Panama City Beach, Fla. – Bartley Forrester and Christo Lamprecht each shot 1-under-par 71 Monday, leading 12th-ranked Georgia Tech to a 1-under-par score of 287 and a tie for sixth place after the opening round of the Watersound Invitational.
Forrester and freshman Kale Fontenot each birdied the par-4 18th, a 460-yard par-4, at the Shark’s Tooth Golf Course to get the Yellow Jackets into red figures for the day, and they sit nine strokes off the pace set by third-ranked Vanderbilt.
Twelve teams are competing over 54 holes through Wednesday at the Watersound Resort in the fourth edition of the event. Seven of the 12 teams are ranked in the top 25 of the current Scoreboard NCAA Golf Ranking, and eight are listed among the top 50. The tournament resumes with the second round at 10 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday, and the final round will begin at 8:30 a.m. EST Wednesday.
TECH LINEUP – Forrester, a senior from Gainesville, Ga., played steady golf on the back nine with two birdies and no bogeys, smoothing out a round that included an eagle and three bogeys on the front. Lamprecht, a senior from George, South Africa, and the No. 2-ranked amateur in the world, birdied two holes and bogeyed one on the Shark’s Tooth course. They are tied for 15th place individually, five strokes off the lead.
Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) eagled the par-5 third hole and added a pair of birdies later in his round, but also made a triple bogey on his way to an even-par 72, and is tied for 25th place. Sophomore Hiroshi Tai (Singapore) provided the Yellow Jackets’ fourth counting score with a 1-over-par 73. Freshman Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) carded a 2-over-par 74 Monday.
Sophomore Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.), competing as an individual, played the course in even-par 72, also tied for 25th place.
Though the Yellow Jackets made three eagles on par-5 holes Monday, they played the par-5 holes only 3-under-par collectively.
Bartley Forrester closed his opening round with a birdie for a 1-under-par 71. (photo by Ross Obley)
TEAM LEADERBOARD – Four Vanderbilt players played under par Monday in leading the No. 3 Commodores to a 10-under-par score of 278 and a five-stroke lead over Clemson and No. 18 Mississippi State, who are tied at 5-under-par 283.
Notre Dame has fourth place at 4-under-par 284, followed by No. 10 Virginia at 2-under-par 286. The Yellow Jackets are tied with No. 11 Alabama at 1-under-par 287.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Four Vanderbilt players are among the top 14 players on the leaderboard, but Mississippi State’s Hunter Logan and Alabama’s Thomas Ponder led the field Monday by each posting 6-under-par 66. Vandy’s Gordon Sargent, the top-ranked amateur in the world, and Florida State’s Gray Albright shot 4-under-par 68 and are tied for third place.
The Commodores’ Jackson Van Paris and Wells Williams, Ohio State’s Neal Shipley and Clemson’s Jonathan Nielsen are tied for fifth place at 3-under-par 69. Vandy’s Matthew Reidel and five others are tied for ninth place at 2-under-par 70.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – Georgia Tech is in the Watersound Invitational for the fourth straight year, having finished one stroke behind Vanderbilt last February after winning the 2022 tournament by five strokes over Alabama. Christo Lamprecht tied for second place in last year’s event, with Ross Steelman and Hiroshi Tai also finishing in the top-10.
The tournament follows the traditional collegiate 54-hole, 5-count-4, stroke-play format, with 18 holes each Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The event is contested at Shark’s Tooth Golf Course, a venue measuring 7,246 yards (par 72) that served as the host for the ACC Championship in 2022.
The 12-team field includes six Atlantic Coast Conference teams in Clemson, No. 13 Florida State, No. 12 Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, NC State and No. 10 Virginia, as well as No. 11 Alabama, No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Mississippi State, No. 27 Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Penn.
Round 1 in Photos
Photos by Ross Obley
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.
