Carlsbad, Ca. – Georgia Tech fell to Wake Forest by a single stroke Monday morning in their playoff for the right to advance to Monday’s final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship, but due to their standing on the leaderboard after 54 holes, Hiroshi Tai and Carson Kim were among the nine individuals who advanced.
Tai, tied for 14th place after 54 holes (1-under-par 215), shot s 73 (+1) in the final round and finished in a tie for 18th place. The junior from Singapore returned to form in the post-season after struggling most of the year, tying for seventh place at the Auburn Regional prior to coming out to the Omni LaCosta Resort & Spa.
Kim, tied for 22nd place (1-over-par 217) after three rounds, carded a 75 (+3) Monday to tie for 38th place. The junior from nearby Yorba Linda, Calif., also came on late in the spring, tie for 10th place at the Ford Collegiate and 18th at the Auburn Regional.
Only once before has a Tech individual has advanced to the final round but the team did not – Cameron Tringale tied for eighth place in 2006 in Sunriver, Ore.
In the playoff Monday morning, Wake won three holes with birdies, while Kim and sophomore Kale Fontenot (Lafayette, La.) won their holes with birdies. Tech had won a similar playoff vs. TCU to survive the 54-hole cut in 2021 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Michael LaSasso of Ole Miss held on to his 54-hole lead by shooting 72 Monday and won the individual title by two strokes over Phichaksn Malchon of Texas A&M. LaSasso finished the championship at 11-under-par 277.
Arizona State (-14) finished atop the team leaderboard and earned the top seed for match play beginning Tuesday. Also advancing were top-ranked Auburn (-12), Florida (-9), Oklahoma State (-1), Oklahoma (even), Texas (+5), Virginia (+9) and Ole Miss (+11).