Dogs finish eighth at NCAA golf championships

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Asked what he and his players feel like doing now that the NCAA Championship is over, Georgia men's golf coach Chris Haack didn't hesitate.

"I think we all want a vacation," he said.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 1 for much of the season and seeded third for the NCAAs, finished eighth on Saturday at Purdue's Kampen Course. With a final-round 21-over 309, Georgia wound up at 58-over 1,210, 16 strokes behind UCLA. The Bulldogs were the top-finishing team among the five SEC schools.

"We definitely had a great year," said Haack, who guided the Bulldogs to three tournament victories. "But this just wasn't our week."

"There's no room for error at the NCAAs because every team here is good and every team can win," said Russell Henley , who was named to National All-Freshmen Team along with teammate Harris English. "This week, we just didn't get it done. We came in playing pretty well, but we just got out of sync."

Henley and English led the Bulldogs in the final round with 3-over 75s. Hudson Swafford added a 4-over 76, while Adam Mitchell came in at 11-over 83 and Brian Harman signed for a 15-over 87.

Swafford was Georgia's top individual, placing ninth at 9-over 297, 11 shots behind UCLA's Kevin Chappell. Swafford is the 17th Bulldog in school history to finish in the top 10 at the NCAAs. Henley took 22nd at 14-over 302, followed by Mitchell in 50th at 20-over 308, Harman in 71st at 28-over 316 and English in 73rd at 29-over 317.

The Bulldogs claimed their fourth straight top-10 finish at the NCAAs, including 2005 when they won the national championship. Under Haack, the Bulldogs have advanced to the NCAAs for 11 straight seasons, winning twice (1999 and 2005) and finishing in the top 10 six times and in the top 20 10 times.

Moreover, the Bulldogs will return for the 2008-09 campaign with their NCAA roster intact as they didn't have any seniors on the team this season.

"It's going to be even tougher to get into our lineup next season," Henley said. "The competition is going to be so much harder."