Kohala Coast, Hawai’i – Bartley Forrester (67), Hiroshi Tai (68) and Christo Lamprecht (69) all fired subpar rounds Thursday, leading No. 12 Georgia Tech to a 12-under-par score of 276, good to tie for eighth place after the opening round of the Amer Ari Intercollegiate.
Low scores were the order of the day at the Mauna Lani Resort’s North Course, which plays to par of 72 and measures just 6,913 yards. Seventeen of the 20 competing teams broke par, with No. 2 North Carolina leading the way at 26-under-par with all five players in red figures. Seventy-five of the 124 players in the field were under par for the day.
Forrester’s score put him in a tie for 12th place, while Tai is tied for 22nd, and Lamprecht is tied for 37th.
The tournament continues with another shotgun start for round 2 Friday at 7:30 a.m. local time (12:30 p.m. Eastern time).
TECH LINEUP – Forrester, a senior from Gainesville, Ga., played a clean round with five birdies and no bogeys Thursday to share 12th place with nine other players. Tai, a sophomore from Singapore, birdied three of his first five holes and got to 5-under-par for the day before making consecutive bogeys, but he finished with a birdie at the 10th for his 68, putting him in a tie for 22nd with 14 others. Lamprecht, a senior from George, South Africa, had five birdies and two bogeys on his card, thing for 37th place with 11 others.
Freshman Carson Kim (Yorba Linda Calif.) provided the Yellow Jackets’ fourth counting score with an even-par 72, while freshman Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) shot 1-over-par 73 and did not count.
Senior Aidan Kramer (Oviedo, Fla.) fired a 2-under-par 70 competing as an individual and is tied for 49th place.
Hiroshi Tai carded a 4-under-par 68 Thursday. (photo by Spencer Honda)
TEAM LEADERBOARD – North Carolina led the field with five players under par, posting a 26-under-par total of 262, with No. 7 Arizona State three shots back at 265 (-23) and No. 22 Texas Tech in third place at 267 (-21).
Oklahoma State (-18), top-ranked Auburn (-16), No. 12 Florida State (-15) and Pepperdine (-14) are also ahead of the Yellow Jackets and No. 4 Washington (both at -12).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Preston Stout of Oklahoma State took the opening-round lead with a 10-under-par 62 that included an eagle and eight birdies. He has a one-shot lead over Wenyi Ding of Arizona State and Matthew Comegys of Texas Tech, each of whom shot 63.
David Ford of North Carolina is alone in fourth place after carding an 8-under-par 64, ahead of a three-way tie at 65 that includes his brother Maxwell, also of North Carolina, and another Tar Heel, Dylan Menante.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – Georgia Tech has played in the Amer Ari Intercollegiate every year since 1999, with the exception of the 2015. The 33rd annual event, which runs Thursday through Saturday, is a traditional collegiate 54-hole, 5-count-4 stroke-play tournament. The event will be contested at the Mauna Lani Golf Resort (par-72 North Course) on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawai’i, the second time the event has been held at the venue.
The Yellow Jackets have won this event five times, all between 1999 and 2006, and six Yellow Jackets have won or shared the individual title, including Carlton Forrester (shared title in 1999), Matt Kuchar (shared title in 1999 and 2000), Bryce Molder (shared title in 2000), Troy Matteson (2002) and Cameron Tringale (2006). Tech finished in seventh place among 19 teams last year.
The 20-team field is loaded with nine teams ranked in the current NCAA Golf top-25, and 13 of the top 50, including (with ranking) top-ranked Auburn, No. 2 North Carolina, No. 4 Washington, No. 7 Arizona State, No. 11 Georgia Tech, No. 12 Florida State, No. 16 Texas, No. 18 Oregon, No. 22 Texas Tech, No. 31 UCLA, No. 42 Oklahoma State, No. 46 Oregon State, No. 49 San Jose State.
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, having won 72 tournaments in his tenure. Heppler is the 10th-longest-tenured head coach in Division I men’s golf. 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. 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.
