Alpharetta, Ga. – Connor Howe and Hiroshi Tai each won two individual matches Saturday, while Christo Lamprecht, Bartley Forrester, Ross Steelman and Aidan Tran each won one as 12th-ranked Georgia Tech scored a 5-3 victory over No. 26 Ohio State and tied No. 84 Charlotte, 3-3, at the Golf Club of Georgia.
The Yellow Jackets played the 49ers in a six-player match and the Buckeyes in an eight-player contest at the Creekside course at Tech’s home club as the three teams made their final tune-ups for upcoming conference championship tournaments. Tech rebounded from the morning tie with Charlotte to bounce Ohio State in the afternoon.
The Jackets return to action April 21-24 at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship in Pinehurst, N.C.
GEORGIA TECH 3, CHARLOTTE 3 – Tech rallied for the tie with the 49ers after its first two players out dropped their matches, and Steelman forged the tie by taking a 1-up victory over Ben Woodruff after he trailed by two holes. Howe and Tai, the fourth and fifth Yellow Jackets to tee off, took control of their matches early to score Tech’s first points. Howe, a senior from Ogden Utah, lost only one hole in his 4 & 3 victory over Carson Ownbey, and broke a tie after six holes by winning 7, 8 and 9 in succession, then went 4-up at the 12th and closed out Ownbey at 15. Tai, a freshman from Singapore, took the lead for good at the seventh hole of his match against Caden Baker and finished off a 3 & 1 win at the 17th.
Lamprecht, a junior from George, South Africa, never led after winning the first hole against Dongjin Park and suffered a 3 & 2 defeat, while Forrester succumbed 1-up to Conor Gough, putting the Jackets in an 0-2 hole. Benjamin Reuter took a 3 & 1 loss to Tanner Guthrie, leaving Tech behind 2-3 before Steelman rallied for his win at the end.
GEORGIA TECH 5, OHIO STATE 3 – Forrester and Tai gave the Yellow Jackets control of the afternoon match, never trailing on the way to easy victories. Forrester, a senior from Gainesville, Ga., was the fourth player out for Tech and rebounded from a close morning loss to dispatch Jonerik Alford, 4 & 3. Tai completed a personal sweep on the day with a 6 & 5 win over Jackson Chandler in the sixth match.
Freshman Aidan Tran, first out for Tech, helped set the tone with a 3 & 1 triumph over Joe Wilson, and Lamprecht gave the Jackets their fourth win of the match with a 3 & 1 decision over Maxwell Moldovan. Howe, down two holes early in his match, delivered the clinching fifth point with a 2 & 1 win over Neal Shipley.
Senior Andy Mao fell to Tyler Groomes, 4 & 3, while Steelman took a 2 & 1 loss to Adam Wallin, and Reuter was defeated by Patrick Schmuecking, 5 & 4.
EVENT INFORMATION – With a competition date available under NCAA limits and three weeks between its last tournament and the ACC Championship next week, Tech arranged Saturday’s matches to give the Yellow Jackets two rounds of competition in preparation for the conference championship. The matches were played at the Creekside course (7,005 yards, par 72) at the Golf Club of Georgia. Charlotte is No. 84 in the current Golfstat rankings, Ohio State is No. 26.
Tech has an all-time record of 22-11-1 in regular-season match play competition. The Jackets played one match earlier in the spring, a 4-1-1 loss to Texas in the ACC/Big 12 Showdown that was put together in Hawai’i when the Amer Ari Intercollegiate was cancelled due to extremely high winds.
In both the ACC Championship and NCAA Championship, the top finishers in the stroke play tournament compete at match play to determine the champion. The top four teams advance to match play after 54 holes of stroke play at the ACC Championship, and the top eight teams face off after 72 holes of stroke play at the NCAA Championship.