Ryder Cup Redux, Award For McCoy, Dogs-Jackets Working Together, Bulldog Open

Bubba Watson and the Americans fell to Europe 16.5-11.5 in the Ryder Cup.

Another Ryder Cup is in the books with the United States dropping a 16.5-11.5 decision to Europe at Gleneagles.

Captain Tom Watson has been taking his share of body blows for lineup decisions since the loss. And at least one pundit is floating the notion that Georgia's Chris Haack would make a great captain for the United States in the future.

Wrote ESPN.com's Farrell Evans: "The next U.S. Ryder Cup captain needs to be a real coach, the type of person who coaches golf teams for a living. Why not reach into the college ranks and get a full-time men's golf coach? Chris Haack, the Georgia men's coach, had two of his former players on this U.S. team, Bubba Watson and (Patrick) Reed, and he had several other players in the running to qualify for the team. Come Spring, Haack leads a squad into the match-play portion of the NCAA men's championship. The PGA of America and its sponsors might require more gravitas for the face of its U.S. team than a college coach, but it might be worth it for the powers that be to consider how to learn from those who work with teams on a full-time basis."

Speaking of Bubba, he went 0-3 in his matches in the Ryder Cup.

• Lee McCoy may be the hottest golfer in the country right now. He won the DICK's Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup after finishing second in The Carmel Cup (and all of this came after a summer filled with top-10s, including medalist honors at the U.S. Amateur). Golfweek.com has been paying attention and named McCoy its Player of Week.

• Russell Henley and Chris Kirk helped keep the Georgia flag on top as they defeated Georgia Tech’s Cameron Tringale and Roberto Castro in the inaugural Cohan Cup. The match was all square through 17 holes at the Atlanta Athletic Club. Henley and Kirk each made birdie on the 18th hole, while Tringale and Castro each missed birdie putts. Final score: Georgia 62, Tech 63. The event is named in honor of former Tech golfer Adam Cohan, who was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago. His leukemia is in remission and he spends much of his time fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The foursome has been raising money for LLS and all proceeds from the event will go it.

• Congratulations to Butler Melnyk, John Tillery, Kevin Kisner and Mike Hostilo on winning the 2014 Bulldog Open. Photos from the day will be posted here soon. Thanks to everyone who contributed to making it a great day.

• Henley, Kirk, Kisner and PGA brethren Hudson Swafford, Brian Harman and Harris English were introduced along with Haack (below) during the Georgia-Tennessee game on Saturday.

McCoy Claims Medalist Honors At Collegiate Challenge Cup

Georgia junior Lee McCoy claimed medalist honors in the DICK'S Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup last weekend at the Golf Club of Tennessee.

McCoy, a junior, fired a final-round 2-under 69 to wind up at 8-under 205 for the tournament, He edged South Carolina's Will Starke by one shot.

“I honestly had no idea where I was, and I had no idea where Will was," McCoy said. "I had no idea I had won until everyone started clapping when I made that last putt. I had not a clue in the world. … This is one of my favorite golf courses we come to all year. And to win out here, it’s something special.”

The win was the second in McCoy's collegiate career and it also continues what has been a red-hot summer/fall for him. He claimed medalist honors at the U.S. Amateur and had top-10 efforts in the Canadian Amateur, the Southern Amateur and the Northeast Amateur and a top-20 in the Sunnehana Amateur.

Senior Nicholas Reach followed McCoy to finish 18th at 5-over 218. The Bulldogs wound up fifth as a team at 9-over 861.

Despite Georgia's win over Louisville, the Atlantic Coast Conference topped the Southeastern Conference in the match play portion of the event. The SEC and ACC teams went 2-2-2 against each other, but the ACC had 16.5 wins to the SEC's 13.5.

The Bulldogs got wins from Reach, McCoy and freshman Zach Healy against the Cardinals. Reach topped Gus Lundquist 2&1, McCoy defeated Robert Geibel 2&1 and Healy topped Trevor Sluman 2-up. Senior Mookie DeMoss dropped a 1-up decision to J.D. Lehman and sophomore Greyson Sigg fell to Robin Sciot-Siegrist 3&2.

In the other matches, South Carolina beat Virginia 3-2, North Carolina State defeated Texas A&M 4-1, Clemson topped Mississippi 3-1-1, and the Georgia Tech-Vanderbilt and Missouri-Duke matches ended in 2-2-1 draws.

The Bulldogs will return to action Oct. 6-7 in the Swoosh Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas.

• Congratulations are in order for Wright Waddell, who will be inducted into the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame in Columbus next spring. Waddell was an All-American for the Bulldogs in 1983 and was an All-SEC selection in 1982, 1983 and 1984. Waddell captained the Bulldogs his senior year.

• Bubba Watson and his United States teammates will begin play in the Ryder Cup in Scotland later this week. Watson is making his third Ryder Cup appearance and he boasts a 3-5-0 record.

• Chip Beck finished 40th at 7-under in the Champions Tour's Pacific Links Hawaii Championship.

• Hudson Swafford finished 39th in the Web.com Tour Finals to earn one of the 50 PGA TOUR cards for next season (which begins Oct. 9-12 at the Frys.com Open in California. Swafford came in 25th in the Web.com Tour Championship at 2-under, while Ryuji Imada missed the cut.

Bulldogs, SEC Seek To Repeat At Collegiate Challenge Cup

The No. 5-ranked Georgia men’s golf team will continue the fall portion of its schedule this weekend in the DICK’S Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup at the Golf Club of Tennessee in Kingston Springs, Tenn.

The tournament features 36 holes of stroke play on Friday and 18 holes of stroke play on Saturday to determine the medalist and the team champion. On Sunday, the six SEC and six ACC squads will square off in a match-play competition for conference honors.

Georgia claimed the team title in the inaugural event a year ago, topping Texas A&M by five shots and earning Coach Chris Haack his 50th career victory. The Bulldogs then went 5-0 in match play to help the SEC top the ACC 17-8.

The Bulldogs will use a lineup of seniors Mookie DeMoss and Nicholas Reach, junior Lee McCoy, sophomore Greyson Sigg and freshman Zach Healy.  DeMoss, Reach and McCoy were in the lineup a year ago when Georgia has its successful run in the tournament.

Georgia opened the 2014-15 season last month with a five-stroke win in The Carmel Cup in Pebble Beach, Calif. McCoy and DeMoss had top-10 efforts, while Reach and Sigg tied for 15th.

“We’re looking forward to this weekend,” Haack said. “It’s nice having some momentum right out of the gate along with the positive memories of winning there last year. That being said, we need to go in focused and ready to play. No one is going to hand us anything; we’ll have to earn it. “

Georgia will be joined this weekend by SEC counterparts Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, while Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina State and Virginia will represent the ACC.

Georgia will play the first and second rounds on Friday with Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. The teams will tee off between 8-8:40 a.m. and 1-1:44 p.m.

Live scoring and tee times can be found at Golfstat.com and additional information is available on the tournament central page.

The tournament will be recapped in a one-hour show on ESPNU on Sunday, Oct. 12, at 2 p.m. 

Kirk Second, Watson Fifth In Final FedExCup Standings

Chris Kirk watches his shot during the TOUR Championship last weekend.

Chris Kirk and Bubba Watson finished in the Top 5 of the FedExCup Standings as the 2013-14 PGA TOUR schedule came to an end on Sunday.

Kirk came in second and Watson placed fifth as the season wrapped up at the TOUR Championship at East Lake on Sunday. Kirk placed fourth and Watson 14th in the final event of the year.

Russell Henley finished 12th in the tournament and 19th in the FedExCup Standings, while Brendon Todd came in 17th and 27th, respectively.

• Following the tournament, Watson was chosen as one of the nominees for the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA TOUR Player of the Year. Watson had two wins — the Masters and the Northern Trust Open — in 21 events and finished second on the money list with $6.3 million. Watson also had a career-high eight Top-10 finishes.

• Hudson Swafford came in 22nd and Ryuji Imada missed the cut in the third of four Web.com Tour Finals, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. Swafford stands 35th on the list of 50 players who make up the priority ranking order for 2014-15 on the PGA TOUR with one event remaining, the Web.com Tour Championship.

• Sophomore Jaime Lopez Rivarola helped Argentina finish fifth in the World Team Amateur Championship in Japan. Lopez Rivarola shot 9-under for the tournament as Argentina wound up five shots behind the Americans.

• The Bulldogs will return to action Friday through Sunday in the Dick's Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup in Nashville, Tenn. Georgia won the inaugural event last year and helped the SEC claim conference honors over the ACC. The Bulldogs will use a lineup of seniors Mookie DeMoss and Nicholas Reach, junior Lee McCoy, sophomore Greyson Sigg and freshman Zach Healy. The teams will play 54 holes over the first two days, followed by SEC vs. ACC match play on Sunday.

• Georgia Golf is saddened by the passing of Hugh Royer, a Bulldog letterman from 1956-58 and team captain his senior year. He was 78. Royer was a 14-year PGA TOUR player, Georgia PGA past president and longtime head professional at Bull Creek Golf Course in Columbus. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to Columbus Hospice House, 7020 Moon Rd., Columbus, Ga. 31909.

• The 2014 Bulldog Open is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26, at the UGA Golf Course.

Kirk, Watson Control Their Own Destiny; Henley, Todd Also Make The Top 29

Bubba Watson stands third in the FedExUp Standings heading into this week's TOUR Championship.

The top five players in the FedExCup Standings – including two Bulldogs -- heading into this week’s TOUR Championship control their own fate in regards to winning the FedExCup trophy and the $10 million bonus.

Georgia alums Chris Kirk and Bubba Watson are Nos. 1 and 3, respectively, while Billy Horschel is No. 2, Rory McIlroy is No. 4 and Hunter Mahan is No. 5.

The FedExCup points will now be reset to give everybody in the 29-man field an opportunity to win the FedExCup. But just the top five are guaranteed the opportunity to win the FedExCup by winning the TOUR Championship. Everybody else must have varying degrees of help to claim golf's biggest prize.

A year ago, Kirk finished 34th in points. Thanks to his win at TPC Boston, Kirk was safely inside the top five coming into this week and guaranteed his first start at East Lake.

"It's obviously what everyone is hoping for starting off the year, to be in that kind of position going into Atlanta. I couldn't be happier," Kirk said.  "It was definitely a goal of mine for this year. I'm not a big goal-setting guy, but it's something that I've wanted to do for awhile now. I'm glad I was able to pull it off."

Watson, meanwhile, is looking forward to the opportunity to capping off a season that already includes wins at the Masters and the Northern Trust Open.

"Maybe that's when I make my putts," Watson said about East Lake. "That would be nice to make them there. Ten million bucks worth of putts wouldn't be too bad."

No. 20 Russell Henley and No. 27 Brendon Todd also will tee it up at East Lake this week. Our friends at PGATour.com have come up with the Bulldogs’ best-case scenarios of winning the FedExCup:

Kirk: If he wins the TOUR Championship he wins the Cup; he has a reasonable chance of winning with a top-5 finish; and he can finish as low as 29th and still have a mathematical chance of winning.

Watson: If he wins the TOUR Championship, he wins the Cup; he has a reasonable chance of winning with a second-place finish; and he can finish as low as T-4th and still have a mathematical chance of winning.

Henley: Wins the TOUR Championship and No. 1 (Kirk) finishes in a three-way tie for 12th or worse, No. 2 (Horschel) finishes fifth or worse, No. 3 (Watson) finishes in a three-way tie for third or worse, No. 4 (McIlroy) finishes third or worse, No. 5 (Mahan) finishes in a three-way tie for second or worse, and No. 6 (Jimmy Walker) finishes T-2 or worse.

Todd: Wins the TOUR Championship and No. 1 (Kirk) finishes 23rd or worse, No. 2 (Horschel) finishes T-6 or worse, No. 3 (Watson) finishes T-4 or worse, No. 4 (McIlroy) finishes T-3 or worse, No. 5 (Mahan) finishes in a three-way tie for second or worse and No. 6 (Walker) finishes T-2 or worse.

• The first-round tee times are Todd at 11:50 a.m., Henley at 12:30 p.m., Watson at 1:50 p.m. and English at 2 p.m.

• At the BMW Championship over the weekend, Watson was the top Bulldog in second place at 12-under. English came in 31st, Kirk and Todd tied for 36th, Harman finished 43rd, Compton wound up 46th and Henley placed 59th.

• Hudson Swafford came in 10th 1t 11-under in the Web.com Tour’s Chiquita Classic in North Carolina. Ryuji Imada missed the cut. 

The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, the third of the four Web.com Tour Finals, will take place this week. Swafford sits 20th in the Finals and needs to finish in the top 25 to retain his PGA TOUR card for next season.

• In the Champions Tour’s Quebec Championship, Chip Beck finished 49th at 1-under.

Kirk Not On Ryder Cup Team, But He Will Be Between The Hedges!

Chris Kirk was not one of Tom Watson's captain's picks for the United States Ryder Cup Team on Tuesday, but he still has plans for that weekend, according to his Twitter account.

Several Bulldogs from the PGA TOUR, including Kirk, are expected to be in Athens the weekend of Sept. 26-27 for the Tee-Off Club's Bulldog Open and the Georgia-Tennessee football game. The Ryder Cup will take place the same weekend at Gleneagles.

Watson selected Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan and Webb Simpson to complete an American team that will try to end two decades of European dominance in the Ryder Cup. (By the way, is it just us or does Simpson bear a striking resemblance to Kirk?)

Kirk, who has never played in a Ryder Cup, finished ahead of Simpson in the standings and has won twice this year, including last week's FedEx Cup playoff event.

The Bulldogs still will be represented on the U.S. Ryder Cup Team as Bubba Watson will participate.

Kirk Makes Bid For Ryder Cup Team With Win At Deutsche Bank Championship

Chris Kirk holds the trophy after winning the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday.

NORTON, Mass. -- Chris Kirk picked up the biggest win of his career with a two-stroke victory Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Just how big he’ll have to wait to see.

But that’s a story for Tuesday night when Tom Watson makes his captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup.

In the meantime, Kirk was happy with moving to the top of the FedExCup standings and earning a spot in the season-ending TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, where the Atlanta native will have a chance to play for $10 million and his first FedExCup title.

“I'm still just in such shock that I actually won this tournament,” Kirk said. “It's going to take me a little while to figure that out.”

A dozen birdies -- including five on Monday -- and no bogeys over the final 36 holes at TPC Boston certainly helped.

So apparently did playing alongside Rory McIlroy a day earlier. Kirk fed off the environment and matched the world’s top-ranked player shot for shot.

On Monday, Kirk held McIlroy, and everybody else, off with more mistake-free golf.

“Being in the group with (McIlroy) and watching him play so great (Sunday) … and just the huge crowds that go along with that, it's really just kind of heightens your focus a little bit,” Kirk said. “That's something that I do struggle with every now and then, really getting myself into it and getting focused, playing how many tournaments we play every year, every single shot, it's hard to get to that extreme level of focus where you don't even see anything around you or hear anything.”

It was quite a turnaround from earlier in the week.

Ten shots behind after the opening round, Kirk was so disgusted he skipped his usual practice session.

But by the time he got to Monday he had rounded into form. Kirk made two birdies and a clutch 15-footer for par over his final nine holes to stay in front.

As for whether he makes the Ryder Cup?

“I would absolutely love to do it,” he said. “But I'm not going to really base how happy I am with how I'm playing, or how my year has gone, on whether I make the team or not.”

• All seven Bulldogs in the field at the Deutsche Bank Championship remained in the top 70 in the FedExCup standings and will move on to this week's BMW Championship in Colorado. The new standings are No. 1 Kirk, No. 6 Bubba Watson, No. 14 Russell Henley, No. 25 Brendon Todd, No. 31 Harris English, No. 33 Brian Harman and No. 62 Erik Compton. The top 30 after the BMW Championship will advance to TOUR Championship.

Henley came in second to Kirk at the Deutsche Bank Championship, just two shots back.

• Hudson Swafford and Ryuji Imada missed the cut in the Hotel Fitness Championship, the first leg of the Web.com Tour Finals. They will play this week in the Chiquita Classic in North Carolina.