Howe Tied for Lead at Linger Longer Invitational

Eatonton, Ga. – Connor Howe fired a 4-under-under-par 68 to match his best round of the spring and is tied for first place individually, but only one other Georgia Tech player broke par in Sunday’s opening round, and the 11^th-ranked Yellow Jackets are in fifth place after the opening round of the Linger Longer Invitational.

After freezing temperatures forced tee times to be pushed back two hours on Sunday, Tech came out of the gates hot with eight birdies over its first four holes and took the early lead at 4-under-par, but the Yellow Jackets were unable to sustain the pace and finished at 4-over-par 292 and, nine shots behind co-leaders Alabama and Georgia.

Round 2 is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. Monday, again two hours later than originally scheduled due to low temperatures that are forecast to be similarly frigid.

TECH LINEUP – Howe birdied three of his first four holes, four on his front side and six for the round along with an eagle to post his 68. It was his best opening round in a tournament since his 65 to start the Maui Jim Intercollegiate last September. The senior from Ogden, Utah, is tied at the top of the leaderboard with two other players.

Senior Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Fla.) was the only other Yellow Jacket to break par, scoring three birdies on his second nine holes to post a 1-under-par 71 to tie for 12^th place. Junior Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) posted a 1-over-par 73 and is tied for 27^th. Tech was forced to count on its team total an 80 from senior Ross Steelman (Columbia, Mo.), and freshman Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) did not count after carding an 82.

Sophomore Benjamin Reuter (Naarden, The Netherlands) and freshman Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.), who are competing as individuals, shot 74 and 76, respectively.

Bartley Forrester battled his way to a 1-under-par 71 Sunday. (photo by Clyde Click)

 

TEAM LEADERBOARD – Only four of the 16 teams in the field broke par Sunday on the Great Waters course at Reynolds Lake Oconee, but No. 20 Alabama and No. 34 Georgia made the best of the conditions by posting 5-under-par rounds of 283.

Top-ranked Vanderbilt is in third place at 286 (-2), three shots off the pace, while No. 16 Virginia is in fourth place, another stroke back at 287 (-1).

INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Just as the teams struggled to break par, only 16 of the 91 players in the field posted red numbers, led by the 68s from Tech’s Howe, Georgia’s Connor Creasy and Kennesaw State’s Hugo Lari.

Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent, the nation’s top-ranked player, is part of a five-player group tied for fourth place at 3-under-par 69. Alabama’s Nick Dunlap, Clemson’s Kian Rose and the Commodores’ Jackson Van Paris and Cole Sherwood shot 70 (-2) to tie for eighth place, and the Yellow Jackets’ Forrester is in a four-player tie for 12^th place at 71 (-1).

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – The Yellow Jackets have finished second (2021) and fourth (2013) in its two previous appearances at the Linger Longer Invitational. Georgia won last year’s event by four strokes over Vanderbilt, and the Bulldogs and Alabama have each won five times in the 16-year history of the event. The tournament is being contested at Great Waters at Reynolds Lake Oconee, which measures 7,436 yards and plays to a par of 72.

The format is 54 holes, 18 each day beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time from both the first and 10^th tees, with the low four individual scores of five each day counting toward the team total.

The 16-team field includes Alabama (20), Arkansas (44), Augusta, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Clemson, Georgia (34), Georgia Tech (11), UNC Greensboro (37), Ken­nesaw State, Mercer, South Alabama, South Florida, Vanderbilt (1), Virginia (16) and Wofford.

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