Bulldogs Prepared For Southeastern Conference Championship

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. --- The Georgia men's golf team will join its fellow league members this week in the Southeastern Conference Championship at the Sea Island Golf Club.

The SEC Championship will run Wednesday through Sunday on the par-70, 7,005-yard layout on the Seaside Course.

The Bulldogs are the top seed for the tournament by virtue of their league-best No. 10 ranking in the latest Golfstat poll. Georgia is followed by No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 14 Auburn, No. 15 Vanderbilt, No. 17 Florida, No. 19 Tennessee, No. 22 Arkansas, and No. 23 LSU.

"Rankings are for the fans when it comes down to it," Georgia head coach Chris Haack said. "We have to tee it up and play. All 14 teams in this league are good. They're all capable of catching fire and lighting it up. We will take care of what we can handle and not worry about the others. We'll worry about us and we will be OK.

"Year in and year out, this conference is so tough, but it's that way in all our sports. It's a great conference. One of the reasons we have had success is that by playing each other we're used to playing tough competition when the postseason rolls around. We know it's always going to be hard, so we're ready for it."

The Bulldogs will be paired with Texas A&M and Auburn in the first round on Wednesday with tee times slated between 7:30 and 8:10 a.m.

Georgia will use a lineup of fifth year Spencer Ralston, senior Davis Thompson, juniors Trent Phillips and Eli Scott, and sophomore Connor Creasy. Thompson stands second in the SEC with a scoring average of 69.81, while Phillips is sixth at 70.62.

The Bulldogs and their conference counterparts will log 18 holes of stroke play each day Wednesday through Friday. The top eight teams after 54 holes will advance to match play, with the quarterfinals and the semifinals slated for Saturday, followed by the finals on Sunday. SEC Network + will have digital coverage of the semifinals, while the championship match will air on the SEC Network.

"We played against SEC teams week in and week out the entire year, so we know the competition we're going up against," Thompson said. "I feel like we're one of the top teams in the SEC, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. We're all trying to peak and play well at this one and the rest of the postseason. It will be a good challenge for us."

"We're one of the top teams in the SEC," Ralston said. "We've shown it all year. We've been consistent and had some really good events. We're confident and we know we can lean on each other. If it's not your day, you know the four others have your back. That's a good feeling for all of us."

The Bulldogs and their league brethren are simply happy to have their championship back. The 2020 postseason was cancelled due the pandemic, meaning 2021 will mark the 20th anniversary of the SECs being held on St. Simons Island. To help college golf get restarted, the league teams spent all of their schedule within the SEC footprint. The Bulldogs' 2020-21 tournaments were in Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi -- and now Georgia. The only real hiccup for the Bulldogs came last month when they had to bow out of the regular-season finale due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the program.

Georgia is almost a month removed from the pause, and the Bulldogs are ready to swing back into action.

"(The stoppage of play) was just a bump in the road," Ralston said. "Everyone did their own thing to prepare the best we could under those circumstances. We all know that this virus can be a season ender for teams, and nobody wants that. We've done what we needed to do. We have been cautious so that we didn't lose track of what we want to do, which is have an opportunity to win championships."

"I don't think it will hurt us," Thompson said. "Everyone has been working hard, so I think we'll play well. It's been a different kind of year again. We've done a lot on our own, just us as a team, and that's drawn us closer together. Our team chemistry is really good."

Georgia has been a dominant force at the SECs, winning a league-best 29 conference titles. Under Haack, the Bulldogs have secured eight SEC titles, including six of the tournaments held at Sea Island. Georgia boasts 16 SEC medalists, including Haack protégés Bryant Odom (2001), Brendon Todd (2004), Russell Henley (2010) and Lee McCoy (2016).

The Bulldogs have won twice in 2020-21, taking the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate and the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship — both against fields made up largely of SEC opponents. Phillips claimed medalist honors at the Gators Invitational and Thompson won the Tiger Invitational.

"Teams that are older and more mature and have been around understand things," Haack said. "Our team is like that. When we get all five going in the right direction, we can be a pretty tough team to play against. We'll take care of what we can and not worry about the others. We'll take care of what we can and see what happens."

"We're excited to go down there and compete," Phillips said. "I fully expect us to do what we're supposed to do -- contend and get ready for regionals and nationals. None of us would mind having an SEC ring."

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Wednesday, April 21
7:30 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. TEE TIMES FOR FIRST ROUND OF COMPETITION

Thursday, April 22
7:30-9:50 a.m. TEE TIMES FOR SECOND ROUND OF COMPETITION

Friday, April 23
7:30-9:50 a.m. TEE TIMES FOR THIRD ROUND OF COMPETITION
Following Competition PRESENTATION OF INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST, RUNNER-UP, AND SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARDS

Saturday, April 24
7:30-9:00 a.m. TEE TIMES FOR MATCH PLAY QUARTERFINALS
1:00-2:40 p.m. (approximate) TEE TIMES FOR MATCH PLAY SEMIFINALS

Sunday, April 25
7:30-8:10 a.m. TEE TIMES FOR MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

Bulldogs Prepared For Southeastern Conference Championship

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Connor Creasy

Trent Phillips

Spencer Ralston

Eli Scott

Davis Thompson

University of Georgia Athletics