Scottsdale, Ariz. – Connor Howe fired a 5-under-par 65, and Ross Steelman added a 4-under-par 66, each making a pair of late birdies to lift No. 3/4 Georgia Tech into 11th place after the opening round of the Maui Jim Intercollegiate.
In an 18-team field stacked with nine teams ranked in the pre-season top 30, the Yellow Jackets struggled on the front nine at the 7,118-yard, par-70 Mirabel Golf Club and could not find their footing until the final five holes, posting a 5-under-par round of 275.
Tech, which won this event last September at 44-under-par, is in the middle of the pack after 18 holes, but 17 strokes behind leader Auburn, which posted a 22-under-par 258. The second round of the 54-hole tournament gets underway at 11 a.m. Eastern time Saturday.
TECH LINEUP – Howe, a senior from Ogden, Utah, and Steelman, a senior from Columbia, Mo., played excellent rounds and recorded 12 birdies between them Friday. Howe was bogey-free with four birdies through his first 10 holes, matching the low round of his career, while Steelman had just one bogey against five birdies in his round. Howe is in a six-way tie for seventh place individually, while Steelman is tied for 13th.
The Yellow Jackets also counted a pair of 2-over-par 72s from senior Bartley Forrester and freshman Aidan Tran, while junior Christo Lamprecht was a non-counter Friday after carding a 75.
Howe and Steelman each birdied 17 and 18 Friday, while Forrester added another birdie at 17, lifting the Yellow Jackets from near the bottom of the field to 10th place.
Connor Howe tied his career low round with a 65 Friday at Mirabel Golf Club. (photo by Todd Drexler)
TEAM EVENT LEADERBOARD – Auburn’s No. 5 player, Ryan Eshleman, fired a 10-under-par 60 Friday, while the Tigers also counted a 64 from top player Carson Bacha and a 65 from Evan Vo in fashioning its 22-under round, and has a 10-stroke lead over Oregon, which shot 12-under-par 268, Washington and Tennessee posted rounds of 269 (-11) and are tied for third place.
Florida State (270, -10), Arizona State (271, -9), Wake Forest (272, -8), Arizona (273, -7), New Mexico and UCLA (each at 274, -6) round out the top 10 teams on the leaderboard in the 18-team field.
Eshleman became the 16th college golfer to shoot a 60 in competition, and took a three-stroke lead over Wake Forest’s Boyd Evans and Oregon’s Owen Avril, each with a 7-under-par 63. Bacha was one of three players to card 6-under-par 64s (tied for fourth), while Howe is one of six players are tied at 5-under-par 65 (tied for seventh).
Forty-six of the 90 players in the field are under par.
INDIVIDUAL EVENT LEADERBOARD – Wake Forest’s Andrew McLauchlan paced the 37-player individual event with an 8-under-par 64 at Desert Mountain’s Outlaw Course, two strokes ahead of Demon Deacon teammate Collin Adams and Arizona State’s Michael Mjaaseth, each with a 66 Friday.
Tech freshman Hiroshi Tai carded a 4-under-par 68 and is tied for ninth place, while junior Aidan Kramer posted a 3-over-par 75 (tied for 25th) and junior Adam Bratton an 11-over-par 83 (37th place).
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION – The Yellow Jackets are competing in the Maui Jim Intercollegiate for the fifth time, having won the tournament in 2018 and 2021 following finishes of sixth and second the two years prior. Georgia State hosts the 18-team event, which is 54 holes concluding Sunday. The team event is being played at Mirabel Golf Club, a 7,118-yard, par-70 layout in Scottsdale, Ariz., in the same vicinity as Grayhawk Golf Club, site of the NCAA Championship last spring and in each of the next two years.
A companion 54-hole event for individuals not in their teams’ starting lineups is being staged concurrently at the Outlaw Course at Desert Mountain. Three Tech players will participate in the individual competition, which concludes Saturday with 36 holes.
Participating teams include Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, Clemson, East Tennessee State, Florida State, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, New Mexico, NC State, Oregon, San Diego State, Tennessee, UCLA, UNLV, Washington and Wake Forest. Georgia Tech (3), Arizona State (5), Tennessee (10), Florida State (11), Wake Forest (24), Oregon (26), East Tennessee State (27) and Washington (30) are all listed among Golf channel’s pre-season top 30 teams.
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 28th year under head coach Bruce Heppler, winning 70 tournaments in his tenure. The Yellow Jackets have won 18 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 31 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.
