Cardinal come back to win Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate
Sunday's final round of the Golf Club of Georgia Intercollegiate had all the makings of a southern shootout between Georgia Tech and Tennessee until a group of northerners crashed the party.
Stanford fired the best round of the day, an 8-under 280 and finished at 23-under 841 for the event, nipping Georgia Tech and Pepperdine by a single stroke to take home its second team title of the fall.
Tennessee, which had closed to within three of the lead following its 16-under round on Saturday, stumbled to 4-over 292 on Sunday to fall out of contention, ultimately finishing fourth at 14-under 850.
The Cardinal made up most of its ground on the inward nine where it was 9-under on the closing holes.
Hiroshi Tai Michael Thorbjornsen, who tied for third at 11-under and just two strokes behind medalist Hiroshi Tai of Georgia Tech, birdied four of the final five holes to finish with a 5-under 67 while Karl Vilips played his final 11 holes at 4-under to finish even for the day.
The Cardinal also counted a 4-under 68 from fifth-year senior Ethan Ng, who was 3-under over his final 12 holes to tie for 10th at 5-under.
The win is Stanford's second victory of the spring, following its win at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational in September.
Tai shot a 3-under-par 69 to finish off a hard-fought wire-to-wire victory, but it didn't come easy.
The freshman from Singapore was 5-under on his round through 11 holes to get to 15-under for the tournament, but he bogeyed three of the next five holes to fall back into a tie for the lead. He regained the outright lead by rolling in an 18-foot birdie putt of 17 and sealed the win with a two-putt par on the last to finish at 13-under 203, one stroke clear of Kelly Chinn of Duke, who fired the day’s best round with a 6-under-par 66.
ABOUT THE
Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate
The United States Collegiate Championship,
hosted by Georgia Tech, annually brings 15 of
the nation's top college teams to The Golf Club
of Georgia for a three-day, 54-hole
tournament
that has been called "the Masters of college
golf.” Started in 2006, the USCC offers PGA
Tour-type, championship conditions for the
nation's finest college players, including a
personal caddie for all three rounds. Long
pants
are required and galleries are able to walk in
the
fairways behind the players, similar to the
Walker Cup. The USCC crowns a Team
Champion
and Individual Champion and honors them on
the
perpetual mahogany, gold and crystal USCC
Trophy, which sits in The Golf Club of Georgia
lobby.
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