Waimea, Hawai’i – Bartley Forrester picked up the lone match victory for Georgia Tech, and Hiroshi Tai halved his match the 10th-ranked Yellow Jackets lost to No. 20 Texas, 4-1-1, Friday in the ACC/Big 12 Showdown at Hapuna Golf Course.
No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 5 North Carolina tied 3-3 in the other match of the challenge Friday. The matches were organized after cancellation of the Amer Ari Intercollegiate on Thursday because of extremely high winds.
Forrester, a senior from Gainesville, Ga., led for most of his match against the Longhorns’ Keaton Vo, but Vo rallied from a three-hole deficit to knot their contest on the 13th hole. After halving each of the next three holes, Forrester broke through with a birdie at the par-4 17th hole and tied 18 with a par to secure the win.
Tai, a freshman from Singapore, trailed Brian Stark by three holes after making a bogey on the par-5 14th, but rallied to win the next three holes with a par at 15, a birdie at 16 and another par at 17. The 18th was halved, giving the Jackets their only other score.
Christo Lamprecht dropped a 2 and 1 decision to Christian Maas, Ross Steelman fell 1-up to Travis Vick, Connor Howe lost 1-up to Jacob Sosa, and Benjamin Reuter took a 2 and 1 defeat at the hands of Tommy Morrison.
This was Georgia Tech’s first regular-season match since the 2019 Cypress Point Classic, where the Yellow Jackets defeated California, UCLA and Duke. Tech has a 21-11 record all-time in regular-season match play events.