Bunker to Bunker-Georgia Golf Update

English, Henley, Swafford Earn All-America Honors

Hudson Swafford, Harris English, and Russell Henley

Georgia golfers Harris English, Russell Henley and Hudson Swafford — who capped their collegiate careers earlier this month — have earned All-America honors.

PING and the Golf Coaches Association of America picked English for their Second Team, with Henley and Swafford earning Honorable Mention status. Golfweek tabbed English for its Third Team and Henley was named Honorable Mention.

English led the Bulldogs with a 72.39 scoring average, while Henley was next at 72.73 and Swafford was third at 73.20. The seniors helped Georgia finish second at the NCAA Championships June 5 in Stillwater, Okla.

English and Henley ended their Georgia careers as four-time All-Americans, and Swafford was picked as an All-American three times. Collectively, they rolled up the following career numbers: 11 All-America honors, 10 All-SEC certificates, 12 medalist titles, 17 team tournament victories, two SEC Freshman of the Year awards, two SEC team titles and one National Player of the Year honor.

“Those guys were tremendous ambassadors for the golf team and for the University of Georgia on and off the course,” Georgia coach Chris Haack said. “They also were great leaders. They led by example with hard work and dedication. Everything they did was for the  betterment of the team. We’re going to miss them. They have left an indelible mark on our program.”

Macpherson Wins British Amateur

Bryden Macpherson becomes the second Bulldog to win the British Amateur

Georgia golfer Bryden Macpherson won the 116th British Amateur Championship on Saturday, earning spots in this year's British Open and next year's Masters in the process.

Macpherson defeated Scotland's Michael Stewart 3&2 in the final match, joining Doug Bachli (1954) as the only Australians to win the British Amateur.

The 2011 Open Championship will take place July 14-17 at Royal St. George's. The 2012 Masters will be held April 5-8 at Augusta National.

“I can’t believe it just yet," Macpherson said. "It feels pretty good to bridge the gap of 57 years. I hope there are a few proud Aussies having a barbecue. My judgment of speed was awesome today, so that was real important, but the real key to this week was patience. As hard as it was to believe, I had complete confidence that it was going to happen for me this week. I did a really good job of staying out of my own way, and celebrating everything I did well. Staying in the moment was a major key. I love the whole atmosphere of the Amateur Championship. One of the main things is the crowds: it’s amazing how much people love their golf around here. It’s a credit to them."

Macpherson, a rising junior for the Bulldogs shot 75-70 in stroke play, then posted six straight wins in match play to win the British Amateur title. Macpherson went 3-0 in match play as the Bulldogs finished second at the NCAA Championships earlier this month.

Macpherson joins Vinny Giles (1975) as the only Bulldogs to win the British Amateur.




US Open Recap

Russell Henley during the 111th U.S. Open

Russell Henley finished his second U.S. Open with a final round 75 to finish at 4 over for the day and for the tournament.  His four over total was four shots better than his score from last year, but this time he finished in a tie for 42nd place.  Henley made plenty of noise along the way, thanks in large part to a 4 under front nine on Saturday that had him in third place individually when he made the turn on his third round.  
Henley now will finish the remainder of his amateur summer as he prepares to represent the U.S. during the Walker Cup in September.  His next tournament will be the Dogwood Invitational in Atlanta starting on June 27th.


Former Bulldogs Bubba Watson and Christo Greyling also made the cut in the 111th U.S. Open.  Christo Greyling, playing in his first major championship, finished in a tie for 68th.  Greyling had to finish his second round Saturday morning and needed a couple of birdies to make the cut.  Christo birdied 3 of his last four holes to play the weekend.  Bubba Watson, the 13th ranked golfer in the world,  finished in a tie for 63rd place.  Watson will now work on defending his title at the Travels Championship this week.


Swafford Makes Professional Debut

Hudson Swafford

Hudson Swaffford made his professional golf debut this past week on the Egolf Professional Tour.  Swafford competed in the Bolle Classic in Lexington, NC and finished in a tie for 14th place while carding a four round total of 15 under par.
Swafford is playing again this week on the Egolf Professional Tour in the Cowans Ford Open.  After two rounds at the Cowans Ford Open, Hudson currently sits in third place individually.  results can be found at:
http://tarheel.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/tarheel11/event/tarheel115/contest/1/leaderboard.htm


The Southeastern Amateur

Incoming Freshman Sepp Straka

Current Bulldog Keith Mitchell and incoming Freshman Sepp Straka posted good finishes during the Southeastern Amateur played June 15-18th at Columbus Country Club in Columbus, GA.  Rising Sophomore Mitchell finished 3rd individually at 2 under for the tournament.  Straka, who will begin his first season of college golf this fall,  finished 2nd individually at 3 under par.  

The Northeast Amateur

Northeast Amateur, June 22-25

Both Bryden Macpherson and Harris English are playing this week in the Northeast Amateur.  The Northeast Amateur is one of the best field in amateur golf each summer and is being played for the 50th year this year.  You can follow the scoring live at:
http://www.northeastamateur.com/Default.aspx

Greystone Invitational

Greystone Invitational, June 23-26

Bulldogs Keith Mitchell and Brian Carter are currently competing in the tenth annual Greystone Invitational in Birmingham, Alabama.  All the scoring and results can be found on the tournament website at www.greystoneinvitational.com.  The Greystone Invitational is a four round stroke play tournament played on the Greystone Golf and Country Club's Founders Course.

U.S. Open Day 3

Russell Henley during round 3 of the 2011 U.S. Open

Russell Henley made it an exciting day for Bulldog fans at Congressional Saturday.  When Henley made the turn during his third round of the U.S. Open, he found himself tied for third place thanks to four birdies on his first nine.  The back nine saw Henley make four bogeys and fall back to the field in a tie for 21st place.  the former Bulldog is looking to repeat as low amateur in the Open and he trails fellow amateur, Patrick Cantlay, by a single stroke for those honors.

Bubba Watson fired a third round 74 and sits in 57th place while Christo Greyling carded a third round 75 and sits in 64th place.  Final round coverage begins at 1:30 on NBC.

Day 2 of U.S. Open-Bulldogs Make Cut

Russell Henley continues his great play of late and has found his way on the first page of the leader-board at the halfway point of the 2011 U.S. Open.  Henley put together his best round of his U.S. Open career, a 2 under 69, that vaulted him to a tie for 15th.  The Macon native is trying to become the first repeat low amateur in 20 years at the U.S. Open.  Currently Henley is tied with fellow amateur Patrick Cantlay, who fired a second round 67, to also move into 15th place.

Henley currently sits tied for 15th at the U.S. Open

Fellow Bulldogs,  Christo Greyling and Bubba Watson are tied with a group in 56th place.  Greyling fired a second round 74 and Watson carded a second round 75.

All three Bulldogs will make the cut and play the weekend at Congressional.  Follow the action live at usopen.com.

U.S. Open, Day 1

Day 1 at the 2011 U.S. Open saw all three Bulldogs post solid rounds in the second major championship of the year.  Bubba Watson was the low Bulldog after firing an even par 71 and sits tied for 20th, Christo Greyling finished with a 1 over par 72 and sits tied for 31st, and Russell Henley carded a 2 over par 73 and is tied for 44th.

The round of the day went to Rory McIlroy who jumped out to the first round lead with a 6 under par 65.

All three Bulldogs will play in the afternoon wave today and all currently sit inside the cut line.  Henley is looking to repeat as low amateur and he currently trails fellow amateur, Peter Uihlein, by a single shot.

Golf.com featured Russell Henley in an article about his first round.  Click here to read the article.

Christo Greyling is playing in his first major championship this week.  To read more about his journey as a professional golfer, click on the links to CBSsports.com and The Detroit Free Press as they featured Greyling in articles this week.

Dawgs Tee It Up at U.S. Open

Three former Georgia Bulldogs will be playing in the 2011 U.S. Open starting on Thursday at Congressional Country Club.  Bubba Watson, Christo Greyling, and recent graduate, Russell Henley, will all be paired in the morning wave for round 1.

Russell Henley will start at 7:33, Bubba Watson at 8:28 and Christo Greyling will begin at 9:01.

This will be the first U.S. Open for Greyling and the second for Henley.  Henley is playing in his second consecutive U.S. Open after tying for 16th last year at Pebble Beach and finishing as low amateur for the championship.

Watson will be playing in his 5th U.S. Open with his best career finish coming in 2007 at Oakmont with a tie for 5th.

All of the action can be followed live at USGA.org

Henley Headed Back to U.S. Open

Russell Henley will play in the U.S. Open next week at Congressional Country Club

Russell Henley birdied two of his final holes during a grueling 36-hole day to earn a tie atop the leaderboard at the U.S. Open sectional qualifier Monday at Hawk’s Ridge Golf Club.  After players in the final two groups passed him, the 22-year-old found out he had a little work left to do and landed in a sudden-death playoff with PGA Tour professional Jason Dufner for the third and final qualifying spot in the U.S. Open.

Henley survived the challenge, however, with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole after Dufner hit his second shot on the par-5 hole into the water, and Henley earned a return trip to the U.S. Open, which begins June 16 at Congressional Country Club outside of Washington, D.C.

“I’m really excited to get back to another U.S. Open,” Henley said with just a few minutes of daylight left. “It was an emotional day, but it feels good to get back.”

Henley played 40 holes in nearly 12 hours when Dufner hit his approach into the par-5 fourth hole into the water right of the green. Henley played his second shot safe, but the ball ended up in deep rough left of the green. He hit what he called “one of the best chips of my life” to about 3 feet of the hole. Dufner missed his par putt, but Henley knocked in his birdie anyway. He shared a long embrace with Adam Henley, his caddie, after he clinched the spot in the U.S. Open.

“We just went through a lot of emotions (Monday),” Adam Henley said. “It feels pretty sweet right now.”

Many of the officials felt Russell Henley and Dufner wouldn’t need a playoff to qualify.

The two were tied atop the leaderboard when they finished 36 holes. Henley birdied two of his final three holes to finish at 11 under. Most thought Ryan Nelson, who was at 10 under through 27 holes, was the only player on the course with a shot to qualify.

Nelson indeed qualified at 12 under.

Henley received congratulatory hugs, handshakes and high-fives after he finished his round and after Nelson finished.

Playing in the final group, amateur Brett Patterson shot a course-record 62 to finish the day at 12 under and nab a spot. Patterson’s score bumped Dufner and Henley into a playoff.

“Everyone, the head pro, tournament officials are telling me I’m fine,” Henley said. “You start to rest, and then you find out it’s not over. You have to refocus fast. It’s tough to do.”

Both Henley and Dufner made a par on the first three holes of sudden death. Henley had a long birdie putt on No. 2 to win, and Dufner had about a 12-foot birdie attempt on No. 3 that would have earned him the spot.

“Russell thinks he’s one of the best amateurs and players in the world, so I don’t think he struggled to get back ready,” Adam Henley said. “I was a little nervous.”

Russell Henley finished the day with rounds of 68 and 65.

Henley shot a 4-under-par 68 through his first 18. His putter got hot on the second 18. He was 3 under through nine holes and birdied three in a row early in his second nine. He left an eagle putt on No. 4 a few inches short and then made a bogey on No. 6 when he hit it in the water trying to drive the green.

“I probably would have thought back to those if I wouldn’t have made it,” he said. “The bogey shook me up a little.”

Henley bounced back with a 15-foot birdie on No. 7, and he then made a birdie from about 3 feet on his 36th hole of the day.

“Those turned out to be huge putts,” he said.

The top three finishers out of 41 players qualified for the U.S. Open.

Henley won his qualifier a year ago and went on to finish tied for 16th at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. The finish earned him low amateur honors.