Hiroshi Tai (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photo)
Hiroshi Tai of Georgia Tech picked a good time to win his first tournament of the season.
Tai shot rounds of 67-77-70-71 to finish 3-under and hold off a handful of All-Americans and two 2023 Walker Cuppers to win the 2024 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Tai was the first-round leader after posting a 5-under 67. He started his first round on the back nine and birdied the par-5 10th. He turned to the front nine at 2-under and birdied holes No. 1, 2, 4, and 9 with a bogey on No. 5 to get into the clubhouse at 5-under.
He was never worse than T7 after each round. The sophomore from Singapore recorded 16 birdies and only one bogey during his final two rounds to hold off a handful of All-Americans and win by one stroke. The two-time PING All-East Region becomes the first Yellow Jacket to win the individual national championship since Troy Matteson in 2002.
“It means a lot to me,” said Tai of winning the individual championship. “All the guys on the team have really helped me a lot in my past two and a half years here now. That includes not just the six guys here but all the guys back home as well. They are the best friends in my life, and I am really grateful for the relationships I have been able to make because of coach (Bruce Heppler) and him having me here.”
There was a logjam of some of the top players in the collegiate golf game, with Tai just one shot back. Six golfers finished T2 at 2-under.
2023 Walker Cuppers Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt and Ben James of Virginia, 2024 Ben Hogan Award recipient Jackson Koivun of Auburn and Tyler Goecke of Illinois, Luke Clanton of Florida State, and Max Herendeen of Illinois all finished T2. James and Sargent each had birdie putts on No. 18, but both missed, giving Tai the win.
Sargent is currently ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.
Palmer Jackson of Notre Dame, Karl Vilips of Stanford, and Adam Wallin of Ohio State finished T8 at 1-under.
Wallin was the 54-hole leader and was 5-under through three rounds after bouncing back with a third-round 3-under 69 after a 2-over 74 in the second round.
Vilips entered the third round at 7-under with a five-shot lead, but a third-round 4-over 76 saw him fall to 3-under. Vilips is coming off an individual win at the final Pac-12 championships.
Christo Lamprecht of Georgia Tech, who is ranked No. 5 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings, was forced to exit their lineup due to a back injury after shooting a first-round 2-under 70.
Illinois earned the top seed in the match play portion after putting on a clinic over the 72 holes of stroke play, shooting 6-under with rounds of 293-287-282-284 and winning by 16 shots.
“We just continued our solid play from all week,” said Illinois head coach Mike Small after watching his team advance to match play at the NCAA Championships for the ninth time since the current format began in 2009, tying Oklahoma State for the most berths. ”We hit a little lull in the morning due to some frustrations and agitations from a couple things. We settled back down, (the team) did a good job of that and then they played solid through the back nine again. We are going to enjoy this for about 30 minutes and then figure this whole thing out. We are excited about it.”
Vanderbilt shot a final round of 1-over 289 to jump into solo second place at 10-over, and Virginia and North Carolina finished T3 at 11-over. Florida State finished in solo fifth place at 12-over, and Auburn finished in solo sixth place at 19-over. Ohio State finished in solo seventh place at 22-over, and Georgia Tech finished in solo eighth place at 25-over.
Oklahoma finished in solo ninth place at 26-over, missing the match play portion by one shot.
The No. 4 and No. 5 matchup between North Carolina and Florida State is rematch of the 2024 ACC men's championship final, where North Carolina won 3-2.
Quarterfinal matches
No. 1 Illinois vs. No. 8 Georgia Tech
No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. No. 7 Ohio State
No. 3 Virginia vs. No. 6 Auburn
No. 4 North Carolina vs. No. 5 Florida State
ABOUT THE NCAA Division I Championship
30 teams and 6 individuals not on a qualifying
team make up the field for the championship of
NCAA
Division I women's golf.
After 72 holes of stroke play, the individual
champion is crowned, and the low 8 teams advance
to
match play to determine the team champion.
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