Spring Break
Men's golf wins in Puerto Rico
NICK PARKER
Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Sports
As snow rapidly accumulated in Athens during the weekend, the Georgia men's golf team was busy dominating the field by 12 shots in the sunny, warm weather at the Puerto Rico Classic, notching their third consecutive victory of the season.
"They played extremely well. It's one of the more dominating performances I've seen out of those guys. I couldn't ask for anything more than what we got this weekend," said Coach Chris Haack.
The Bulldogs victory was a 15-under-par 273 in the final round to end with 38-under 826. The final score is the third-best in school history.
"I am very proud of the guys for the way they played this weekend," Haack said. "Coming out of the layoff between the fall and the spring, you worry about a team being rusty. But these guys have been working hard and did a good job of picking up where we left off."
The Bulldogs also controlled the individual leaderboard with junior Hudson Swafford tying for co-medalist at 12-under-par, notching the first victory of his All-American career.
"Hudson's been pounding on the door a lot in his college career and to finally get his first victory is always a nice thing. It was well deserved and he played very strong," Haack said.
"Now that he's got one under his belt, maybe he'll gain a lot of confidence from that and things will continue down that road."
Two of Swafford's biggest competitions for the individual crown were fellow teammates - Russell Henley and Brian Harman - who both finished in the top five in a tie for 3rd at 10-under-par.
"That's one of the remarkable things because it's such a hard thing to finish top five and to have three guys do it, anytime that happens it's probably going to be a pretty good sign for our team and a preview of things to come," Haack said.
With the impressive results of his fellow teammates this season, Harman worries far less about the rest of the field.
"I tell you what, when we get it going and everyone is playing well like we did this past weekend, it's fun," Harman said. "We're very competitive with each other. And I think when it gets down to like that, we're almost playing against each other and not even against the rest of the field because we know if we play well like we do here at home, then we're going to play very well."
"They played extremely well. It's one of the more dominating performances I've seen out of those guys. I couldn't ask for anything more than what we got this weekend," said Coach Chris Haack.
The Bulldogs victory was a 15-under-par 273 in the final round to end with 38-under 826. The final score is the third-best in school history.
"I am very proud of the guys for the way they played this weekend," Haack said. "Coming out of the layoff between the fall and the spring, you worry about a team being rusty. But these guys have been working hard and did a good job of picking up where we left off."
The Bulldogs also controlled the individual leaderboard with junior Hudson Swafford tying for co-medalist at 12-under-par, notching the first victory of his All-American career.
"Hudson's been pounding on the door a lot in his college career and to finally get his first victory is always a nice thing. It was well deserved and he played very strong," Haack said.
"Now that he's got one under his belt, maybe he'll gain a lot of confidence from that and things will continue down that road."
Two of Swafford's biggest competitions for the individual crown were fellow teammates - Russell Henley and Brian Harman - who both finished in the top five in a tie for 3rd at 10-under-par.
"That's one of the remarkable things because it's such a hard thing to finish top five and to have three guys do it, anytime that happens it's probably going to be a pretty good sign for our team and a preview of things to come," Haack said.
With the impressive results of his fellow teammates this season, Harman worries far less about the rest of the field.
"I tell you what, when we get it going and everyone is playing well like we did this past weekend, it's fun," Harman said. "We're very competitive with each other. And I think when it gets down to like that, we're almost playing against each other and not even against the rest of the field because we know if we play well like we do here at home, then we're going to play very well."
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