BRADENTON, Fla. — The Georgia men’s golf team’s memorable run at the NCAA Championships came to an end on Tuesday in the match play semifinals at Concession Golf Club.
Georgia entered the NCAAs seeded 26th out of 30 teams and ranked 28th and 33rd in the two polls. But the Bulldogs led the majority of stroke play for four days and wound up third, then dispatched South Florida 4-1 in the match play quarterfinals Tuesday morning.
The Bulldogs’ quest for the national title came to a halt, however, when they dropped a 3-1-1 decision to SEC champion LSU in the semifinals (unofficially known as the “Final Fore”). The Tigers will take on Southern Cal Wednesday in the championship match.
“I think a lot of people will remember this team and the run they made. I know I will,” Georgia coach Chris Haack said. “They’ll always be special to all of us because of what they did this week. I am very proud of them. It’s not the way we wanted to see it end, but the guys fought hard and didn’t give anything away. They played their hearts out and that’s all I can ask for.”
Junior Lee McCoy, who was chosen as a First-Team All-American Tuesday morning, posted the Bulldogs’ win against LSU as he topped Stewart Jolly 2&1. Senior Mookie DeMoss and sophomore Greyson Sigg dropped 7&6 and 4&3 decisions, respectively, as LSU mounted a 2-1 lead. The Tigers clinched the match as Benjamin Taylor defeated freshman Zach Healy 2-up. Junior Sepp Straka’s match had been extended to extra holes and was halted.
“We had a good week and put ourselves in position to win it, but we just didn’t quite get it done,” Sigg said. “But we can hold our heads high. To make it to the national semis is big for our program. It means a lot we made it this far and we can build on that.”
“We gave it our all,” said McCoy, a Habersham Central graduate. “Every guy on this team has a lot of heart and showed a lot of fight. I am proud of each and every one of them.”
In the quarterfinals win over South Florida, McCoy (5&3), DeMoss (1-up), Straka (3&2) and Healy (2&1) posted victories.
This was the Bulldogs’ third appearance in match play since that format was adopted for the 2009 season and they are now 4-3 all-time. Georgia went 2-1 in 2011 and 1-1 in both 2009 and 2015. The Bulldogs won national championships in 1999 and 2005, both under Haack.
