EUGENE, OREGON — The No. 6-ranked Georgia men’s golf team was eliminated from the NCAA Championships on Sunday, but senior and former Habersham Central standout Lee McCoy remained in the hunt for national medalist honors.
Playing the Eugene Country Club’s par-70, 7,014-yard layout, the Bulldogs notched a third-round score of 12-over 292. That left Georgia in a 5-tie for 14th at 27-over 867 as the field was cut in half, but the Bulldogs fell short when fifth-player scorecards were used as the tiebreaker. Louisville and Oklahoma survived the tiebreaker, while Georgia, Clemson and TCU were eliminated.
“It’s disappointing to get knocked out, but I’m still really proud of these guys,” Georgia head coach Chris Haack said. “They never gave up. We had our chances but we just didn’t get it done. It stings to be finished, but when they look back at it, they’ll realize we had a successful year.”
As one of the low six players not on an advancing team, McCoy stayed in contention for individual honors. McCoy will enter his final collegiate round in eighth at 1-under 209, just five off the pace set by Aaron Wise of Oregon (204). He will tee off at 4:40 p.m. EDT.
“I’m extremely disappointed that my last round won’t be with my teammates,” McCoy said. “But I am proud to get to wear the ‘G’ one more time and I will do all I can to represent our program well.”
Said Haack, “We’ll be out there cheering him on for sure. Maybe he’s got a good, low round in him and can do something special.”
McCoy paced the Bulldogs on Sunday with an even-par 70. Junior Greyson Sigg signed for a 3-over 73, followed by senior Sepp Straka at 4-over 74 and sophomore Zach Healy at 5-over 75. Freshman Tye Waller had the Bulldogs’ non-counting score of 13-over 83.
After McCoy at 209, Straka finished at 5-over 215, while Sigg ended at 9-over 219, Healy at 14-over 224 and Waller at 27-over 237.
The back nine was Georgia's undoing again on Sunday. After the Bulldogs made the turn at even par, they had 14 bogeys and just two birdies among the counting players.
“That back nine bit us every chance it got,” Haack said.
Earlier Sunday, McCoy, Healy, Straka and Sigg were named to the All-Southeast Region by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
