CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — Georgia Tech sophomore Hiroshi Tai made a triple bogey on the 17th hole but made par on the final hole to shoot a 1-under 71 and win the NCAA men's golf championship on Monday at La Costa.
This put the Yellow Jackets narrowly into joining eight teams that will advance to match play for the team title.
Tai became the fourth Georgia Tech athlete to win an NCAA individual title and the first since Troy Mattson in 2002. With this victory, Tai has qualified for next year's Masters.
Tai, who served two years in the Singaporean Navy before enrolling at Georgia Tech, shot 3-under 285 to beat five players by one stroke.
Last year's NCAA champion, Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt University, and Virginia's Ben James were the final two players with a chance to force a playoff after birdieing the par-5 18th hole.
Both opted to hit with a 3-wood to avoid the water on the left, but neither had a chance of reaching the green. Sargent was in deep rough but was lucky to get a free drop as his feet were in the path of the cart.
James missed a 15-foot birdie for a score of 73. Sargent hit a wedge and spun down the slope to 6 feet. His birdie hooked the left edge of the cup and spun out. He finished with 72.
Tye had finished his round nearly two hours earlier and had led by four strokes earlier in the day, but nearly lost it on the penultimate hole, the par-3 eighth, when he hit the ball from a poorly placed bunker well over the green and ended up with a triple bogey.
“I still have one more hole to play and I have to give it my all for my team,” Tye said.
He spent some time in the clubhouse going over Tech's chances at No. 8, then headed to the practice field to prepare for a playoff run that never materialized.
Illinois State's Tyler Goecke, Florida State's Luke Clanton and Auburn's Jackson Coyvan, who won the Ben Hogan Award as the nation's best collegiate golfer, each shot 71 to tie for second place.
After the par-4 ninth hole, Koiven hit his approach about 10 feet back of the hole for a birdie chance, but the ball hit the top of the flagstick and bounced into the bunker ahead. He hit it to within a foot and tapped in for par.
Other individual champions from Georgia Tech were Mattson, Charlie Yates (1934) and Watts Gunn (1927).
“It's great to add my name to that list,” Tye said.
Georgia Tech beat a rising Oklahoma State by one stroke to become the No. 8 seed after Ryder Cowan double-bogeyed the 18th hole and Jace Sammy also bogeyed. Florida was also seeded No. 8 until John Dubois bogeyed two of the final three holes and Ian Gilligan bogeyed three of the final four holes.
Illinois is the top seed in match play and will open the tournament against the Yellow Jackets. Other teams that qualified are Vanderbilt, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida State, Auburn and Ohio State.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Tuesday, with the final on Wednesday.
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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Associated Press
