There are three former University of Georgia players entered in the Masters -- two-time champion Bubba Watson, Kevin Kisner and first-timer Keith Mitchell. If that sounds like a LOT, you could pay more attention.
When Mitchell won the Honda Classic last month, he became the 10th former Bulldog coached by Chris Haack to win a PGA Tour title since Haack took over the program in 1996. In all, 15 former Bulldogs have won 44 Tour events, dating to Terry Diehl in 1974. But 30 of those titles have been taken by Haack's proteges over the past 23 years.
Why? A superb recruiting program and a resultant higher national profile have helped. Haack has coached two NCAA national champions and eight SEC titlists. But Haack's criteria for selecting his weekly lineups -- mid-week qualifiers to determine his five-man rotation; no exceptions -- develops a mindset unlike other college programs.
"You don't have someone sitting there and saying, 'Well, you had a bad couple of rounds in qualifying. We're going to take you anyway,'" Mitchell said. "That doesn't happen on the PGA Tour. You have to earn your way by your scores and that's how he coaches at the University of Georgia.
"There's no holding hands. There's no qualifying for one spot, and (Haack) will pick four. It doesn't matter who those five are. They are going to go."
Case in point: Chris Kirk arrived at Georgia as one of the best junior players in the country and would become a two-time All-American and co-captain of the 2017 team. But he barely played as a freshman because he couldn't break through in the intramural qualifiers. He is a four-time winners on the Tour.
"That's why coach Haack has such a mindset that so far past your four years at Georgia," Mitchell said.
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