Scottsdale, Ariz. – Bartley Forrester birdied three of his last four holes to shoot 2-under-par 68 Monday, tying for 15th place at the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, while Georgia Tech posted a final round of 294 (+14) and tied for 12th place on the team leaderboard.
Forrester, whose birdie putt at 18 Sunday lifted the Yellow Jackets over the cut line to make Monday’s final round, played a steady round of golf from the start Monday. The junior from Gainesville, Ga., had one birdie and two bogeys on the front nine and made five straight pars to start the back. Then he hit excellent approach shots into the greens at 15, 17 and 18, all par-4 holes, leaving himself less than 10 feet from the cup on each, and drained the putts.
His individual finish was the best for a Yellow Jacket at the NCAA Championship since 2014, when Ollie Schniederjans was the runner-up and Seth Reeves tied for sixth at Hutchinson, Kan. After tying for 75th place last year, Forrester’s tie for 15th assures him of All-America status.
As a team, Tech’s four counting players played solidly until the last hole, where they lost six shots to par but still tied for 12th. It was the Yellow Jackets’ highest NCAA finish since 2015, when they finished ninth at Bradenton, Fla. The Jackets finished three spots higher than last year on the same golf course, though their score was two strokes higher.
Tech began the day tied for 14th place, paired with the Ole Miss and Oregon in the final round. The Jackets outplayed both teams, with the Rebels finishing 14th and the Ducks 15th, and wound up in a tie with Georgia at the finish with a score of 1171 (+51).