EUGENE, ORE. — The No. 6-ranked Georgia men’s golf team opened the NCAA Championships in 19th place on Friday.
Playing the Eugene Country Club’s par-70, 7,014-yard layout, the Bulldogs finished the tournament’s opening round at 11-over 291. Georgia is nine shots behind co-leaders Arkansas and TCU (2-over 282).
“There’s a lot of golf left and we need to stay focused and positive,” Georgia coach Chris Haack said. “This golf course demands everything from you. You have to hit good drives, good iron shots and good putts. Every part of your game will be challenged and you’d better be ready. It’s golf and we know that. We’ll come back out (Saturday) and see if we can put up a good round and put ourselves in good position for the third round.”
The Bulldogs were led Friday by seniors Sepp Straka and Lee McCoy as each signed for a 1-under 69. Junior Greyson Sigg added a 6-over 76 and sophomore Zach Healy wound up at 7-over 77. Freshman Tye Waller had the Bulldogs’ non-counting score of 8-over 78.
“We’ve got three more days,” Straka said. “It’s just the first day of a four-round event. One good round and we’re right back in it. We need to stay patient, don’t freak out and keep pushing that rock up the hill.”
Georgia’s undoing came over Nos. 16-18 on Friday. The Bulldogs played the last three holes (a par-3, 205-yarder; a par-4, 490-yarder; and a par-4, 450-yarder) 10-over, including 8-over by the four counting players.
“We were solid for a long time, but those last couple of holes really bit us,” Haack said.
The Bulldogs will resume play on Saturday at 10:22 a.m. EDT with Oklahoma State and Illinois. Live scoring and tee times can be found at Golfstat.com and NCAA.com.
Team and individual stroke play will take place through Monday. Following Sunday's round, the field will be cut to the low 15 teams for Monday’s final stroke play loop. The top eight squads after 72 holes will qualify for match play. The match play quarterfinals and semifinals are slated for Tuesday and the championship match is scheduled for Wednesday.
The Golf Channel will air live coverage from Monday's stroke-play final round at 7 p.m. EDT, Tuesday's match-play quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m. EDT, Tuesday's match-play semifinals at 6:30 p.m. EDT and Wednesday's match-play finals at 6 p.m. EDT.
In addition, the Golf Channel will be on-site beginning on Sunday to provide coverage on Golf Central, Morning Drive and GolfChannel.com.
