News & Notes About The Bulldogs

• Keith Mitchell, Russell Henley, Chris Kirk and Harris English are in action this week in the Houston Open.

• This week's Web.com Tour event is the Savannah Championship and features Erik Compton, Sepp Straka, Lee McCoy and Joey Garber.

Watson Tops Kisner In All-UGA Match Play Final

AUSTIN, Texas -- A championship showdown between Georgia Bulldogs alums finished one-sided, as Bubba Watson won his second World Golf Championships title by defeating Kevin Kisner, 7 and 6, in the finals of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play on Sunday afternoon at Austin Country Club.

It's the largest margin of victory in the championship final since 2008, when Tiger Woods beat Stewart Cink, 8 and 7, in the then-36 hole final.

Watson becomes just the fifth player to win multiple WGCs and multiple majors.

"It's crazy to think about it," Watson said. "I've got two World Golf Championships, counting this one, and two majors. I'm done, you know?

"It's unbelievable to think about that, giving my mom a hug, six years old, having one golf club for a year, no lessons. I mean I can sit here and make up stories all day, but it's absolutely remarkable that I'm able to lift a trophy like this."

Watson won the first five holes with one birdie, three pars and a conceded hole, as Kisner was unable to duplicate the form that had taken him to the championship match. Kisner suffered three early bogeys and lost the seventh hole with another bogey after an errant tee shot, as every mistake was magnified against the steady Watson.

"That grueling match that he had this morning, extra holes, you could just tell, the energy wasn't there," Watson said. "The drive and the competition was there, but he was just exhausted. And obviously for me it works out great for me, but for him, he had a great week, but obviously buried the first hole. I buried that hole a couple of times this week. Getting off to a quick start like that just puts pressure on anybody."

Even when Kisner showed some life -- such as draining a 20-foot par putt on the 10th hole -- Watson had an answer, as he birdied the 10th from 11 feet to go 7-up.

"I don't know what was going on," Kisner said. "It was just pitiful. I couldn't hit anywhere close to where I was trying. Long week. A little tired, probably. Lose some legs, and just didn't have it. And finally made a few good swings coming in, but those were too little, too late."

Watson's previous WGC win was the 2015 HSBC Champions. He now has 11 PGA TOUR victories, including two in his last four starts, as he won the Genesis Open in mid-February. His next start will the Masters, which he has won twice.

Watson, who earlier in the day beat Justin Thomas 3 and 2 to deny the current FedExCup leader a chance to move to world No. 1, opened the match by winning the first hole with a 12-foot putt, and then Kisner began to self-destruct. He missed a 9-foot par putt at the second, then found trouble again off the tee at the par-4 third, setting up another bogey. His tee shot at the par-3 fourth landed in the greenside bunker, and he failed to get up-and down. Another greenside bunker at the fifth resulted in a conceded hole after Watson's approach finished inside seven feet.

Kisner, who beat the red-hot Alex Noren in 19 holes in the semifinals, didn't win his first hole until the par-3 11th when he rolled in a putt from 34.5 feet.

But the match ended on the 12th when Watson rolled in his winning putt from seven feet. Earlier in the day, Kisner had won the 12th hole with an eagle putt and again in sudden-death with a birdie putt in his semifinal win over Alex Noren.

Dogs, Ralston Finish 2nd In LLI

GREENSBORO, Ga. --- The Georgia men’s golf team finished second for the third consecutive tournament on Tuesday as play concluded in the 13th annual Linger Longer Invitational.

The Bulldogs landed at 22-under 842 at Reynolds Lake Oconee on the Great Waters course (par-72, 7,073 yards), just two shots behind Alabama’s 844. Georgia closed with a 4-under 284 on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs also placed second in the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate in February and the Southern Intercollegiates earlier this month.

“Make no mistake, our goal everytime we tee it up is to win,” Georgia coach Chris Haack said. “But it’s hard to be disappointed when your team shoots 22-under and has two of the top three individuals. That would be hard to beat most weeks. This tournament was good for us, being in a back-and-forth situation with Alabama trying to win. This will certainly help us moving forward. We have plenty of positives to build on, but since we were so close and did not win, that will shine a light on the things we need to do better. As this tournament showed, every shot matters.”

Spencer Ralston finished second individually at 12-under 204, two strokes shy of Alabama’s Lee Hodges (202). The 12-under figure set a new tournament low for Ralston and he matched his career-best individual finish. Davis Thompson, the 36-hole leader, wound up third at 10-under 206, also setting his career-best tournament total. Trevor Phillips took 13th at 2-under 214, Zach Healy came in at 2-over 218 and Jon Hilliard Catanzaro finished at 20-over 236.

Tuesday's round pushed individuals Will Chandler to 2-over 218, David Mackey to 3-over 219 and Jack Larkin Jr. to 12-over 228.

The Bulldogs will return to action April 13-15 in the Mason Rudolph Championship in Franklin, Tenn.

• Kevin Kisner, Bubba Watson, Brian Harman and Russell Henley will be in action this week in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play

• Harris English, Keith Mitchell and Brendon Todd are set to compete in the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic.

• Tommy Tolles, Scott Parel and Paul Claxton are playing in the Champions Tour's Rapiscan Systems Classic in Mississippi.

• The Web.com Tour event, the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, will feature Joey Garber, Lee McCoy, Sepp Straka and Erik Compton.

Thompson Paces Bulldogs To Top Of LLI Leaderboard

Linger Longer Invitational Scoreboard

Davis Thompson

GREENSBORO, Ga. --- Behind a record-setting performance by Davis Thompson, the Georgia men’s golf team grabbed the first-round lead on Sunday in the 13th annual Linger Longer Invitational.

The Bulldogs fired a 16-under 272 on the Great Waters course (par-72, 7,073 yards) at Reynolds Lake Oconee. Georgia is five shots clear of Alabama’s 277 and six ahead of Penn State’s 278.

Thompson, a freshman from Auburn, Ala., signed for a 9-under-par 63 to secure the top spot individually. With nine birdies and no bogeys, Thompson tied the single-round school record set by Peter Persons in the 1984 Rafael Alarcon Intercollegiate. Persons, who actually was in attendance on Sunday, was a Georgia teammate of Thompson’s father, Todd, in 1985 and 1986. 

The Bulldogs got an additional boost from sophomore Spencer Ralston, who signed for a 7-under 65. That is the third-lowest figure in school history and had been recorded 22 additional times, including once by Todd Thompson in 1988. Ralston, who recorded eight birdies of his own, stands second in the individual race.

The Bulldogs also counted a 2-under 70 from sophomore Trevor Phillips, who is 12th, and a 2-over 74 by senior Zach Healy. Freshman John Hilliard Catanzaro had the Bulldogs’ non-counting score of 5-over 77.

Playing as individuals, junior David Mackey landed in 12th at 1-under 71, followed by junior Jack Larkin Jr. and sophomore Will Chandler both at even-par 72.

“We really believed a day like this was coming,” Georgia head coach Chris Haack said. “We’ve been striking the ball well and we’ve picked up some momentum and confidence. Davis was just tremendous today. Nine birdies with no bogeys is pretty amazing. He’s been solid all year, especially in the spring. It was great the way he and Spencer led us today.”

The Linger Longer Invitational will continue on Monday and will conclude on Tuesday.

News & Notes About The Bulldogs

Georgia's men's golf team fielded two lineups that placed second and sixth on Monday in the Southern Intercollegiates at Athens Country Club.

The Bulldogs' A team of senior Zach Healy, junior Jack Larkin, sophomores Trevor Phillips and Spencer Ralston, and freshman Davis Thompson posted a score of 8-over-584, while the B team of juniors Matthew Beringer and David Mackey, sophomore Will Chandler, and freshmen John Hilliard Catanzaro and Bo Sikes accounted for a 19-over 595.

Team honors went to Arkansas at 9-under 567, 17 shots clear of the Bulldogs and Kennesaw State.

"We got off to a slow start early because of the cold and the wind and the rain, all of the conditions in the morning, but we stayed patient and knew we had another good round in front of us in the afternoon," Georgia head coach Chris Haack said, "We had it going pretty good in the second round. We just stayed patient and kept playing hard, and that's all you can ask for. One of the things we want to do when we tee it up is try to win, at least get ourselves in the hunt. Today, we got rolling pretty good and thought, 'If we can get on a streak here and make some putts, we have a chance to win.' Our mindset is to always go out there and win. We never looked at the scoreboard, so we had no idea how anyone else was doing, but I really liked our attitude up there today. And I like the fact they just never gave up. That'll give us good momentum and confidence going into the next tournament."

Ralston paced the Bulldogs as he finished sixth at even-par 144, three behind Arkansas co-medalists Alvaro Ortiz and Luis Garza. Healy and Catanzaro came in 10th at 1-over 145, followed by Thompson in 13th at 2-over 146, Mackey in 16th at 3-over 147, Phillips at 5-over 149, Chandler at 6-over 150, Beringer and Larkin at 10-over 154, and Sikes at 14-over 158.

The Bulldogs will return to action Sunday through Tuesday in the Linger Longer Invitational at Great Waters Golf Club in Greensboro.

• Bubba Watson, Kevin Kisner, Harris English, Chris Kirk, Hudson Swafford and Brian Harman will be in action this week in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

Bulldogs To Host Southern Intercollegiates Monday

The Georgia men’s golf team will return to action on Monday as it hosts the 36-hole Southern Intercollegiate Championships at Athens Country Club.

Play will begin with shotgun starts at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. There is no cost for admission. Live scoring will be available on Golfstat.com.

Georgia will field two five-man lineups that will begin on Nos. 7 and 8. Georgia’s first lineup will consist of senior Zach Healy, junior Jack Larkin Jr., sophomores Trevor Phillips and Spencer Ralston, and freshman Davis Thompson. The Bulldogs’ second lineup will be manned by juniors Matthew Beringer and David Mackey, sophomore Will Chandler, and freshmen John Hilliard Catanzaro and Bo Sikes. Junior Tye Waller, who is recovering from an injury, will serve as the second squad’s honorary captain.

Ralston and Phillips have appeared in every event this year and lead the Bulldogs with scoring averages of 70.95 and 72.52, respectively. Thompson, who has missed only one tournament this season, is third at 72.78. Sikes will be making his collegiate debut.

“We’re really looking forward to Monday,” Georgia head coach Chris Haack said. “It’s a great team experience having all 11 of our players basically out there at the same time, kind of like one of our practices or qualifying rounds. The added benefit is that they’ll be under tournament conditions, so we’ll see how they respond. This is a chance to compete with each other and other teams on a course we’ve seen a lot. We’re getting close to crunch time with this team, so it’s another chance to see what we’ve got.”

Joining the Bulldogs will be Arkansas, Charleston Southern, Chattanooga, Florida State, Francis Marion, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Iowa, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Nicholls State, Savannah State, USC Upstate, Western Carolina, Wofford and Youngstown State.

The SICs were the brainchild of Georgia athletic director Herman Stegeman and Athens Country Club founder Lon Dudley in 1934. The first tournament was held in 1935 and ran annually through 1942. It resumed in 1946 and was held through 1965, then was relaunched in 1975 and ran through 1990. The current reboot took place in 2015. Past individual medalists include Wake Forest’s Arnold Palmer in 1950, Oklahoma State’s Bob Tway in 1979 and Centenary’s Hal Sutton in 1980. The medalist’s name is engraved on the Stegeman Memorial Golf Trophy and is on display at Athens Country Club.

• Chris Kirk, Harris English and Hudson Swafford will be in the Valspar Championship this weekend.

• Joey Garber, Lee McCoy and Sepp Straka are slated to play in the Web.com Tour's El Bosque Mexico Championship. • Scott Parel is in the field for the Toshiba Classic on the Champions Tour.