[break] The Georgia men’s golf team will open the spring portion of its schedule next week in a locale quite different than the one the Bulldogs just left.

Georgia will be playing in the Puerto Rico Classic, its traditional spring opener, Sunday through Tuesday. When the Bulldogs departed Athens earlier this week, the temperature was in the 20s. The forecast for Rio Grande is temperatures in the mid-80s.

“No one on the team is complaining about that,” Georgia coach Chris Haack said. “It will be nice to get into some warm temperatures for a few days. It will also be nice to get cranked back up. We’ll shake off some rust in Puerto Rico and begin to get an idea about where we’re heading. This team has tremendous potential and we know we can be in contention by the end of the year.”

Haack will use a lineup of seniors Mookie DeMoss and Nicholas Reach, juniors Lee McCoy and Sepp Straka, and sophomore Greyson Sigg. That quintet won the Carmel Cup title at Pebble Beach earlier this season. Sophomore Jaime Lopez Rivarola will compete in the individual tournament as well.

McCoy is the nation’s third-rated player and he leads the Bulldogs with a 68.89 scoring average. He finished first, second and fifth individually in his three fall events.

Joining the Bulldogs for the tournament will be Purdue, Clemson, North Carolina, North Carolina State, East Tennessee State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, UNC-Greensboro and Tulsa.

The Bulldogs will play with Oklahoma and North Carolina on Sunday. Live results can be found at BirdieFire.com.

The Bulldogs won the Puerto Rico Classic in 2006, 2007 and 2009. Chris Kirk and Hudson Swafford were individual medalists in 2006 and 2009, respectively.