May 30, 2001
Durham, N.C. – The second-ranked Georgia Tech men’s golf team was unable to find red figures as a team on Wednesday but is still in second place after 18 holes of play at the 2001 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships. The 72-hole event is being contested at the 7,088-yard, par-72 Duke University Golf Club in Durham, N.C.
The Yellow Jackets recorded just one sub-par round on the day, a career-best 6-under-par, 66 by Kris Mikkelsen and finished with a team round of 1-over-par 289 on the first day. Tech trails team leader Arizona, which was the only team under par as it fired a team round of 8-under-par, 280, by nine shots entering tomorrow?s second round of competition.
“We really won’t know how good our score is until the end of the day today, and maybe not until the end of the day tomorrow,” said Tech head coach Bruce Heppler. “I’m really proud of Kris for how he played today. It’s a been a long time coming for him and he showed that he certainly capable of playing that kind of golf.”
Mikkelsen was the top Jacket individual, following his outstanding round as he finished at 33-33-66, setting a new career best and missing the course record by just one shot. The 6-under-par score placed him in a tie for the tournament lead after the first round. He is tied with Chris Nallen of Arizona who finished at 33-33-66.
“I was hitting the ball pretty well on the range this morning and had worked really hard this past week on my putting,” said Mikkelsen following his round. “I felt really comfortable all day, and was confident in my swing and with how well I was reading the speed of the greens.”
The next Tech individual in the field is senior Bryce Molder, who finished with a score of 1-over-par 38-35-73 and is one of 15 players tied for 30th place. One shot behind Molder was sophomore Troy Matteson, who finished the round with a 2-over-par total of 38-36-74, and is part of a 20-player logjam in 46th place. Rounding out the Yellow Jacket individuals in the field were senior Wes Latimer and junior Matt Weibring, who carded matching rounds of 4-over-par 37-39?76 and are among 20 players in 96th place.
The Jackets will tee off for the second round on Thursday in threesomes with Augusta State and Stanford beginning at 12:18 p.m. Live scoring of the event is available at www.golfstat.com.
