Georgia and Georgia Tech’s men’s golf teams claimed top spots when the NCAA released its 81-team field Monday.
The Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets will have plenty of company from the state. Six teams from Georgia — Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Kennesaw State and Mercer, along with Tech and Georgia — received invitations, believed to be a state record. Georgia tied Alabama and Tennessee for most teams in the field behind Texas (nine) and California (seven).
The teams were spread out among six regions. In 54-hole qualifiers tournaments beginning May 15, the top five at each region will advance to the 30-team NCAA finals May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas.
“Golf (in Georgia) is really good right now. It really is,” Tech coach Bruce Heppler said. “It would not surprise me if a bunch of those go through.”
The state’s six teams are particularly impressive considering there are only eight Division I men’s golf programs in Georgia. By comparison, there are no less than 22 Division I schools in Texas with men’s teams.
Only Savannah State and Georgia Regents University-Augusta (formerly known as Augusta State) didn’t make the field. The Tigers finished in second place in the MEAC tournament, 15 shots out of first place. The Jaguars, who play Division I in golf and Division II in all other sports, won national titles in 2010 and 1011.
The flurry, a sharp contrast to the NCAA-tournament drought among the state’s men’s basketball teams, is no aberration. Tech and Georgia are perennials. Kennesaw State has now made four NCAA regionals in a row. Georgia State has made 11 appearances since 1999, though it will be in the tournament for the first time since 2009. Georgia Southern coach Larry Mays, who arrived in Statesboro after leading Georgia State to the 1999 and 2000 tournaments, has now scored 11 NCAA bids in 14 seasons.
Only Mercer, which earned its first NCAA invitation by winning the Atlantic Sun tournament, is new to the scene.
“Those are all good coaches,” Heppler said. “They work really hard at what they’re doing.”
In 2005, Georgia won the national title, 11 shots ahead of runner-up Tech. GRU-Augusta finished 10th and Georgia Southern and Georgia State tied for 13th.
Tech, which won its seventh ACC tournament in the past nine seasons two weekends ago, was given the top seed in the Raleigh, N.C., regional at Lonnie Poole Golf Club, four slots ahead of Mercer. Georgia is the top seed in the San Antonio, Texas, region, held at Briggs Ranch Golf Club, where it will be joined by Georgia Southern (No. 7) and Georgia State (No. 8).
Kennesaw State is seeded No. 7 at the Auburn, Ala., regional, where the Owls will compete with defending national champion Alabama.
With an expected No. 1 seed — Tech has won five tournaments this year and is ranked No. 5 by Golfstat, one slot ahead of Georgia — Heppler hoped to be sent to Raleigh, given that Auburn seemed the predestined site for No. 1 Alabama.
“It’s a good place for us,” Heppler said. “It’s golf in the Southeast, which we’re used to. So I think it’s probably as good a spot as anywhere that we could have gotten sent.”
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