University of Georgia Athletics
Moloney, Bulldogs Weather Tough Conditions
March 17, 2026 | Men's Golf, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Matt Moloney weathered the storm as best he could. First was the heavy morning rain, then came the deep chill and heavy winds that made the Athens Country Club golf course on Monday afternoon feel more like the setting for an arctic excursion than the Southern Intercollegiate tournament.
Through it all, the Georgia men's golf sophomore just tried to focus on his next shot. Easier said than done.
"Long, cold, hard," is how Moloney described the day after shooting an even-par 144 to lead Georgia to the team victory and place second on the individual leaderboard. "Especially on a day like today, when you know the weather's going to suck, you've just got to embrace the suck. Hit some good shots, hit some bad shots — you know all of that's going to happen if you play that much golf in one day, especially in these conditions."
Georgia shot 11-over in the 36-hole, 15-team event, finishing five strokes ahead of second-place Western Carolina. The Catamounts' Jace Butcher took medalist honors with an impressive 2-under total, two strokes better than Moloney. Bulldog Carter Loflin tied for fifth at 4-over, while JD Culbreth, James Earle and Grayson Wood tied for seventh at 5-over. Will Guthrie, playing as an individual, shot 7-over.
"You've just got to be mentally tough," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "You've got to get it in your mind that it's going to be a tough day; things are going to be different than normal, and you've just got to roll with the punches."
The difference between the scoring in the morning and afternoon rounds was as striking as the difference in the weather. During the rainy morning 18, nine players shot even-par or better, including 2-under rounds of 70 by Moloney, Butcher and Mason Fundingsland of Augusta University. As the temperature plummeted and the strong winds arrived in the afternoon, nobody broke par, and only Butcher shot even par.
"When the rains came and the winds picked up, you get wet, you get cold, and you don't get dry — you just get colder," Haack said. "It starts wearing your mind down, and it just becomes really, really hard to grasp what you're doing and to stay in the moment of being a competitor."
For Moloney, he got off to a great start in the morning, making birdies on three of his first four holes. He wound up with five birdies, three bogeys, and a round of 70. His second round also started well, going 2-under through his first 10 holes, before making four bogeys over his final eight holes.
"It was tough out there, for sure," he said. "I'm just glad, with everything going on, that I was able to be out there."
Moloney almost sat out the tournament after experiencing some hip discomfort recently, but despite the ugly and challenging forecast, he decided to tee it up for what turned out to be more than 10 hours on the course. Haack said he thought the hip issue might actually work in Moloney's favor — players used golf carts, so they weren't walking 36 holes — because it would force him to slow his swing and play a bit more conservatively. Moloney agreed.
"I think I was so worried about trying to protect against the hip that I was less worried about actually hitting a good golf shot, which might have played into my favor in a weird way," he said. "It worked out well."
Temperatures will be back in the 70s this weekend when the Bulldogs are back in action at the Linger Longer Invitational on The Landing course in Greensboro, Ga. Georgia won the event last year with a 30-under-par total of 834.
Staff Writer
Matt Moloney weathered the storm as best he could. First was the heavy morning rain, then came the deep chill and heavy winds that made the Athens Country Club golf course on Monday afternoon feel more like the setting for an arctic excursion than the Southern Intercollegiate tournament.
Through it all, the Georgia men's golf sophomore just tried to focus on his next shot. Easier said than done.
"Long, cold, hard," is how Moloney described the day after shooting an even-par 144 to lead Georgia to the team victory and place second on the individual leaderboard. "Especially on a day like today, when you know the weather's going to suck, you've just got to embrace the suck. Hit some good shots, hit some bad shots — you know all of that's going to happen if you play that much golf in one day, especially in these conditions."
Georgia shot 11-over in the 36-hole, 15-team event, finishing five strokes ahead of second-place Western Carolina. The Catamounts' Jace Butcher took medalist honors with an impressive 2-under total, two strokes better than Moloney. Bulldog Carter Loflin tied for fifth at 4-over, while JD Culbreth, James Earle and Grayson Wood tied for seventh at 5-over. Will Guthrie, playing as an individual, shot 7-over.
"You've just got to be mentally tough," Georgia coach Chris Haack said. "You've got to get it in your mind that it's going to be a tough day; things are going to be different than normal, and you've just got to roll with the punches."
The difference between the scoring in the morning and afternoon rounds was as striking as the difference in the weather. During the rainy morning 18, nine players shot even-par or better, including 2-under rounds of 70 by Moloney, Butcher and Mason Fundingsland of Augusta University. As the temperature plummeted and the strong winds arrived in the afternoon, nobody broke par, and only Butcher shot even par.
"When the rains came and the winds picked up, you get wet, you get cold, and you don't get dry — you just get colder," Haack said. "It starts wearing your mind down, and it just becomes really, really hard to grasp what you're doing and to stay in the moment of being a competitor."
For Moloney, he got off to a great start in the morning, making birdies on three of his first four holes. He wound up with five birdies, three bogeys, and a round of 70. His second round also started well, going 2-under through his first 10 holes, before making four bogeys over his final eight holes.
"It was tough out there, for sure," he said. "I'm just glad, with everything going on, that I was able to be out there."
Moloney almost sat out the tournament after experiencing some hip discomfort recently, but despite the ugly and challenging forecast, he decided to tee it up for what turned out to be more than 10 hours on the course. Haack said he thought the hip issue might actually work in Moloney's favor — players used golf carts, so they weren't walking 36 holes — because it would force him to slow his swing and play a bit more conservatively. Moloney agreed.
"I think I was so worried about trying to protect against the hip that I was less worried about actually hitting a good golf shot, which might have played into my favor in a weird way," he said. "It worked out well."
Temperatures will be back in the 70s this weekend when the Bulldogs are back in action at the Linger Longer Invitational on The Landing course in Greensboro, Ga. Georgia won the event last year with a 30-under-par total of 834.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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