Bulldogs To Tee It Up Close To Home In Linger Longer Invitational

The Georgia Bulldogs will return to action this weekend in the Linger Longer Invitational at Great Waters and Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga.

The Bulldogs and the other 14 schools in the field will play 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday. The first and third rounds will begin at 8:30 a.m.

Joining the Bulldogs and co-hosts Kennesaw State and Mercer in the event will be Alabama, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Clemson, Furman, Liberty, Michigan State, North Florida, Oklahoma, South Alabama, Southern Mississippi and Yale.

The Bulldogs' lineup will be determined by qualifying rounds that go through Wednesday. Georgia will have its traditional five players along with three individuals.

Georgia has won the Linger Longer Invitational three times (2006, 2007, 2009) and boasted the medalist in Chris Kirk in 2007.

• The PGA TOUR stop this week is the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Erik Compton, Harris English, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Kirk, Brendon Todd and Bubba Watson are in the field, and Hudson Swafford is an alternate.

• At the Valspar Championship last weekend, Harman was the top Bulldog in 25th at 1-over. Compton took 32nd at 2-over, while English was 38th at 3-over, Todd was 44th at 4-over and Kevin Kisner missed the cut.

• The updated FedExCup standings have Watson in fourth, English in fifth, Kirk in sixth and Henley in 19th.

• The Web.com Tour will be at the Panama Claro Championship this week. Justin Bolli, Ryuji Imada and Scott Parel will participate and Paul Claxton is an alternate.

• At last week's Brasil Champions Presented by HSBC, Parel was 41st at 8-under and Claxton missed the cut.

• On the Champions Tour's Toshiba Classic, Chip Beck came in 32nd at 7-under.

Bulldogs Dominating Rivals Cup Standings

Bubba Watson and his caddie Ted Scott look on during the Cadillac Championship on Sunday.

Georgia continues to dominate the Rivals Cup standings.

After last weekend's World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship and the Puerto Rico Open, the Bulldogs have earned $10.5 million on the PGA TOUR this season. That is almost triple the amount rolled up by second-place Baylor ($3.86 million) and third-place Georgia Tech ($3.82 million).

Bubba Watson, Harris English and Chris Kirk all have eclipsed $2 million in earnings this season, while Russell Henley has picked up more than $1 million. Brian Harman, Brendon Todd, Hudson Swafford, Erik Compton, Kevin Kisner and Ryuji Imada also have cashed PGA TOUR paychecks this year.

The Rivals Cup promotes the collegiate affiliations of professional athletes by ranking the NCAA programs that are having the greatest impact in professional sports.

• The Bulldogs also are making a splash in the FedExCup Standings. Watson is fourth, English is fifth, Kirk is sixth and Henley is 16th.

• Watson was the runner-up at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at 3-under. English came in 16th at 4-over, while Kirk was 40th at 7-over and Henley was 47th at 10-over.

• In the Puerto Rico Open, Swafford and Imada were 43rd at 7-under, while Kisner was 49th at 6-under and Justin Bolli missed the cut.

• The PGA TOUR stop this week is the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead) in Palm Harbor, Fla. Compton, English, Harman and Todd are in the field, while Bolli, Imada, Kisner and Swafford are listed as alternates.

• In the Web.com Tour's Chile Classic, Paul Claxton came in 34th at 8-under. Scott Parel missed the cut.

• This week, the Web.com Tour will be at the Brasil Champions in Sao Paulo. Claxton and Parel are scheduled to participate.

• The No. 5 Bulldogs came in sixth in the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters. Joey Garber finished 17th individually with a total of 7-over 223. Michael Cromie wound up at 9-over 225, while Lee McCoy and Keith Mitchell finished at 12-over 228, and Greyson Sigg came in at 18-over 234. The Bulldogs will return to action March 22-23 in the Linger Longer Invitational in Greensboro, Ga.

Henley Wins Honda Classic In Playoff

Russell Henley is all smiles as he hoists the Honda Classic trophy on Sunday.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Russell Henley made good on his second chance at the 18th hole Sunday and won the Honda Classic after a wild day that ended with a four-man playoff.

Henley was in a three-way tie for the lead, 40 yards left of the flag on the par-5 18th in regulation, when he chunked a chip so badly that it only got halfway to the hole. He had to two-putt for par, and then watched as Rory McIlroy nearly made a great escape from an otherwise bad afternoon. McIlroy, who lost a two-shot lead, hit a 5-wood from 236 yards to just inside 12 feet for an eagle and the win. It narrowly slid by on the right.

In the playoff, Henley was the only player to reach the 549-yard hole in two, and he two-putted from about 40 feet for birdie. Ryan Palmer missed a 10-foot birdie putt. McIlroy went from the back bunker to the front collar and had to scramble for par, and Russell Knox laid up and missed a 20-foot birdie attempt. They all finished at 8-under 272.

"This isn't going to sink in for a while," Henley said.

Henley, who closed with a 72, won for the second time and qualified for the Masters. He also moves into the top 50 in the world ranking, making him eligible for the Cadillac Championship next week at Doral.

Henley is the fourth Bulldog to win on the PGA TOUR this year, joining Chris Kirk (The McGladrey Classic), Harris English (OHL Classic at Mayakoba) and Bubba Watson (Northern Trust Open). 

Palmer missed a 5-foot par in regulation that would have won it. He closed with a 69, the only player in the last six groups to break par. Knox needed a birdie on the last hole, but he went from the fairway bunker to the rough, well over the green and then calmly made a par putt just inside 10 feet for a 71 to get in the playoff.

It was the first playoff at PGA National since 2007, which also featured four players.

Henley tied for the lead by chipping in for birdie on the 14th, only to deposit his tee shot on the par-3 15th into the water for double bogey. Palmer missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole, which wasn't nearly as damaging as the par putts he missed from eight feet on the 16th and five feet on the 18th.

Knox fell out of a brief share of the lead when he tried to play from the right rough on the 14th and had his shot carom into the water for a double bogey.

Kirk was 12th at 4-under, while Brian Harman was 58th at 2-over and Hudson Swafford was 61st at 3-over. Erik Compton and Brendon Todd missed the cut.

• Henley's win earned him a berth in this week's World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in Miami. English, Kirk and Watson are slated to play as well.

• In addition, Justin Bolli, Ryuji Imada, Kevin Kisner and Swafford are in the field for the Puerto Rico Open at Trump International in Rio Grande.

• The Web.com Tour's top is the Chile Classic (which Kisner won a year ago) at Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago. Paul Claxton and Scott Parel are slated to participate.

Bulldogs, Garber Take Third In Puerto Rico

Greyson Sigg and his Georgia teammates came in third Tuesday in the Puerto Rico Classic.

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico --- The No. 7 Georgia men's golf team came in third in the Puerto Rico Classic on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs posted a final-round tally of 12-under 276 to wind up at 29-under 835 for the three-day event. Alabama took team honors at 45-under 819.

The Bulldogs' 29-under finish matches the eighth-lowest tournament figure in school history.

Senior Keith Mitchell paced the Bulldogs on Tuesday as he fired a 5-under 67. Freshman Greyson Sigg added a 4-under 68, while senior Joey Garber signed for a 2-under 70 and sophomore Lee McCoy had a 1-under 71. Senior Michael Cromie had Georgia's non-counting score of even-par 72.

Garber wound up third at 11-under 205, just one stroke behind co-medalists Miller Capps of Clemson and Robby Shelton of Alabama. There have been just five lower tournament totals in school history. Sigg took sixth at 9-under 207, while Mitchell was 12th at 6-under 210. McCoy finished at 3-under 213 and Cromie at 3-over 219.

"I thought by and large we were pretty solid all week," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "Every tournament is part of the process, so we'll take the good and the bad back to Athens and keep plugging away. I like this team a lot, and I think we have the potential to do some good things."

The Bulldogs will return to action March 7-9 in the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters in Las Vegas.

• This week's PGA TOUR stop is the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The field includes Brian Harman, Hudson Swafford, Russell Henley, Erik Compton, Chris Kirk and Brendon Todd, while Kevin Kisner, Ryuji  Imada and Justin Bolli are among the alternates.

• In the FedExCup Points standings, Harris English is No. 3, Bubba Watson is No. 4, Kirk is No. 5 and Todd is No. 25.

Watson Sets Georgia Record With Fifth PGA TOUR Victory

Bubba Watson celebrates his win with his wife, Angie, and their son, Caleb.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bubba Watson wasn't about to let another chance get away.

Two weeks after Watson made a pair of late bogeys in the Phoenix Open, he delivered the best closing round at Riviera in some three decades. Watson played the final 39 holes without a bogey and shot a 7-under 64 on Sunday to win the Northern Trust Open.

It was his first victory in 22 months and 41 tournaments worldwide dating to the 2012 Masters.

Watson wound up with a two-shot victory over Dustin Johnson, who closed with a 66 for the second straight week and got the same result.

Watson won on the PGA TOUR for the fifth time, setting the all-time mark for Georgia golfers.

This wasn't Bubba golf as much as it was simply great golf.

Watson, who also shot 64 on Saturday to start the final round four shots behind William McGirt, made up ground so quickly that he broke out of a four-way tie for the lead with a birdie on the eighth hole and made the turn in 30.

Equally critical were a pair of par saves with 7-foot putts on the 12th and 13th holes.

Johnson, who was second at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am last week after a final-round 66, made birdie on the 15th hole to get within one shot. He didn't give himself good birdie chances on the last three holes.

Watson made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to cap off the best closing round in this tournament since Doug Tewell shot a 63 in 1986. Even sweeter was going up the steps toward the famous clubhouse to see his 2-year-old son, Caleb, whom Watson adopted just before his Masters victory.

"When I won the Masters, it was just me," Watson said. "Family members were there, but not my wife and not my son, who was just adopted at that point, and now is two weeks away from being 2 years old. What a thrill. We'll have some pictures with him and my wife and the trophy, so it's nice."

Watson won for the fifth time in his career, and he had to earn it. With no margin for error over the closing holes, he managed to get out of a deep fairway bunker on the 15th hole to the front edge of the green. He smartly played to the middle of the green on the par-3 16th hole for a par. Facing the uphill tee shot on the 18th, he blasted his drive down the middle of the fairway and hit wedge into 15 feet to the right of the pin.

And when it was over, he felt a lot better than he did two weeks ago in Phoenix, where he missed a short par putt on the last hole to lose by one to Kevin Stadler.

Brian Harman came in third at 12-under, while Harris English was 10th at 9-under, Brendon Todd was 35th at 3-under and Erik Compton was 59th at 1-over. Hudson Swafford and Russell Henley each missed the cut.

Garber Named To Ben Hogan Award Watch List

Joey Garber (at left, shown with Lee McCoy) is on the watch list for the Ben Hogan Award.

Senior golfer Joey Garber has been named to the 30-player watch list for the 2014 Ben Hogan Award, according to an announcement by the Colonial Country Club, The Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America.

The Hogan Award is presented annually to the nation's top player taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the past 12-month period.

The 10 semifinalists will be announced on April 16 and the three finalists will be determined on May 7. The winner will be crowned at a black-tie banquet at Colonial Country Club on May 18 before the start of the PGA TOUR's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Garber, a senior from Petoskey, Mich., completed the fall portion of Georgia's schedule with an SEC-leading scoring average of 69.75 in four events. He won The Invitational at The Ocean Course, was second in the Dick's Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup and took fourth in the Carpet Capital Collegiate Championship. Garber is nation's No. 2-ranked collegiate player in both the Golfweek/Sagarin and Golfstat individual rankings.

Previous winners include Georgia's Chris Kirk in 2007.

• Garber, Lee McCoy and Michael Cromie filmed a segment with this week with Atlanta's WSB Channel 2. It will air on Saturday at 10 a.m. as part of the Bulldogs Gameweek show.

• The PGA TOUR will resume its schedule Thursday through Sunday in the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. The Bulldogs scheduled to participate include Harris English, Brendon Todd, Russell Henley, Hudson Swafford, Brian Harman, Erik Compton and Bubba Watson.

• The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am concluded last Sunday, with Todd as the top Bulldog at 1-over in 45th. Henley was 52nd at 2-over and Kirk was 61st at 4-over. Kevin Kisner had "made the cut, did not finish" status, while Harman, Swafford and Justin Bolli missed the cut.

• In the FedEx Cup standings, English is No. 2, Kirk is No. 3, Watson is No. 21 and Todd is No. 25.

• The current Bulldogs are hard at work preparing for the 2014 portion of their schedule. Coach Chris Haack's charges will return to action Feb. 23-25 in the Puerto Rico Classic.

• The 2014 Tee-Off Club membership brochures have gone out. If you have any questions about the Tee-Off Club, contact Denise Saliba by email or 706-369-6066.

• Remember, this is your blog. Please share any news you have on tournament wins, holes-in-one, births, etc., with Denise at the above email address. 

Seven Bulldogs In The Pebble Beach Field

Bubba Watson finished as the runner-up at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Sunday.

The always-popular AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am will be played this week, with seven Bulldogs slated to be in the field.

Justin Bolli, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Chris Kirk, Kevin Kisner, Hudson Swafford and Brendon Todd will participate Thursday through Sunday at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California. Kirk was the 2013 runner-up to Brandt Snedeker.

This year’s celebrity list includes NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, actors Andy Garcia and Kurt Russell, musicians Kid Rock, Jake Owen and Darius Rucker.

The event will be televised Thursday and Friday from 3-6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1-2:30 p.m. on the Golf Channel and Saturday and Sunday from 3-6 p.m. on CBS. PGA TOUR Radio will broadcast on Sirius XM and PGATOUR.com.

• At the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Bubba Watson came in second to Kevin Stadler at 15-under. Tied coming into the par-4 18th, Stadler hit his 110-yard approach to the back right pin to 10 feet and Watson drove into the right rough and hammered his 120-yard second over the green. Watson's shot from the trampled rough ran five feet past the hole. After Stadler missed his birdie try and tapped in for par, Watson's par try slid by the left side.

"He beat me," Watson said. "He's a great player. I thought I hit a good putt, but obviously I misread that, too,"

Afterward, Watson Tweeted: "I played solid all week, got to keep practicing! 2nd is first loser!! #GolfIsHard"

Harris English was ninth at 12-under, while Erik Compton was 48th at 2-under and Kirk was 76th at 5-over. Harman and Henley missed the cut.

• In the FedEx Cup standings, English is No. 2, Kirk is No. 3, Watson is No. 17 and Todd is No. 25.

• The current Bulldogs are hard at work preparing for the 2014 portion of their schedule. Coach Chris Haack's charges will return to action Feb. 23-25 in the Puerto Rico Classic.

• The 2014 Tee-Off Club membership brochures will be going out in the next few days. If you have any questions about the Tee-Off Club, contact Denise Saliba by email or 706-369-6066.