Georgia Tech golf coach Bruce Heppler bragged on his Yellow Jackets on Wednesday, saying “It’s great to know when you’re out there that everybody’s in the game.”
Everyone was in the game again Thursday as the Yellow Jackets shot a 2-under-par 286 — unspectacular, but given Tech’s third-place position starting the third round of the NCAA Championship, there was no need to chase birdies around The Honors Course.
Click here to view a hole by hole guide of The Honors Course
Georgia Tech held its place and made the top eight rather comfortably to advance to today’s match-play round. The Jackets’ score of 6-under 858 was eight strokes back of leader Oklahoma State.
“There’s no comfortable here,” Heppler said Wednesday.
How about when four of your five players birdie No. 1 to start their rounds, as the Yellow Jackets did Thursday?
“There’s just holes that you need to take advantage of because there are so many hard ones,” Heppler said.
James White was the lone Tech player not to birdie No. 1, but he shot his second straight even-par round. The first Tech player to tee off Thursday, he didn’t believe the scoreboard when he first saw it.
“I got to No. 3 and it said, ‘Georgia Tech, 4 under for the day and 8 under for the tournament,’ and I said, ‘That’s wrong. No way. That can’t be right. There’s no way,'” he said. “Apparently it was.”
As the No. 3 seed in match play, Georgia Tech will face No. 6 Augusta State (863) in today’s quarterfinal.
Wednesday, all five Tech players were sharp, with two shooting 3 under and three at even par.
“To know that anybody in your lineup can turn it on and shoot under par in any week, it takes a lot of pressure off,” White said.
Paul Haley was near the top of the individual leaderboard to start the day after rounds of 70-69, but three front-nine bogeys Thursday took him out of contention for medalist honors. He finished with a 1-over 73. Chesson Hadley led Tech on Thursday with a 3-under 69.
All the Atlantic Coast Conference champions had to do Thursday was avoid calamity and catastrophe. The odds were against the Jackets catching second-round leader Florida State at the top of the leaderboard, and it would have taken a major meltdown for Tech to fall out of the top eight.
White said Tech’s position entering Thursday’s round didn’t change how he played, but it did make him a bit less stressed.
“I certainly teed off with a little less nerves, just knowing that I didn’t have to go do something,” he said. “I just needed fairways and greens.”
The Yellow Jackets’ round was a bumpier ride than that, with some mid-round stumbles, but the end result was the same.
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