San Francisco, Calif. – Freshman Kale Fontenot fired a 1-under-par 69 Thursday and is tied for eighth place, while 15th-ranked Georgia Tech posted a 3-over-par 280 and sits in seventh place after the opening round of The Goodwin.
Only 20 of 168 players and three of the 31 teams in the field broke par Thursday at the par-70 TPC Harding Park golf course, a major championship venue that has hosted a PGA Championship and a Presidents Cup in recent years. The back nine took its toll on the Yellow Jackets and their playing partners Georgia, Tennessee and California. The Bulldogs, Volunteers and Stanford all shot 1-under-par to share the lead, while Tech sits four strokes back.
Round 2 of The Goodwin begins at 10 a.m. EDT Friday from the first and 10th tees. Ten of the competing teams are listed in the top 50 of the current Scoreboard NCAA Golf Rankings, including Tech (15), Tennessee (7), California (19), Georgia (22) and Oregon (24) in the top 25.
TECH LINEUP – Fontenot put together the steadiest round for Tech Thursday, carding three birdies and two bogeys en route to his 69 and a tie for eighth place after the opening round, and the freshman from Lafayette, La., is three shots behind the lead.
Seniors Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) and Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.) each delivered a 1-over-par 71 for the Jackets Thursday and are tied for 28th place. Freshman Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) had the fourth counting score for Tech with a 2-over-par 72. Sophomore Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) did not count for the Jackets with a 4-over-par 74.
Sophomore Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.) shot 71 competing as an individual and is tied for 28th place.
Bartley Forrester is tied for 28th place after carding a 71 Thursday. (photo by Ross Obley)
TEAM LEADERBOARD – Host Stanford and Tennessee each had three players in red figures, while Georgia had two as each team posted a 1-under-par round of 279 to share the lead after the opening 18 holes.
Brigham Young shot even-par 280 as a team with two of its players under par to grab fourth place, while Pepperdine is in fifth at 281 (+1), UC Davis (282, +2) is in sixth place and Tech (283, +3) is in seventh.
Utah (284, +4), California and Clemson (both at 285, +5) round out the top 10.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Clemson’s Jonathan Nielsen took the opening-round lead by carding a bogey-free, 4-under-par 66 Thursday. He is one stroke ahead of a trio of players at 67 (-3) including Stanford’s Karl Vilips, Pepperdine’s Mananth Chirravuri and UC Davis’ Leo Metzger.
Cal’s Sampson Zheng, Tennessee’s Lance Simpson and BYU’s Keanu Akina are tied for fifth at 68 (-2). Tech’s Kale Fontenot is one of 13 players tied for eighth place at 69 (-1).
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – This is Georgia Tech’s fourth appearance at The Goodwin, having finished second behind Oklahoma in last year’s event, while Christo Lamprecht took home runner-up honors individually. The event is named for legendary head coach Wally Goodwin who led the Cardinal program from 1987-2000 and is played at one of the country’s elite courses, with TPC Harding Park set to host the event for the third time in school history after serving as headquarters in 2018. TPC Harding Park has played host to numerous PGA Tour events, including the 2009 Presidents Cup and the 2020 PGA Championship. TPC Harding Park will be set up as a 6,939-yard, par-70 layout.
The format is the traditional 54 holes, 18 holes each day from Thursday through Saturday, with the low four scores out of five counting for the team total each day.
The field is the largest that the Yellow Jackets will play against all year, 31 teams, including Appalachian State, BYU (43), California (19), Cal Baptist, Cal Davis, Cal Poly, Clemson, Colorado, Georgia (22), Georgia Tech (15), Howard, Lipscomb, Little Rock, Long Beach State (48), Nevada, Oregon (25), Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Diego, San Diego State (29), San Jose State, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Southern California, Stanford (44), Tennessee (7), TCU, UCLA (33), Utah, Utah Tech, Washington State.
Host Stanford has won the tournament 16 times since the inaugural event in 1968. Past individual winners include major golf champions Tom Watson and Corey Pavin, as well as veteran PGA Tour pros like Duffy Waldorf and Billy Mayfair, and younger pros like Nick Taylor, Patrick Rodgers, Maverick McNealy and Brandon Wu.
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.
