Several Division 1 Georgia colleges hosted tournaments in mid-March, with the Georgia women’s team winning one in Augusta and the Bulldogs’ men’s team taking second in a pair of events in Athens and at Lake Oconee.
Also placing second was Georgia Southern in an event it hosts annually in Statesboro.
Georgia Tech ventured into neighboring states for a pair of tournaments and won one of them in Myrtle Beach.
The Georgia women’s team won the 3M Invitational at Forest Hills in Augusta, with the host Jaguars tying for second with Purdue.
A 7-under 281 the first day propelled the Lady Bulldogs to a 12-shot lead and they wound up winning by nine with an even par total of 864.Georgia’s Jillian Hollis earned medalist honors with scores of 66-73-69—208, 8-under par and three shots ahead of second place.
Gaby Coello was 14th at 219, with Roswell’s Rinko Mitsunaga tying for 15th at 220 with scores of 74-73-73. Isabella Skinner of Cumming tied for 22nd at 223, opening with a 2-under-70. Bailey Tardy of Peachtree Corners, one of the team’s top players the past two seasons, has seen limited action this spring due to an injury.
Augusta tied for second at 873, with Linda Lundquist tying for third individually at 212 after a final round 69. Maggie Ashmore of Kingston closed with a 68 to tie for 12th at 218.
The Augusta men’s team will host a tournament at Forest Hills the weekend before the Masters.
The Georgia men battled Alabama, one of the top teams in the country, to the final hole before finishing second in the annual Linger Longer Invitational at Great Waters with a score of 22-under 842, two behind the Crimson Tide.
Alabama shot 840 to take the title, carding a 7-under 281 the final day to erase a 1-shot Georgia lead after 36 holes. Alabama was led by Lee Hodges, who earned medalist honors with a 14-under 202 total.
Georgia’s Spencer Ralston, a sophomore from Gainesville, was second at 204 with scores of 65-72-67. Freshman Davis Thompson of St. Simons Island opened with a 9-under 63 to tie a Georgia record, and followed with a 69 before falling back the final day with a 74 to tie for third at 206.
Trevor Phillips tied for 13th at 214, with senior Zach Healy of Peachtree Corners was T25 at 218. Georgia’s fifth player in the lineup did not produce a counting score. Junior David Mackey of Bogart, competing as an individual, shot 70 the first day, and if he had been in the lineup, Georgia would have cut four shots off its score and finished ahead of Alabama. Mackey tied for 32nd at 219, with teammate Will Chandler of Atlanta, also competing as an individual, T25 at 218.
Augusta was seventh at 867, with freshman Alex Shead of Appling tying for 10th at 213 and Broc Everett T13 at 214. Kennesaw State was eighth at 874, led by Wyatt Larkin of Morganton, who closed with a 67 to tie for sixth at 211. Jake Fendt of Cumming shot 68 in the final round and tied for 10th at 213. Stanton Schorr of Columbus was low man for Mercer, tying for 25th at 218.
Michigan’s Kyle Mueller, a senior from Athens, shot 68-70-73 to tie for sixth at 211. Marcus Byrd of Dunwoody, a junior at Middle Tennessee, tied for 10th at 213, and Duluth’s Charles Huntzinger helped Penn State place third, tying for 17th at 215.
The Bulldogs hosted the Southern Intercollegiate the week before the Linger Longer event, and tied for second with Kennesaw State behind tournament winner Arkansas.
The Razorbacks won the one-day event by a whopping 17 shots with a 9-under score of 567. Kennesaw State and Georgia tied at 584.
The Bulldogs were led by Ralston, who tied for sixth at 144 with scores of 74-70. Healy tied for 10th at 74-71—145, and Thompson was T13 at 74-72—146. The Bulldogs struggled in the opening round with a score of 298, but shot 2-under 286 in the afternoon round. Mackey, playing with Georgia’s “B” team, tied for 16th at 147.
Larkin tied for fourth for Kennesaw at 143, with Fendt and Peachtree City’s Connor Coffee T13 at 146.
Georgia Southern finished second in the Chris Schenkel Invitational played at Forest Heights in Statesboro, posting a 21-under 843 total to finish eight shots behind Vanderbilt’s winning score. The Eagles fell 15 shots off the lead after an opening 289, but shot 276 and 278 the next two days to cut into Vanderbilt’s lead.
Jake Storey and Archer Price were low for Southern, tying for second at 205. Storey shot 70-68-67 and Price posted scores of 67-69-69, with both finishing two behind the winner from Vanderbilt. Steven Fisk of Stockbridge shot 73-67-68—208 to tie for seventh for the Eagles at 208. Brett Barron of Cumming shot 72 in the second round, but that was the only significant contribution Southern got from its No. 4 and 5 players.
Competing as individuals, the Georgia Southern trio of Jonas Vaisanen, Lawrenceville’s Jacob Bayer and Atlanta’s Alexander DeRosa combined for seven scores of par or better, with Bayer closing with scores of 71-69.
Georgia Tech scored its third victory of the 2017-18 season in Myrtle Beach, shooting 16-under 848 in the General Hackler Championship at the Dunes. The Yellow Jackets posted scores of 283-284-281 to win by five shots.
Senior Chris Petefish and freshman Noah Norton finished 1-2 for Tech, with Petefish shooting 72-68-69 to earn medalist honors at 209 and Norton tying for second at 211 with scores of 70-72-69. Andy Ogletree tied for 15th at 215 with an opening 71 and a final round 69, and sophomore Luke Schniederjans of Powder Springs shot 71-69 the first two rounds.
Tech placed fourth the next week in the Valspar Collegiate in Palm City, Fla., shooting even par 852 to finish 12 shots behind Oklahoma State. Norton and Ogletree tied for 13th at 213, with Schniederjans T18 at 214 after opening with a 68. Sophomore Ty Strafaci, who competed the previous week in the PGA Tour event in Tampa, tied for 23rd at 215, with Petefish T31 at 217.