[su_spacer size=”20″] The Georgia men’s golf team will begin its quest for the program’s third national title on Friday in the NCAA Championships at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The national tournament is slated for Friday through Wednesday. Team and individual stroke play will take place Friday through Monday, with the top eight squads after 72 holes qualifying for match play. The match play quarterfinals and semifinals are slated for Tuesday and the championship match is scheduled for Wednesday.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “Our goal all season has been to win the national championship and now that we have this opportunity, that’s our total focus,” Georgia coach Chris Haack said. “This is for all the marbles and it’s the most important tournament of the season. Every stroke counts and we’re going to leave it all out there. We’ve had an up-and-down season, but if we can put it all together over the next week, it will be extremely gratifying.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs, who are seeded 26th and are ranked 28th by Golfweek and 33rd by Golfstat, will tee off on Friday in 10-minute increments between 8:10 and 8:50 a.m. and on Saturday between 1:30 and 2:10 p.m. Georgia will be paired with UNLV and Houston in the first two rounds. Sunday’s pairings will be determined by the 36-hole results.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs will use a lineup of senior Mookie DeMoss, juniors Lee McCoy and Sepp Straka, sophomore Greyson Sigg and freshman Zach Healy. McCoy leads the Bulldogs with a scoring average of 69.66 and has posted a school-record-tying four victories this season. Sigg (72.63), Healy (72.90), Straka (72.94) and DeMoss (73.31) are separated by less than a stroke.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Golf Channel will air live coverage from Monday’s stroke-play final round at 4 p.m., Tuesday’s match-play quarterfinals at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday’s match-play semifinals at 3:30 p.m. and Wednesday’s match-play finals at 3 p.m.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In addition, the Golf Channel will be on-site beginning on Sunday to provide coverage on Golf Central, Morning Drive and GolfChannel.com. Live scoring and tee times for the NCAAs also can be found at Golfstat.com and NCAA.com.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Under Haack, the Bulldogs have moved onto the NCAAs in five straight years and 17 of his 19 campaigns. Haack led the Bulldogs to the 1999 and 2005 national titles and to runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2011. Overall, this is Georgia’s 46th berth in the NCAAs.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The squad of Ryuji Imada, Nick Cassini, Michael Morrison, Jeremy Parrott and Mark Northey claimed the 1999 national championship at Hazeltine Golf Club. The 2005 team of Kevin Kisner, Richard Scott, Brendon Todd, Chris Kirk and David Denham snared the national championship at Caves Valley Golf Club. The 2007 and 2011 Georgia teams each came in second.
[su_spacer size=”40″] In 1946, George Hamer claimed medalist honors at the NCAAs — the only Bulldog to accomplish that feat. Imada and Kirk were NCAA runners-up.