Carlsbad, Calif. – Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht and Hiroshi Tai were named Division I PING First-Team All-Americans Wednesday by the Golf Coaches Association of America in partnership with Golf Channel at the NCAA Division I Championship. It was the second straight year Lamprecht has made the team, and Tai joined him after winning the individual title at NCAA Championship.
Luke Clanton of Florida State, Wenyi Ding of Arizona State, Mats Ege of East Tennessee State, Nick Gabrelcik of North Florida, Ben James of Virginia, Jackson Koivun of Auburn, Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt, Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford and Brendan Valdes of Auburn made the first team.
It is the first time two Georgia Tech players have made the first team since 2000, when Matt Kuchar and Bryce Molder were honored. Lamprecht becomes the first Tech player to make the first team twice since Ollie Schniederjans in 2014 and 2015.
Tech and Auburn are the only programs to have two representatives on the 11-man team.
Lamprecht completed a four-year career that rivals any of the top players in program history. The senior from George, South Africa was a finalist for all the national player of the year awards (Ben Hogan, Fred Haskins, Jack Nicklaus) and won the winner 2024 Byron Nelson Award, which is awarded to the nation’s top senior golfer based on four years of accomplishment on the golf course, academic performance and service to the community. He also was voted the 2024 ACC Player of the Year.
Collegiately, Lamprecht won the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational and was co-medalist at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational this year, and had six top-10 finishes overall. Additionally, Lamprecht shared second place at the Watersound Invitational and tied for third at this spring’s ACC Championship. He also broke program records for stroke average in a season (69.16) and a career (70.05) held by Bryce Molder since 2001.
Lamprecht sits atop the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is second in the PGA TOUR University rankings and fifth in the Scoreboard National Collegiate Golf Ranking System.
Tai was an automatic addition to the team for winning the NCAA individual championship this year, but the sophomore enjoyed a standout campaign. The sophomore from Singapore earned three top-10 finishes in 11 events prior to the NCAA Championship, tying for eighth at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional, seventh at the Watersound Invitational and fifth at the RE Lamkin Invitational. He also tied for 12th at the ACC Championship and posted six other top-20 finishes. He compiled a 70.74 stroke average across 35 rounds.
Because of his win at the NCAA Championship, Tai will get to play in the U.S. Open in June and the Masters next April.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of the development of Yellow Jackets that thrive academically at the Institute and compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 29th year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 72 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 four times. Connect with Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on Twitter (@GTGolf) and Instagram. For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
