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| Mooke DeMoss, Joey Garber, Lee McCoy, Nicholas Reach, Coach Jim Douglas, Michael Cromie and Coach Chris Haack receive their trophies for winning the Dick's Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup. |
The No. 8 Georgia men's golf team won the inaugural Dick's Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup on Saturday, giving Coach Chris Haack the 50th victory of his career.
Haack, who is in his 18th season, has led the Bulldogs to at least one win in 15 years, including the 1999 and 2005 national championships and seven SEC titles. He extended his own school record for most victories by a Georgia golf coach.
"I am extremely humbled to reach a milestone like this," Haack said. "It means a lot to bring this recognition to Georgia. I can't help but think about all the fantastic players we've had through the years who helped get us to this point. I've also been blessed to have great assistants in Jim Douglas, Ryan Hybl and Jason Payne, who did such a tremendous job with recruiting and coaching. I know my name gets written down with this, but this is truly a team effort. It's something that I share with all of them."
On Saturday, the Bulldogs fired a 10-under 274 to wind up at 20-under 832, five shots clear of Texas A&M.
Senior Joey Garber came in second individually at 9-under 204, seven shots behind Texas A&M's Ben Crancer. Sophomore Lee McCoy placed fifth at 3-under 210, followed by senior Michael Cromie in eighth at 2-under 211, junior Mookie DeMoss in 15th at 2-over 215 and junior Nicholas Reach at 5-over 218.
The Bulldogs then helped the SEC pick up the conference title in an SEC vs. ACC match play tournament. Georgia went 5-0 against Clemson as the SEC picked up a 17-8 decision.
For more on the tournament, click here and here.
The Bulldogs then helped the SEC pick up the conference title in an SEC vs. ACC match play tournament. Georgia went 5-0 against Clemson as the SEC picked up a 17-8 decision.
For more on the tournament, click here and here.
• Congratulations are in order for Russell Henley, who has been named as one of the four finalists for the PGA TOUR's Rookie of the Year Award. Henley won the season-opening Sony Open in his first start as a PGA TOUR member and notched three top-10 finishes in 24 events. He placed 33rd on the money list and finished 44th in the FedExCup. The other candidates are Derek Ernst, David Lingmerth and Jordan Spieth.
• The Web.com Tour Championship will be held Thursday through Sunday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Kevin Kisner and Brendon Todd secured their PGA TOUR cards for next season by finishing in the top 25 among the regular-season money leaders. Hudson Swafford is 10th in the standings in the Web.com Tour Finals and also will pick up a 2014 TOUR card.
Kisner, Swafford and Todd will be joined by Justin Bolli and Scott Parel this weekend in the Web.com Tour Championship. Bolli is the tournament's defending champion.
• David Boyd, an All-America performer for the Georgia golf team and one of the program’s most ardent supporters, has been chosen as the 2013 recipient of the Bill Hartman Award.
Boyd will be recognized at Saturday's Georgia-LSU football game and will receive the award during the Circle of Honor Gala on Friday, April 11, 2014.
Named for the late Bill Hartman, Georgia's long-time kicking coach and chairman of the Georgia Student Educational Fund, the Hartman Award is one of the highest honors given to a former UGA student-athlete. The Hartman Award has been presented annually since 1992 and recognizes former Georgia student-athletes who have demonstrated excellence in their profession and/or in service to others by 20 or more years of superior performance after graduation. Only former varsity athletes who have received a baccalaureate degree from Georgia can be considered for the award.
“I am honored to receive this award, especially since it bears the name of a great man in Coach Hartman,” Boyd said. “I got to know him very well when I was at Georgia. He was just so nice to me when I came to Athens. He was a great friend of my father’s and he became a great friend of mine. This means an awful lot to me having his name on it.”
A native of Jacksonville, Boyd claimed SEC medalist honors in 1962 and becoming only the third player in school history at that time to garner First-Team All-America status. Under Hall of Fame coach Howell Hollis, Boyd helped the Bulldogs win league titles in 1961, 1962 and 1963. Boyd also earned Second-Team All-America honors in 1961 and served as team captain in 1962.
After graduation and throughout his insurance career, Boyd remained close to the Georgia program. It was not unusual for Boyd to be in attendance at a tournament in which the Bulldogs were playing. In the summer of 1996, Boyd spearheaded a major fund-raising drive — launching it with a major gift of his own — and Georgia’s golfers reaped the rewards. In the fall of 1998, the Bulldogs and the Lady Bulldogs started honing their games on a state-of-the-art practice facility that features multiple tee boxes overlooking a range with numerous target greens, putting and wedge play areas and three practice bunkers. A few months later, both teams moved into the $600,000 Boyd Golf Center, which includes posh locker rooms, spacious coaches offices, a lounge with a panoramic view of the UGA Golf Course’s ninth and 18th greens, club storage and repair areas, computer work stations and a kitchen. Georgia has since added an indoor practice facility that allows the players to work on their games away from the elements and features video capabilities to help the players and coaches analyze swings.
Since the opening of the Boyd Center and the surrounding amenities, both the Bulldogs (1999, 2005) and the Lady Bulldogs (2001) have won national championships while combining for nine SEC crowns. Boyd was in attendance in 1999 in Minnesota when Coach Chris Haack and his Bulldogs claimed the program’s first NCAA title.
“Nobody loves the University of Georgia more than I do,” Boyd said. “I love that place and I love our golf program. I think the facility we put together has been a helpful aspect. Our golfers and the coaches deserve the best, and I’m happy we were able to do that for them. My teammates and I had always maintained an interest in the program and we all wanted to see the program reach the status that it once had. We could not be happier about the current state of the golf program.”
