Bulldogs Set To Begin San Diego Regional

Georgia has won three tournaments this season, taken second in three additional events, and placed third in one other. But in terms of getting a berth in the NCAA Championships, none of that matters.

The only way the Bulldogs can advance to the NCAAs is to post a top-5 finish in the San Diego Regional, which begins on Thursday at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. The top five finishers in the Regional will advance to the NCAAs May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.

The Bulldogs are seeded sixth in the San Diego Regional. Joining the Bulldogs and the host and ninth-seeded Toreros will be No. 1 seed Arizona State, No. 2 seed Georgia Tech, No. 3 seed Oklahoma, No. 4 seed New Mexico, No. 5 seed Virginia, No. 7 seed East Tennessee State, No. 8 seed Ole Miss, No. 10 seed Idaho, No. 11 seed St. Mary's College of California, No. 12 seed Wichita State and No. 13 seed Eastern Kentucky. Georgia Tech (ACC), East Tennessee State (Southern), Idaho (Big Sky), Wichita State (Missouri Valley) and Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley) won their respective conference titles.

Georgia will be paired on Thursday with Virginia and New Mexico, with tee times starting at 11:20 a.m.

The Bulldogs will use a lineup of senior Mookie DeMoss, juniors Lee McCoy and Sepp Straka, sophomore Greyson Sigg and freshman Zach Healy. A First-Team All-SEC pick, McCoy leads the Bulldogs with a scoring average of 69.55 (70.69 is the single-season school record) and is the third-rated individual nationally in the GolfStat rankings. Straka, Sigg and Healy are closely bunched with averages of 72.38, 72.43 and 72.85, respectively.

"We've been a pretty good team this year when our guys have put it together at the same time," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "When that happens -- and we hope it can happen again this week -- it's been something to see. ... From a mental standpoint, we feel good because we've seen most of these teams and finished ahead of them in some of the tournaments. We know we can compete with them and we know we can beat them if we play solid golf."

The Bulldogs have been invited to an NCAA Regional for the 26th time in 27 years since the format was introduced for the 1989 season. In the previous 25 years, Georgia has advanced to the NCAAs 19 times. The Bulldogs have been invited to an NCAA Regional in all 19 of Haack's seasons and have moved onto the NCAAs in 16 of the previous 18 campaigns. Haack led the Bulldogs to the 1999 and 2005 national titles and to runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2011.

The other Regional sites are The Sagamore Club in Noblesville, Ind.; Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C.; The Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas; Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash.; and The Course at Yale in New Haven, Conn.

"We're going into this tournament extremely focused because of what's at stake," Haack said. "In the past, when it was three Regionals and 10 teams advanced, you could have a bad round and survive. Now that it's six Regionals with five advancing, one bad round can send you home, and that's been proven every year with this format. Like all the teams, we just want to survive and advance."

• Our friends at GeorgiaDogs.com have produced a nice piece on Lee McCoy. Worth the watch!

• Dates to remember:
Chris Haack Golf Camp Session 1: June 7-10
Chris Haack Golf Camp Session 2: June 11-14
Bulldog Open: Sept. 18
Lettermen's Tournament: Oct. 2
Contact Denise (dsaliba@sports.uga.edu, 706-369-6066) with any questions.