On Sea Island Golf Club's Seaside Course, the Bulldogs fired a 4-over-par 284 in the second round to move to 3-under 557 for the tournament. Alabama, on the strength of a 6-under 274, extended its lead over Georgia from one stroke to 11. Auburn is tied with the Bulldogs at 3-under 557.
Sophomore Brian Carter and freshman Nicholas Reach paced the Bulldogs in the second round as each signed for an even-par 70. Sophomore Keith Mitchell followed at 1-over 71, while junior T.J. Mitchell posted a 3-over 73. Sophomore Joey Garber had the Bulldogs' non-counting score of 6-over 76.
Carter is seventh individually at 2-under 138, four shots behind Alabama's Bobby Wyatt and Tennessee's Rick Lamb (134). Keith Mitchell is eighth at 1-under 139, followed by Reach and T.J. Mitchell in 13th at even-par 140 and Garber in 46th at 9-over 149.
"We didn't play as well as we did (Friday)," Carter said. "The conditions were playing a little tougher today. On a difficult course like this, you've got to have patience. Four-over's not awful out here today, but it's a good learning experience for us."
"The golf course played a little tougher and the pins were a little tougher," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "But I think all the guys played OK based on the scores. You have to give Alabama a lot of credit because they're playing extremely well. We know we have the ability to put up a good score down here, and that's going to be our goal on Sunday."
The final round of the SEC Championship will be played Sunday. Live scoring and tee times can be found at golfstat.com and secsports.com.
The weather forecast is for rain and thunderstorms overnight Saturday and throughout much of Sunday. Said Carter, "Tomorrow could be a grind-it-out kind of day. We'll put the layers on and tough it out and see how deep we can go."
