Chris Haack had kept it together in his final season as Georgia golf coach.
With a one-stroke lead for the final spot to advance out of the NCAA Athens Regional entering the Bulldogs’ last hole, he was overcome by emotions.
Advertisement
He was following Bulldog Carter Loflin. Walking up towards the green in front of the home crowd on the No. 9 hole on the UGA Golf Course was too much.
“I didn’t want this one to be my last one,” Haack, who is retiring after this 30th season leading the men’s golf program, said with his voice cracking. “I hadn’t got emotional all year until this thing. That’s the first time I got emotional. I’m just glad it’s got more to go.”
The Bulldogs needed to finish in the top 5 of the 13 team NCAA Athens Regional to keep their season going. The region’s No. 5 seed did just that, finishing 5th at -19, one stroke ahead of the College of Charleston.
Vanderbilt (-28) was first led by the region’s low individual scorer Will Hartman at 14-under par. Louisville (-26) finished second and Auburn (-22) and BYU (-20) also are advancing to the 30-team championship finals May 29 to June 3 in Carlsbad, Calif.
Advertisement
Haack led Georgia to national titles in 1999 and 2005, runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2011 and third-place in 2009 and 2015.
Georgia was in a tie for fifth after Monday’s first round and fourth after Tuesday’s second, but fell from a tie for third on Wednesday morning to two strokes back in sixth place through 12 holes.
“I knew we had to make a little bit of a move,” said James Earle, a sophomore from Jupiter, Fla.
Earle birdied three straight holes—No. 6, 7 and 8—and JD Culbreth, a freshman from Thomasville, did the same on 5, 6 and 7 to push the Bulldogs up the leaderboard in 90 degree heat.
“It was so hot, it was hard to think about anything except not passing out,” Earle said.
Advertisement
Earle sank a 35-footer on the par 4 sixth hole during his trip around the par 71, 7,258 yard Robert Trent Jones course.
“I just tried to stay patient and the balls were going in,” said Earle, who shot a 68 for the best round of the day for Georgia.
Culbreth had bogeyed four straight holes before his run of birdies.
“I got it together and put in a score for everybody,” said Culbreth, who shot 1-under for the day along with teammates Loflin and Matt Moloney. “Everybody clutched up. It’s kind of what we’re used to doing.”
The Bulldogs lead was just one stroke over Charleston after bogeys from Earle and Grayson Wood (who finished -2 on the day) on their No. 9 finishing hole and a bogey from Loflin, who shot -5 in the regional, on No. 8.
Advertisement
“It was really tough playing at home,” Culbreth said. “Obviously, it’s a huge advantage in some ways but probably a lot more pressure underneath.”
Georgia won when Charleston could not make a birdie on No. 9 to tie the match.
Keeping the season going for Haack was a motivation.
“We wanted this the whole year,” Earle said. “We knew he was leaving from the start. We just wanted to get him all the way through, one last trek around nationals and see what we can do.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia golf coach Chris Haack emotional as Bulldogs advance to NCAA finals
Read the full article here