The Georgia men's golf team fired its best round of the NCAA Championships on Monday, yet fell short of one of the top eight spots needed to advance to match play.
The Bulldogs carded a 3-under-par 277 in the third round, which began on Sunday evening and was completed Monday morning. That gave Georgia a 3-round total of 10-over 850 and an 11th-place finish.
After completing the third round, Georgia watched as the teams standing first through 15th navigated the Prairie Dunes Country Club. At one point about halfway through the round, the Bulldogs had gotten to within two strokes of the coveted eighth spot. But when the round was over, Georgia missed out by five shots.
"Things definitely got interesting there for awhile," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "We needed a great round today, but we only got a good one. This just reinforces how valuable every shot is in this tournament. At least we came out and played better today, so that leaves a little better taste in our mouths. But at the same time, you come out here to win. You don't come out here for moral victories. We've just got to get better."
Due to inclement weather on Friday, Georgia was forced to play 36 holes on Saturday. The Bulldogs put up rounds of 6-over 286 and 7-over 287.
"We did not have a good start in this tournament and it got us," Haack said. "We didn't play great the first round and it just kind of carried over to the second round."
Sophomore Lee McCoy paced the Bulldogs in the third round as he fired a 3-under 67. Senior Keith Mitchell followed at 2-under 68, while seniors Michael Cromie and Joey Garber closed at 1-over 71. Freshman Greyson Sigg had the Bulldogs' non-counting score of 9-over 79.
Garber was the low Bulldog for the tournament, coming in at 3-over 213. McCoy wound up at 4-over 214, followed by Cromie and Mitchell at 6-over 216, and Sigg at 12-over 222.
Garber wound up with a scoring average of 70.69 this season, eclipsing the school record of 70.90 set by Chris Kirk in 2006. Garber finished the year with a win, six top-10s and nine top-20s.
