Bulldogs Focused On San Antonio Regional

LeeMcCoy and his Georgia teammates are the top seeds for the San Antonio Regional.

The Georgia Bulldogs have won three tournaments this season, taken second in another, and placed third in three others. All told, the Bulldogs have finished no worse than sixth in any event this year. One poll has the Bulldogs ranked No. 3 and two more have them No. 6.

But when it comes to getting a berth in the NCAA Championships, none of that matters. The only way to advance to the NCAAs is to post a top-5 finish in the San Antonio Regional, which begins on Thursday at the Briggs Ranch Golf Club.

"I say this every year, but's it true: This can be the most nerve-racking tournament we have," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "Everyone has a goal of playing for a national championship and you play hard all season to get better and put yourself in that position. But unless you play well this week, all of that sort of goes by the wayside. And while we all know that, we're going in loose and relaxed and focused on getting some early momentum and trying to win this thing."

History is on Georgia's side.

The Bulldogs will be competing in a regional for the 25th time in 26 years since the format was introduced for the 1989 season. In the previous 24 years, Georgia has advanced to the NCAAs 18 times. The Bulldogs have been invited to a regional in all 18 of Haack's seasons and have moved onto the NCAAs in 15 of the previous 17 campaigns. Haack led the Bulldogs to the 1999 and 2005 national titles and to runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2011.

The top five teams from each of the six regionals will make up the field for the NCAAs May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Golf Club in Hutchinson, Kansas. The other regionals will be held this week at Auburn University Club in Auburn, Ala.; The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Mo.; Lonnie Poole Golf Course in Raleigh, N.C.; Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.; and Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.

Joining the top-seeded Bulldogs in San Antonio will be No. 7 Central Florida, No. 18 UCLA, No. 19 Vanderbilt, South Florida, SMU, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, TCU, Northwestern, College of Charleston, Virginia Commonwealth and Columbia. SMU (American Athletic), Georgia Southern (Southern), Georgia State (Sun Belt), College of Charleston (Colonial), Virginia Commonwealth (Atlantic 10) and Columbia (Ivy) were invited after claiming conference championships.

"All of the regionals are tough," Haack said. "No matter where you go, you know you're going to get a pretty good challenge. There are plenty of good teams in our regional. We know we've got to go in and take care of business."

The Bulldogs will use a lineup of seniors Michael Cromie, Joey Garber and Keith Mitchell, sophomore Lee McCoy and freshman Greyson Sigg. Georgia's players will tee off in 10-minute increments between 9 and 9:40 a.m. on Thursday with their counterparts from Central Florida and UCLA. Live results and tee times can be found here.

• Our friends from Golfweek have weighed in on the regional. Their thoughts can be found here.

• Coach Chris Haack is profiled in Sports Illustrated and Golf.com. Check out that piece here.

Four Bulldogs Earn Southeastern Conference Golf Honors

Russell Henley blasts out of the sand during THE PLAYERS Championship.

Senior golfers Michael Cromie and Joey Garber were named First-Team All-Southeastern Conference in voting by the league's coaches. Sophomore Lee McCoy earned Second-Team All-SEC honors, while freshman Greyson Sigg was chosen for the SEC All-Freshman Team and senior Keith Mitchell was named to the SEC Community Service Team.

Cromie, a native of Cary, N.C., has appeared in every tournament this season and has a scoring average of 71.93. He was low medalist at the Linger Longer Invitational, setting career bests for round (5-under) and tournament (9-under). Cromie has six top-10s this season after entering his senior season with just one.

Garber, a native of Petoskey, Mich., leads the Bulldogs and is third in the SEC with a 70.46 scoring average. He won the The Invitational at The Ocean Course, highlighted by a 6-under 66 that set his personal best for a round and matched the tournament record. Following that event, he earned National Player of the Week honors by Golfweek. Garber is enjoying one of the best seasons in Georgia history with six top-10s and eight top-20s in nine stroke-play events.

McCoy, a native of Clarkesville, Ga., ranks second on the team with a scoring average of 71.59. He has appeared in every event this year. McCoy won the Met Intercollegiate for his first collegiate victory, setting his career best and the tournament record for a round with an opening 7-under. He has three additional top-5 finishes and a total of seven top-20s.

Sigg, a native of Augusta, Ga., has appeared in eight stroke-play tournaments this year, including all five this spring. He holds a 73.13 scoring average and has recorded three top-10s, led by sixth-place efforts in the Puerto Rico Classic and the Met Intercollegiate. In Puerto Rico, he fired a final-round 4-under 68 to establish his career-best loop.

Mitchell, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., was named to the SEC Community Service Team for the second time in his career. He has volunteered at various youth golf clinics and camps, helped collect apparel and sports equipment for the Boys and Girls Club of Athens in the Gear for Greatness program, worked in the SEC Together We CAN food drive, assisted with providing donations for the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, collected toys for the Toys for Tots program, wrote and mailed Christmas cards to deployed soldiers, participated in the Soles4Souls shoe drive and helped with the Relay for Life.

The Bulldogs will play Thursday through Saturday in the San Antonio Regional at Briggs Ranch Golf Club. The top five teams from each of the six national regionals will make up the field for the NCAA Championship May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas.

• The PGA TOUR stop this week is the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas. Slated to participate are Erik Compton, Harris English, Brian Harman, Ryuji Imada, Kevin Kisner, Hudson Swafford and Brendon Todd.

• At THE PLAYERS Championship last weekend, Chris Kirk led the Bulldogs as he was 13th at 7-under. Russell Henley came in 17th at 6-under, followed by Compton in 34th at 3-under and Bubba Watson in 48th at 1-under. Harman and English missed the cut.

• The Golf Channel has been following Watson for an upcoming special on him. Here is a sneak peek.

• In the latest FedExCup Standings, Watson is second, English is seventh and Kirk is eighth.

• The Web.com Tour's event this week is the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greer, S.C. Justin Bolli, Paul Claxton and Scott Parel are in the field.

• Chip Beck is an alternate for the Regions Tradition in Shoal Creek, Ala., this week. 

Bulldogs Are Top-Seeded Team In San Antonio Regional

The Georgia men's golf team was chosen on Monday as the No. 1 seed for the NCAA San Antonio Regional at the Briggs Ranch Golf Club in Texas.

All six of the national regionals will be held May 15-17. The top five teams from each regional will advance to the NCAA Championship May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Golf Club in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Joining the sixth-ranked Bulldogs in San Antonio will be No. 7 Central Florida, No. 18 UCLA, No. 19 Vanderbilt, South Florida, SMU, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, TCU, Northwestern, College of Charleston, Virginia Commonwealth and Columbia. SMU (American Athletic), Georgia Southern (Southern), Georgia State (Sun Belt), College of Charleston (Colonial), Virginia Commonwealth (Atlantic 10) and Columbia (Ivy) were invited after claiming conference championships.

"We're excited about the opportunity to play in the San Antonio Regional," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "We all know what's at stake in this tournament, so our complete focus the next few days will be working on the little things and making sure that we are completely prepared. It's a deep field, so we'll have to really play well to be one of the five teams moving on."

The other top seeds are No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 California and No. 5 Georgia Tech. Eighty-one teams and 45 individuals not on those squads were invited to regionals on Monday. The other regionals will be held at Auburn University Club in Auburn, Ala.; The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Mo.; Lonnie Poole Golf Course in Raleigh, N.C.; Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.; and Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.

The Bulldogs were invited to an NCAA Regional for the 25th time in 26 years since the format was introduced for the 1989 season. In the previous 24 years, Georgia has advanced to the NCAAs 18 times. The Bulldogs have been invited to an NCAA Regional in all 18 of Haack's seasons and have moved onto the NCAAs in 15 of the previous 17 campaigns. Haack led the Bulldogs to the 1999 and 2005 national titles and to runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2011.

• In case you missed it, GTV did a nice piece recently that we would like to share. Georgia's Branson Davis played in the 2013 Patriot All-America in Arizona last December. Each golfer was presented a golf bag inscribed with the name of a fallen military member. The name on Davis' bag was that of Army Specialist Evan Marshall of Athens. Marshall was killed in Iraq in 2008 on his second tour of duty. His family now lives in Watkinsville and was presented the bag by Davis and his Georgia teammates in a ceremony recently at the Boyd Center. You can see the story here.

• At the Wells Fargo Championship, Kevin Kisner was the top Bulldog as he came in sixth at 9-under. Chris Kirk placed 30th at 3-under and Brian Harman was 65th at 4-over. Brendon Todd, Hudson Swafford and Russell Henley missed the cut.

• THE PLAYERS Championship -- the unofficial fifth major -- will be held this week at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla. Scheduled to participate are Erik Compton, Harris English, Harman, Henley, Kirk and Bubba Watson. Todd is listed as an alternate.

• Watson held a press conference at THE PLAYERS on Tuesday. You can read and view some of his comments here. 

• Ryuji Imada finished at 3-under to place 39th in the Web.com Tour's South Georgia Classic. Justin Bolli and Scott Parel missed the cut.

• Vinny Giles captained the United States to a 21.5-14.5 victory over Great Britain in the inaugural Concession Cup in Bradenton, Fla. The Concession Cup featured leading Mid-Amateurs (25-54), Senior Amateurs (55 and older) and Super Senior Amateurs (65 and older). Giles not only served as captain, but he went 1-1-1 in the foursome, fourball and singles competitions. His win came with George Zahringer in fourball as they posted a 5&4 decision.

Bulldogs Come In Fourth At SEC Championship

The Georgia men's golf team recorded its best round of the Southeastern Conference Championship on Sunday at Sea Island's Seaside Course to finish in fourth place.

The Bulldogs fired an 8-under 272 to wind up at 7-under 833. Alabama (34-under 806) went wire-to-wire as the tournament leader and posted a 16-shot victory over LSU.

"We played better today, so that's something we can build on," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "We didn't get the result we wanted this weekend and that was in large part to the way we putted. We'll get back home and work on the little things and make the corrections we need to make."

Michael Cromie finished 11th individually at 3-under 207, 15 shots behind medalist Bobby Wyatt of Alabama (18-under 192). Joey Garber, Keith Mitchell and Greyson Sigg all came in at even-par 210, while Lee McCoy wound up at 2-over 212.

• The Bulldogs will learn their NCAA Regionals destination on Monday from 10-11 a.m. during Morning Drive, Golf Channel’s daily morning news and lifestyle show. Additionally, Morning Drive will be streamed live on Golf Channel’s website via Golf Live Extra at golfchannel.com and posted afterward on ncaa.com. The selections news release will be available on ncaa.com immediately following completion of Morning Drive.

The NCAA Regionals are slated for May 15-17 at six sites around the country: Auburn University Club in Auburn, Ala.; The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Mo.; Lonnie Poole Golf Course in Raleigh, N.C.; Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.; Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.; and Briggs Ranch Golf Club in San Antonio, Texas.

The top five teams from each regional will advance to the NCAA Championship.

Golf Channel will provide highlights from regional play leading up to coverage of the 2014 championship to be held May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., hosted by Wichita State. Golf Channel will provide live coverage of the final day of individual championship play on May 26 as well as the team match play on May 27-28. 

• Erik Compton was the top Bulldog in the PGA TOUR's Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He came in fifth at 14-under. Kevin Kisner was 34th at 6-under and Hudson Swafford missed the cut.

• The PGA TOUR heads to the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., this week. Kisner, Swafford, Brendon Todd, Brian Harman, Russell Henley and Chris Kirk are in the field. 

• In the Web.com Tour's WNB Golf Classic in Midland, Texas, Ryuji Imada came in 18th at 8-under and Scott Parel was 22nd at 7-under. Paul Claxton and Justin Bolli missed the cut.

• The Web.com Tour stop this week is the South Georgia Classic at Kinderlou Forest in Valdosta. Imada, Parel and Bolli are slated to play, and Claxton is listed as an alternate.

• Georgia's alums continue to dominate the Rivals Cup with more than $14 in earnings this season. Georgia Tech is second with $7.4 million.

• Bubba Watson is No. 2 in the FedExCup Standings, followed by No. 6 English, No. 8 Kirk and No. 24 Henley.

• In case you missed it, Watson made a surprise visit to Athens last week and granted this interview.

Bulldogs Set Sights On SEC Championship

Harris English watches his shot during the RBC Heritage. English came in 31st.

Led by the nation's top-ranked player, the Georgia men's golf team will be competing this weekend in the Southeastern Conference Championship at the Sea Island Golf Club on St. Simons Island.

The second-seeded Bulldogs will play Friday through Sunday on the par-70, 6,898-yard layout on the Seaside Course. Georgia is ranked No. 3 by Golfweek, No. 5 by Golf World and No. 6 by Golfstat in this week's polls.

Georgia will use a lineup of seniors Michael Cromie, Joey Garber and Keith Mitchell, sophomore Lee McCoy and freshman Greyson Sigg.

Garber is the country's No. 1-ranked player and he leads the Bulldogs with a 70.52 scoring average. McCoy, who is rated 10th, is next at 71.69, followed by Cromie's 72.27, Mitchell's 73.15 and Sigg's 73.60. Garber, Cromie and McCoy all have medalist crowns this season.

Cromie and McCoy are the only Bulldogs to play in every event this season, and that quintet was together in three previous tournaments. Mitchell will be making his third appearance at the SECs, while Garber, Cromie and McCoy all will be playing for the second time.

"We've had some intense qualifying rounds down the stretch, and that's not going to do anything but toughen us up," Georgia coach Chris Haack. "Our depth has allowed us to use a handful of lineups, and we're excited about this group and the shot that they give us at winning the SEC. Top to bottom, we've been pretty consistent this season. If we can continue playing that way, we should be in the hunt."

The Bulldogs will tee off Friday in 10-minute increments between 7:30 and 8:10 a.m. with their counterparts from No. 1 seed Alabama and No. 3 seed Vanderbilt. The Saturday and Sunday tee times will be based on the standings. Live results and tee times can be found at Golfstat.com and SECSports.com.

The SEC is as strong as ever with No. 1 Alabama, No. 15 Vanderbilt, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 21 Arkansas, No. 22 LSU and No. 24 South Carolina joining the Bulldogs in the national rankings.

"Two in the top 10 and seven in the top 25, that's pretty strong," Haack said. "But our league has always been like that. To win this tournament, you've got to get through some of the best teams in the country. Our guys respect that challenge, and it's one that they are looking forward to. There's a lot of pride in winning your conference tournament, and it shouldn't be easy to do. If you win this league, you've definitely earned it."

Georgia has been a dominant force at the SECs, winning a league-best 28 conference titles. Under Haack, the Bulldogs have secured seven SEC titles, including five of the previous 13 tournaments held at Sea Island. Georgia also boasts 15 SEC medalists, including Haack proteges Bryant Odom (2001), Brendon Todd (2004) and Russell Henley (2010).

• The Bulldogs dropped a 5-1 decision to No. 5 Georgia Tech on Saturday in the final of the Capital City Club Match Play Championship.

The Bulldogs went 1-1 on Saturday at the Crabapple Course, dispatching No. 19 Florida State 3.5-2.5 in their first match of the day.

Mitchell had the Bulldogs' lone victory against the Yellow Jackets as he topped Bo Andrews 2-up. Garber fell to Ollie Schniederjans 2-up, Cromie dropped a 4 and 3 decision to Richard Werenski, Nicholas Reach was defeated by Anders Albertson 5 and 4, McCoy lost 2 and 1 to Seth Reeves, and Sigg was knocked off by Vincent Whaley 2-up.

Against the Seminoles, Mitchell topped Joaquin Lolas 2-up, Garber defeated Jack Maguire 2 and 1, Reach beat Harry Ellis 2 and 1, and McCoy halved his match with Hank Lebioda. Sigg dropped a 1-up decision to Cristobal Del Solar and Cromie fell 5 and 4 to Rowin Caron.

• This week's PGA TOUR stop is the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Erik Compton, Kevin Kisner and Hudson Swafford are scheduled to compete, and Justin Bolli is listed as an alternate.

• At the RBC Heritage last weekend, Brian Harman led the Bulldogs with a seventh-place finish at 6-under. Chris Kirk came in 27th at 1-under, Harris English placed 31st at even, and Kisner and Brendon Todd took 38th at 1-over. Henley missed the cut.

• The updated FedExCup Standings has Bubba Watson second, English sixth and Kirk eighth.

Garber Is A Semifinalist For The Ben Hogan Award

Joey Garber has been chosen as one of the 10 semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award, which is given annually to the top golfer based on collegiate and amateur competition.

Garber, a senior from Petoskey, Mich., is currently No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings and the Golfstat Cup Standings. He leads the Bulldogs with a scoring average of 70.52, including six top-10s and eight top-20s in eight events. Earlier this season, Garber posted his first collegiate victory at The Invitational at The Ocean Course.

On May 7, the 10 semifinalists will be pared down to three finalists. They will attend a black-tie banquet at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 18 when the winner will be announced. The winner also will receive an exemption into the PGA TOUR's Crowne Plaza Invitational in 2015.

The other semifinalists are Bryson Dechambeau of SMU, Greg Eason from Central Florida, Brandon Hagy of California, Cheng-Tsung Pan from Washington, Patrick Rodgers of Stanford, Ollie Schniederjans from Georgia Tech, Robby Shelton of Alabama, Cameron Wilson from Stanford and Bobby Wyatt of Alabama.

• The Bulldogs will have their final tuneup before the SEC Championship on Saturday in the Capital City Club College Match Play Championship. The event, which will be held on the Crabapple Course at Capital City Club, will feature the Bulldogs along with host Georgia Tech, Auburn and Florida State.

The one-day event features the four teams squaring off in match play with semifinal matches beginning at 7:30 a.m., followed by the consolation and championship matches at 1:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Using the Golfstat rankings, No. 6 Georgia will open against No. 19 Florida State and No. 5 Georgia Tech will take on No. 26 Auburn.

The Bulldogs will have a lineup of seniors Michael Cromie, Joey Garber and Keith Mitchell, junior Nicholas Reach, sophomore Lee McCoy and freshman Greyson Sigg. Five of those six players will make up the lineup for the SEC Championship next Friday through Sunday on St. Simons Island.

• The RBC Heritage will be held this week at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head. Chris Kirk, Brian Harman, Harris English, Russell Henley, Brendon Todd, Erik Compton and Kevin Kisner are slated to play as Georgia has a tournament-high seven participants.

Green Machine: Watson Wins The Masters For The Second Time In Three Years

Bubba Watson answers questions after winning The Masters on Sunday.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Bubba Watson's second Masters title was nothing like the green jacket he won two years ago.

The only daring shot Watson hit was one he really didn't need. The wild swing in momentum came on the front nine, not the back nine of Augusta National. And the sweetest difference of all Sunday was seeing his 2-year-old son walk toward him on the edge of the 18th green after his three-shot victory over Jordan Spieth.

Watson turned in another masterpiece and joined an elusive group as the 17th player to win the Masters more than once.

He turned a two-shot deficit into a two-shot lead on the final two holes of the front nine, then kept Spieth, 20, and everyone else at safe distance the rest of the way. Watson closed with a 3-under 69 to beat a pair of Masters rookies in Spieth and Jonas Blixt of Sweden.

Two years ago, when he hit that wild hook out of the trees on the 10th hole to win in a playoff, his wife and newly adopted son were watching at home in Florida. This time, young Caleb was decked out in a green-and-white striped Masters shirt and green tennis shoes as he waddled over to his father.

"This one's a lot different," Watson said. "The first one, for me, it was almost like I lucked into it."

After high-fiving the crowd on his way to sign his card, Watson returned to Butler Cabin to take back that green jacket he slipped on Adam Scott a year ago.

"After giving it away last year, I wanted it back," Watson said. "I told Adam we could just swap it back and forth every year."

Spieth, trying to become the youngest Masters champion, could only watch from the side of the green.
He dazzled the massive crowd early by holing out for birdie from the front bunker on No. 4, and making back-to-back birdies to build a two-shot lead through seven holes. Bidding to become the first player in 35 years to win a green jacket in his first try, Spieth looked to be well on his way.

But he three-putted for bogey on No. 8 — the first 6 on his card all week — as Watson got up-and-down for birdie to tie for the lead. Spieth then made a rookie mistake, leaving his approach below the flagstick on No. 9 and watching it roll back into the fairway, setting up another bogey and two-shot swing.

Whatever prayer he had might have ended at Amen Corner.

His tee shot on No. 12 found Rae's Creek. He missed a short birdie attempt on the 13th.

Watson was too powerful, too experienced, too tough to beat. Spieth closed with six pars for a 72 and tied for second with Blixt, who never went away but never really threatened. Blixt shot a 71.

"That was fun, but at the same time, it hurts right now," Spieth said. "I wanted to get in contention on the back nine Sunday, but didn't come out on top."

Watson finished at 8-under 280 and goes to a career-best No. 4 in the world.

Chris Kirk made his Masters debut a memorable one, finishing 20th at 2-over. Russell Henley, making his second appearance, came in 31st at 5-over, while first-timer Harris English missed the cut at 6-over.

“I feel like I could have played so much better,” Kirk told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “That’s what makes me feel very hopeful for my future in this tournament. I played some pretty solid golf and made a few putts here and there. I still feel very optimistic because I think I can play so much better.”

“One or two things every day,” Henley told the AJC. “I feel like my game is getting closer and closer. I finished T7 last week with a 66 on Sunday. I made the cut at the Masters for the first time. I’m doing a lot of really good things and I’m close to playing some excellent golf."