University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Golfers Kick Off Spring Season In Puerto Rico
February 25, 2009 | Men's Golf
ATHENS, Ga. --- The top-ranked Georgia men’s golf team will begin the spring portion of its 2008-09 schedule this weekend at the Puerto Rico Classic.
The Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 1 in the Golf World/Nike Golf and Golfstat polls, will play Friday through Sunday at the River Course at Westin Rio Mar in Rio Grande.
Georgia’s last competition came in October when the Bulldogs capped the fall with wins in the Brickyard Championship and the Isleworth Invitational.
“We are really excited to get everything going again,” Georgia senior Brian Harman said. “Everyone has been playing very well lately, and we are going to a course we have had some success on in the past. Combine that with the beach atmosphere, and it really makes for a great, relaxing golf tournament.”
Georgia coach Chris Haack will use a lineup of seniors Harman and Michael Green, junior Hudson Swafford and sophomores Harris English and Russell Henley.
Henley, a 2008 All-American, had a strong fall for the Bulldogs with two top-10 finishes, including a win at the Isleworth Invitational. Swafford also will be looking to add to a strong fall, which included two top-5s in three starts. Green will be making his first appearance of the year after earning a spot in the team’s qualifying rounds.
“I think that’s the strength of our squad our depth,” Haack said. “We have very talented players, and any of them can win on a given week. To have a lineup where you can have a different guy carry the team each round, that’s pretty solid. We feel like our guys are all pretty evenly matched one through five.”
Joining Georgia and host Purdue in Puerto Rico will be Alabama, Clemson, Duke, East Tennessee State, Florida, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kent State, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Texas and Virginia Tech. All told, the field includes six squads from the top 10 and 11 from the top 25.
“It’s a good mix of teams,” Haack said. “The main thing for us is we want to play against the best competition every week so that when we get to the NCAAs there’s not a team we haven’t seen. We’ll find out a lot about ourselves the next two weeks (in the Puerto Rico Shootout and the Las Vegas Intercollegiate) because they have two of the best fields. They will show us what we need to work on and what we need to improve on. And if we have some success, that will breed the confidence that we can play with anybody.”
The Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 1 in the Golf World/Nike Golf and Golfstat polls, will play Friday through Sunday at the River Course at Westin Rio Mar in Rio Grande.
Georgia’s last competition came in October when the Bulldogs capped the fall with wins in the Brickyard Championship and the Isleworth Invitational.
“We are really excited to get everything going again,” Georgia senior Brian Harman said. “Everyone has been playing very well lately, and we are going to a course we have had some success on in the past. Combine that with the beach atmosphere, and it really makes for a great, relaxing golf tournament.”
Georgia coach Chris Haack will use a lineup of seniors Harman and Michael Green, junior Hudson Swafford and sophomores Harris English and Russell Henley.
Henley, a 2008 All-American, had a strong fall for the Bulldogs with two top-10 finishes, including a win at the Isleworth Invitational. Swafford also will be looking to add to a strong fall, which included two top-5s in three starts. Green will be making his first appearance of the year after earning a spot in the team’s qualifying rounds.
“I think that’s the strength of our squad our depth,” Haack said. “We have very talented players, and any of them can win on a given week. To have a lineup where you can have a different guy carry the team each round, that’s pretty solid. We feel like our guys are all pretty evenly matched one through five.”
Joining Georgia and host Purdue in Puerto Rico will be Alabama, Clemson, Duke, East Tennessee State, Florida, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kent State, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Texas and Virginia Tech. All told, the field includes six squads from the top 10 and 11 from the top 25.
“It’s a good mix of teams,” Haack said. “The main thing for us is we want to play against the best competition every week so that when we get to the NCAAs there’s not a team we haven’t seen. We’ll find out a lot about ourselves the next two weeks (in the Puerto Rico Shootout and the Las Vegas Intercollegiate) because they have two of the best fields. They will show us what we need to work on and what we need to improve on. And if we have some success, that will breed the confidence that we can play with anybody.”
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