio Valley champion), TCU (50), College of Charleston (62), New Mexico State (63), Loyola Maryland (142/Patriot League champion) and USC Upstate (227/Big South champion)
- Tech appearances (last appearance): 34th (2024)
- Best finish: 7 titles (most recent in 2023)
- Individual titles: 4 (most recent, Troy Matteson in 2003)
Head coach Bruce Heppler on the Yellow Jackets' advancing to the NCAA Championship Finals
TECH IN NCAA REGIONAL COMPETITION
Georgia Tech has advanced through an NCAA regional 29 times in 34 tries, and all but four times since the NCAA went to a six-regional qualifying format in 2009. Tech has won seven regional tournaments overall, two of them shared titles, most recently in 2023, when the Yellow Jackets won in Salem, S.C.
The NCAA began using regional qualifying tournaments in 1989, first with the 81 teams split among three sites (27 teams each), then among six sites with either 13 or 14 teams each beginning in 2009. Since the NCAA went to six regional sites in 2009, Tech has advanced to the championship finals 11 times. No NCAA championship events were held in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Tech’s first four victories all occurred in 27-team regionals in 1991 (New Haven, Conn.), 1998 (Daufuskie Island, S.C.), 1999 (Providence, R.I.) and 2002 (Roswell, Ga., tied with Clemson). The 2014 win in Raleigh, the 2022 victory in Columbus and the 2023 win in Salem occurred in a 13- or 14-team field.
Four Georgia Tech players have won individual titles at NCAA regionals, but the most recent has been Troy Matteson in 2003, coincidentally at the Auburn University Club. The Yellow Jackets were the team runner-up in that regional.
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.
