Panama City Beach, Fla. – Led by Hiroshi Tai’s 6-under-par 66 and a 68 from Bartley Forrester, Georgia Tech posted the best team score in Wednesday’s final round (a 12-under-par 276) and tied for second place at the Watersound Invitational.
Christo Lamprecht, whose second-round 65 vaulted him into the 36-hole lead, shot 1-under-par 71 Wednesday and finished second by one stroke to Florida State’s Gray Albright, finishing as the runner-up here for the second consecutive year. The senior from George, South Africa was unable to capture his fourth career tournament victory and third this year, but did log his 15th career top-5 finish.
Against a field in which 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, Georgia Tech posted its second runner-up finish of the 2032-24 academic year. The Yellow Jackets return to action March 4-5 with the Lamkin Invitational in Chula Vista, Calif.
TECH LINEUP – Three Yellow Jackets finished among the top 13 individuals. Lamprecht took solo second place with a 9-under-par total of 207, while Tai (6-under-par 210) tied for seventh place for his best finish this year and fifth top-10 of his career, and freshman Kale Fontenot (4-under-par 212) tied for 14th despite not counting for Tech Wednesday after carding a 1-over-par 73.
Tai’s 66 matched the low round of the day. The sophomore from Singapore had just one bogey and recorded five birdies and an eagle to post his second top-10 finish in two tries at the Shark’s Tooth Golf Club. Lamprecht gave up his lead after playing the front nine 1-over-par, rallied on the back nine with three birdies but came up one stroke short of winning.
Bartley Forrester rebounded from a 79 Tuesday to post his best round of the tournament. After a bogey-free front nine with two birdies, the senior from Gainesville, Ga., strung together four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back side. He tied for 37th place with a 2-over-par 218.
Freshman Carson Kim (Yorba Linda, Calif.) delivered a 1-under-par 71 for Tech’s fourth counting score Wednesday and tied for 56th place.
Sophomore Aidan Tran (Fresno, Calif.), competing as an individual, shot 70 Wednesday and tied for 37th place.
Christo Lamprecht finished as the runner-up for the second straight year at the Watersound Invitational. (photo by Ross Obley)
TEAM LEADERBOARD – Vanderbilt, with four players in the top 13 individually, shot 8-under-par 280 Wednesday and cruised to a wire-to-wire nine-stroke victory over Tech and Florida State. The third-ranked Commodores won this event for the second straight year with a score of 835 (-29), while the No. 12 Yellow Jackets and No. 13 Seminoles tied at 20-under-par 844.
No. 10 Virginia slid to fourth place at 15-under-par 849, followed by Oklahoma State at 10-under-par 854. Clemson, which had challenged Vanderbilt through the first two rounds, shot 6-over-par and tumbled to a sixth-place finish.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD –Florida State’s Gray Albright, competing as an individual, scored the one-stroke win posting a 68 Wednesday and a 10-under-par 206 for the tournament. Vandy’s Gordon Sargent and Tech’s Christo Lamprecht, who are ranked No. 1-2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, tied for second place at 207 (-9).
Alabama’s Thomas Ponder took solo fourth place at 208 (-8), followed by Cole Sherwood of Vanderbilt and Cole Anderson of Florida State at 209 (-7). Tech’s Hiroshi Tai and four others tied for seventh place at 210 (-6).
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – Georgia Tech competed 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 3 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.
