Eddy Lai of UCLA shared the individual title and Pepperdine finished second behind team champion Duke in the in the The Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate https://golfclubofgeorgia.com on the Lakeside Course in Alpharetta, Ga.
Lai (pictured), a junior from San Jose who played at Bellarmine Prep, earned his first college title by posting a score of 72-69-68—209, 7-under-par, to tie for first with William Paysse of Texas A&M, who finished at 67-72-70—209.
“I was pretty mad after round one because I didn’t really capitalize on the easy conditions,” said Lai, whose closing 4-under 68 tied for low round of the day. “The second round was very rainy, windy and cold, and I felt like I used the weather to my advantage.
“ … After the second round, I knew I had never been in this spot before, so I thought I might as well try to win (the tournament).”
Added UCLA Coach Derek Freeman: “I couldn’t be more excited about (Lai’s) win in one of the best fields of the entire year. He was just super patient at a very difficult golf course.”
Kaito Onishi of USC shot 70-73-68—211 to tie for third with Mark Power of Wake Forest, who finished at 68-75-68—211, while Tyler Strafaci of Georgia Tech was fifth at 73-71-68—212, followed by Evan Katz of Duke at 70-71-72—213.
Ryan Gerard of North Carolina totaled 69-73-72—214 to tie for seventh with Adrien Pendaries of Duke, who wound up at 69-71-74—214, while Alex Fitzpatrick of Wake Forest shot 76-70-69—215 to tie for ninth with Steven DiLisio of Duke, who came in at 71-72-72—215.
William Mouw led Pepperdine in a tie for 11th at 69-76-71—216, while Ethan Ng of Stanford totaled 73-76-70—219 to finished in a tie for 24th that include his Cardinal teammate Nate Menon, who wound up at 73-76-70—219.
Duke captured the team title with a score of 284-291-287—862, 2-under, followed by Pepperdine 276-307-281—864, Texas A&M at 286-292-287—865, Wake Forest at 289-296-283—868, and UCLA at 285-295-292—872.
“There were a lot of good teams out here; they’re all highly ranked and it’s always a terrific field that comes here,” Duke Coach Jamie Green said. “That’s a testament to the type of tournament Georgia Tech runs and a great golf course.
“I was pleased and proud of our guys. It was something that has been building for us, so it was nice for our guys to see the reward and be able to take the trophy home.”
Defending national champion Stanford was sixth at 283-303-287—873, while North Carolina totaled 285-303-286—874 to tie for seventh with Clemson, which wound up at 294-294-286—874, and Tennessee, which finished at 294-294-286—874.
Georgia Tech was 10th at 290-301-284—875, followed by USC at 289-303-288—880.
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