Playing with staggering effectiveness, the Georgia Tech golf team smashed a team record en route to winning its NCAA regional Wednesday in Salem, South Carolina.
The Yellow Jackets finished the 54-hole event with a 53-under-par 811 to win the event by eight strokes over Arkansas. Both the stroke total and the score in relation to par were the best ever for a Yellow Jackets team in an NCAA regional, improving upon the 818 that Tech scored in its 2019 regional in Pullman, Washington, and the 27-under score attained in the 2014 regional in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The 811 scored by the five-man team of Christo Lamprecht, Ross Steelman, Connor Howe, Hiroshi Tai and Bartley Forrester was the fourth-lowest total for any 54-hole tournament in team history. The 53-under-par score was the third-lowest score in relation to par. It was the Jackets’ seventh regional title all-time.
Tech advances to the NCAA championships May 26-31 in Tucson, Arizona. After not winning an event the entire season, the Jackets have won their two postseason tournaments, the ACC championship and this week’s regional.
The course and conditions were factors in the Jackets playing so far under par. Second-place Arkansas broke its school records for lowest 54-hole total and score in relation to par. Third-place North Carolina also approached school records with its performance.
New Mexico and Texas A&M also advanced out of the 14-team regional, the Aggies in a playoff against Clemson.
Tech’s top individual finishers were Howe and Lamprecht, who tied for third at 14-under 202, three strokes behind winner Ryan Burnett of North Carolina. Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett, the celebrated low amateur at the Masters, finished in a tie for eighth at 11-under par.
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