Former Windermere Prep golfer wins individual NCAA national championship

Former Windermere Prep golfer, and now Georgia Tech sophomore, Hiroshi Tai overcame a three-stroke deficit at the start of Round 4 of the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship to claim the individual national title on the North Course at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in California. 

Tai’s final score of 285 (-3) was enough to edge out six other golfers by a single stroke in a painstaking manner. After finishing his final round, which included a triple-bogey on 17, Tai had to watch the remaining groups fight to reach his final score. 

Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent and Virginia’s Ben James, who were in the tournament’s final grouping, both missed birdie putts that could have won either of them the title on the last hole of the championship. Sargent’s missed putt — which confirmed Tai’s title — hit the edge of the hole and came out.