4 Bulldogs In Farmers Insurance Open

There will be four Bulldogs in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines this week -- Harris English, Chirs Kirk, Brian Harman and Keith Mitchell.

7 Bulldogs In CareerBuilder Challenge Field

• Seven Bulldogs will be in action this week in the CareerBuilder Challenge in California -- Brian Harman, Hudson Swafford, Harris English, Kevin Kisner, Keith Mitchell, Bubba Watson and Chris Kirk. Swafford is the tournament's defending champion.

• Erik Compton, Joey Garber, Sepp Straka and Lee McCoy are scheduled to play in the Web.com Tour's The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club Sunday through Wednesday.

• The Bulldogs are a month away from resuming their 2017-18 schedule in the Puerto Rico Classic. Georgia has made a schedule adjustment, however, as the Bulldogs have withdrawn from the Querencia Cabo Collegiate in Mexico and instead will play in the Wexford Plantation Invitational Feb. 26-27.

• Jaime Lopez Rivarola will be competing this week in the Latin America Amateur Championship in Chile.

Seven Bulldogs In Action In Hawaii

Seven Bulldogs will be in action this week in the Sony Open in Hawaii -- Chris Kirk, Russell Henley, Harris English, Brian Harman, Hudson Swafford, Kevin Kisner and Keith Mitchell.

McCoy Wins Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament

CHANDLER, Ariz. --- Georgia alum Lee McCoy won the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament on Sunday to earn fully exempt status for the 2018 Web.com Tour season.

McCoy, who completed his Georgia career in 2016, edged out South Korean Sung-Jae Im by two strokes. 

“I think it was Jack Nicklaus that was famous for saying that most of the tournaments he won, he didn’t really win, other guys lost,” McCoy told PGATour.com. “That was not the case today. I had to go out there and win. We had a great battle out there today. Every time I thought I had gotten far enough ahead and could start playing conservative, he would roll in a 20-footer and it was a little frustrating at times, but it’s nice to be able to push yourself that hard in a big spot and come out on top.”

The victory was the second win of the year for McCoy, who won the Freedom 55 Financial Open on the Mackenzie Tour in June. McCoy had a successful 2017 season in Canada, making 10 cuts in 12 events and finishing No. 6 on the Order of Merit.

A year ago, McCoy competed in the First Stage of Q-School in West Palm Beach, Fla., where a 9-under total landed him in a tie for third and allowed him to advance. The week before he was slated to compete in Second Stage, McCoy made his first professional cut at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He finished the week 41st and took a red-eye back to Florida to get in a practice round before competition. On his way to the Plantation Reserve Golf Club the following morning, McCoy was involved in a minor car accident, injuring his wrist in the process. The injury left him in a cast and forced him to withdraw from Second Stage.

“It was brutal,” he said of the injury. “I was in a cast for six or seven weeks. I took it off and I was fine, so it wasn’t a career-ender or life-threatening, but it was just the worst possible timing. It hurt even more because I was playing really well going into Second Stage. At some point, you just have to sit back and realize that sometimes you don’t have control over your life and sometimes it’s just part of the plan. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have ended up in Canada and I might not have the same guy on the bag, and I might not have even come here this week. Who knows what would’ve happened. It certainly worked out for the best in the end.”

Sunday’s victory takes a deal of pressure off McCoy heading into the 2018 season, as the Tour first-timer will be able to plan his entire schedule and won’t be subject to any reshuffles during the year.

“It kind of just goes along with my whole strategy for golf,” McCoy said, “which is just trying to take as much pressure off of myself as I can. I don’t really make goals for myself each day to try and hit a certain number and I’m not really trying to win. I kind of like to just let it happen by accident. So not having that added pressure of making the reshuffles and not knowing if I’ll be in the upcoming weeks, that’s huge. It definitely adds a level of comfort.”

Former Bulldog Joey Garber finished 30th at 15-under and will receive exempt Web.com Tour status for the first eight events of 2018.

QBE Shootout Features Five Bulldogs

• Lee McCoy and Joey Garber will begin play in the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament on Thursday. The tournament is being held at Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz.

Garber was the co-medalist during the second stage in Plantation, Fla.

The winner will receive fully exempt Web.com Tour status for the 2018 Regular Season. Finishers 2-10 (and ties) will receive exempt Web.com Tour status for the first 12 events of 2018. Finishers 11-45 (and ties) will receive exempt Web.com Tour status for the first eight events of 2018. The remainder of the field will receive conditional Web.com Tour status in 2018.

• Five Bulldogs will be in action this weekend in the QBE Shootout, meaning nearly half of the two-persons teams field is made up of UGA alums. The event is celebrating its 29th year on the PGA Tour calendar and is the longest-running Tour-sanctioned post-season event.

The pairings include:
Russell Henley and Kyle Stanley
Brian Harman and Pat Perez
Kevin Kisner and Kevin Chappell
Bubba Watson and Brandt Snedeker
Harris English and Matt Kuchar

English and Kuchar have each earned $1,255,000 since joining forces in 2013. They finished first in 2013 and 2016 and second in 2014 and 2015. English and Kuchar will attempt to become the first team to win the QBE Shootout three times.

The order of formats is Scramble (Friday), Modified Alternate Shot (Saturday) and Better Ball (Sunday).

The Golf Channel will televise Friday and Saturday 1:30-4:30 p.m. and Sunday 1-2 p.m. with coverage shifting to NBC Sunday from 2-4 p.m.

Jones, Kahlstorf, Phillips Sign With Bulldogs

Braden Jones, Will Kahlstorf, and Trent Phillips have signed national letters of intent with the Georgia men’s golf team, according to an announcement Thursday by Coach Chris Haack.

Georgians Jones and Kahlstorf and South Carolinian Phillips will join the UGA program as freshmen for the 2018-19 season.

Jones is a native of Atlanta and attends The Marist School (which produced current Bulldogs Will Chandler, Jack Larkin Jr., and Bo Sikes). Jones recorded top-10 finishes in the American Junior Golf Association’s Dominican Junior Open in 2017 and Junior at
Owensboro in 2016. He posted six top-12 efforts on the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour, including second in the 2016 Georgia Club Junior Classic, third in the UGA Invitational, and fourth in the Sea Island Junior Classic. He has helped Marist win two state titles and three region championships and was the team MVP as a freshman.

Kahlstorf hails from Watkinsville and attends Prince Avenue Christian School. He was fourth in the AJGA’s 2015 Preseason Junior at Chateau Elan, 11th in the 2015 Evitt Foundation RTC Junior, and 18th in the 2016 Wells Fargo Junior Classic. Kahlstorf has posted six top-20s on the SJGT, highlighted by a second-place showing in the 2017 Callaway Gardens Junior Classic and sixth-place finishes in the 2017 Berkeley Hills Junior Classic and the 2016 UGA Invitational, UGA Golf Course Junior Classic, and Four-Ball. Kahlstorf won the Class A Private individual state golf title as a freshman and has been chosen All-State and as the Athens Banner-Herald’s Golfer of the Year three times.

Phillips is a native of Inman, S.C., and attends Boiling Springs High School. Phillips earned Rolex Junior All-America recognition in 2015 and 2017 and recently was named to the USA Today High School Sports All-USA Boys Golf Team. Phillips won the AJGA’s Haas Family Invitational in 2017 and the Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational in 2016. Phillips owns an additional 11 top-10s and seven top-20s in AJGA competition. He won the 2017 South Carolina Golf Association Junior Championship and the 2016 Palmetto Amateur (as the youngest player in the field). He represented the United States in the 2017 Junior Presidents Cup. Phillips is a three-time state medalist and has helped Boiling Springs win four straight team titles. He is the younger brother of current Bulldog Trevor Phillips.

“Braden, Will and Trent are excellent prospects,” Haack said. “They have the ability and the work ethic to make an immediate impact on our program. We are excited that they have chosen to be Bulldogs. We have been watching them play and improve the last few years, and we know we have added three talented players. The sky’s the limit for them. They can do great things together in Athens.”

• The RSM Classic at Sea Island will feature a huge Georgia contingent with Brian Harman, Hudson Swafford, Bubba Watson, Keith Mitchell, Greyson Sigg, Harris English, Kevin Kisner and Chris Kirk. Harman, Swafford and Watson will be paired together in the first round on Thursday.

• Speaking of Mitchell, check out this piece on his ace in the OHL Mayakoba Classic.

News & Notes About The Bulldogs

The Georgia men’s golf team will conclude the fall portion of its schedule this weekend in the Ka'anapali Collegiate Classic in Maui, Hawaii.

The 54-hole tournament will take place Friday through Sunday on the Ka‘anapali Golf Course’s par-71, 6,700-yard layout.

Georgia will use a lineup of sophomores Will Chandler, Trevor Phillips and Spencer Ralston, and freshmen John Hilliard Catanzaro and Davis Thompson. Junior Matthew Beringer will compete as an individual.

Ralston and Phillips have played every round this season, and they lead the Bulldogs with scoring averages of 71.17 and 73.00, respectively.

Georgia and host Hawaii will be joined in the Ka'anapali Collegiate Classic by Air Force, Ball State, Boise State, Bowling Green, California, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Kent State, LSU, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Sacramento State, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming.

The teams will have a shotgun start of 8:30 a.m. HST (2:30 p.m. EDT) each day. Georgia will be paired with Kent State, Boise State and Connecticut in the first round.

• Harris English, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell and Bubba Watson will be in action this week in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.