Waimea, Hawai’i – Ross Steelman shot a 3-under-par 69, and Benjamin Reuter added a 1-under-par 71, while Georgia Tech posted a 4-under-par 284 Friday and holds seventh place after 36 holes of the Amer Ari Intercollegiate.
In a 19-team field with eight teams among the nation’s top 25, the Jackets have a 36-hole total of 18-under-par 558 but lost considerable ground to the leaders in round 2. Tech will begin the final round, a shotgun at 12:30 p.m. EST Saturday, 18 strokes behind leader Texas Tech.
TECH LINEUP – Steelman fired his second straight 69 Friday and is low Yellow Jacket through 36 holes, sitting in a tie for 21st place at 6-under-par 138. The senior from Columbia, Mo., started hot with a birdie on the eighth hole and an eagle on the ninth, his third and fourth holes of the day, and added birdies at 14 and 16 to get to 5-under-par for the round before dropping two strokes over his last seven holes.
Reuter, a freshman from Naarden, The Netherlands, followed his opening 68 with a four-birdie, three-bogey 71 Friday, while sophomore Christo Lamprecht (George, South Africa) carded an even-par 72. They are tied for 28th place at 5-under-par 139.
Junior Bartley Forrester (Gainesville, Ga.) also shot even-par 72 Friday and is tied for 47th place at 142 (-2). Senior Connor Howe (Ogden, Utah) did not count for Tech Friday after posting a 74. He is tied for 60th place at even-par 144.
Senior Ben Smith (Novi, Mich.), competing as an individual, posted his second straight 1-under-par 71 and is tied for 47th place (142, -2) in the 115-player field.
Ross Steelman carded his second straight 69 Friday and is tied for 21st place. (photo by Todd Drexler)
TEAM LEADERBOARD – Texas Tech had the hot hand in round 2 with all five players under 70 for the day, led by individual leader Baard Skogen’s 7-under-par 65, and the Red Raiders blistered the Hapuna Golf Course for a 21-under-par round of 267. Their two-round score of 540 (-36) is one stroke ahead of first-round leader and No. 3-ranked Arizona State (541, -35).
No. Washington is in third place, five strokes off the lead at 30-under-par 546, with defending NCAA champion Pepperdine (548, -28) and No. 4 Oklahoma State (550, -26) rounding out the top five on the leaderboard.
North Carolina slipped ahead into sixth place at 553 (-23), followed by the Yellow Jackets at 558 (-18). UCLA (559, -17) is in eighth place, with No. 8 Texas in ninth (563, -13). No. 7 Stanford, San Jose State and No. 18 Auburn are tied for 10th place at 567 (-9).
Fifteen of the nineteen teams in the field are under par through 36 holes, while eight of the top nine teams on the leaderboard posted scores for Friday’s round that were double digits under par.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD – Texas Tech’s Skogen, with a 36-hole score of 131 (-13), has a two-shot lead over Preston Summerhays of Arizona State (133, -11). Skogen and Pepperdine’s William Mouw posted the day’s low round of 7-under 65, while Summerhays carded a 5-under 67.
Five players – North Carolina’s David Ford, Pepperdine’s Dylan Menante, Washington’s R.J. Manke, Auburn’s Austin Coggin and Arizona State’s Mason Anderson – are tied for third place at 134 (-10). Another four players – Mouw, Rayhan Thomas and Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra of Oklahoma State and Garrett Martin of Texas Tech – are tied for eighth place at 9-under 135.
In all, 59 of the tournament’s 115 players are under par through 36 holes.
"We found the lava a little too much today. It seems like when one has a tough round they all do. The teams ahead of us are all really good and experienced, and they made a lot of birdies today. That’s what we need to do to compete, and hopefully we can follow suit tomorrow."
Head coach Bruce Heppler
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – Georgia Tech has played in the Amer Ari Intercollegiate every year since 1999. The 31st annual event, which runs Thursday through Saturday, is a traditional collegiate 54-hole, 5-count-4 stroke-play tournament. The event this year is being contested on Hapuna Golf Course in Waimea (6,875 yards, par 72).
The Yellow Jackets have won this event five times, all between 2000 and 2007, and six Yellow Jackets have won or shared the individual title, including Matt Kuchar (shared title in 2000 and 2001), Carlton Forrester (shared title in 2000), Bryce Molder (shared title in 2001), Troy Matteson (2003) and Cameron Tringale (2007). Tech tied for third place last year in a reduced nine-team field.
The field includes (with Golfstat ranking) No. 3 Arizona State, No. 18 Auburn, Colorado, No. 20 Georgia Tech, Hawai’i, No. 4 Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Pacific, No. 6 Pepperdine, San Jose State, No. 7 Stanford, No. 8 Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, UC Davis, UCLA, UH Hilo and No. 21 Washington.
Ben Smith has posted a pair of 71s and is tied for 47th place at 2-under-par 142. (photo by Todd Drexler)
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets 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 27th year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 67 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 18 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 29 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up four 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.
